Hillary - a frightening compulsion to lie

When the US Presidential election band-wagon started to roll, my instinctive preference was for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for, were I an American citizen I could no more vote Republican there than I could for the Conservative Party here - so that rules out any candidate the GOP might put up. I thought she would bring an experienced head to the White House, both as partner of the former President, and during her time in Congress. I thought the opportunity for a woman to break through the greatest 'glass ceiling' of all - the top job in America - would be refreshing and that she would bring social fairness and a sense of balance to that top job. I knew precious little then about Senator Barack Obama but, as the campaign has developed and we are now reaching the crunch decision point for the Democrats, I have changed my view completely.



Both candidates have made mistakes but there is a difference between error and deception. Both candidates have indulged in 'negative' campaigning though there is little doubt that Mrs Clinton was first into this and undoubtedly the nastiest with the 'Osama' for 'Obama' substitution in recent campaign drip feeds.

Obama has put his foot in his mouth from time to time, most recently talking about many right wing white Americans clinging to religion and the gun. But you sense that Obama is basically an honest man - maybe too honest for his own good sometimes.

I am beginning to seriously worry that Hillary Clinton is psychologically flawed to the extent of being an inveterate liar who either doesn't consider that her lies will be found out or doesn't care. Three recent stupid examples, both having been exposed as ridiculous, were first that she claimed in her autobiography that she had been named Hillary after the Everest climber - but in 1947 when Mrs Clinton was born he was an unknown bee-keeper. Once this was pointed out, her campaign team rapidly back-pedalled and said 'It was a story her mother put about to inspire greatness in her daughter' Yeah right.

Back in 2001 she claimed that her daughter Chelsea was saved from death by fate when the planes hit the World Trade Center and that she was jogging in the area at the time, ducking into a coffee shop at just the time the planes hit. Sadly for her, Chelsea herself debunked the story saying she was on the other side of the city at the time. Why did Hillary rashly make this claim? It's rumoured because her opponent for the Senate really did have a daughter in danger and Clinton had to get in on the act. Again so easily disproved.

More recently she claimed that when she visited Bosnia in 1996, she landed amid gunfire and the situation was so dangerous that there was no official reception committee. Is the woman completely deranged as well as a liar? Did she think there were no camera crews present at the time? The US media was quick to dig out footage proving that Mrs Clinton landed in Bosnia in an atmosphere totally free of any enemy fire and was met very cordially by a reception committee. When taxed on this piece of bullshit she said 'I must have mis-spoken'. Well that's a nice one but, I suppose, not unexpected in a nation which likes to wrap the unpalatable into pretty sounding euphemisms (performing one's basic functions in a 'rest-room' for example) and sounds a damn sight better than 'I was lying in my f***ing teeth!'

If Hillary were a ten year old engaging in a juvenile 'pissing' contest, all this would be pathetically funny. But she is going for the top job in the world. If she is prepared to lie so blatantly and without any care for the consequences of being found out, what drives her on ? Is she a megalomaniac who will do anything to gain office, or has she, in fact, lost touch with reality ?

I am seriously worried about Mrs. Clinton's judgment and her ability to remain calm in a crisis. Someone who lies so blatantly off the top of their heads at the drop of a hat usually does so because its the first blind solution to a problem. Is that how she is going to run the United States? The consequences for the US and the rest of the world could be deadly if she has no greater judgment and self control than that.

There is no longer any doubt in my mind. Obama, whatever flaws he has, is I think basically an honest man. He is the candidate for me.