I support Hillary, but don't get me wrong--I like Bernie. I know Bernie, I used to date him. Well, not actually him, but guys like him, smart, articulate, with great ideas to save the world . . . and from Brooklyn. After all I went to Barnard and there were plenty of guys from Brooklyn there. Besides, I was short. ( It was a time when gender roles were really constrained . No self-respecting male would date anyone a hair taller than he.) So believe me I dated a lot of guys who are like Bernie and would vote for him. But most of the guys on campus, the ones who did not date me because of my ethnic background might not. (Yes, there was more discrimination of more people -- Irish, Italians, Jews -- back then). Trump has proven that bigotry still sells.

Bernie doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being elected in a general election. Just wait until the Republican "machine" goes after him as a socialist, an atheist, an Easterner and a Jew. Pew found that 50% of Americans would not vote for a socialist -- and yes, I know that a democratic socialist is different from a communist -- but really this is the age of sound bites not deep analysis.

Sound bites matter. Bernie has wonderful sound bites -- free college, for example. As Hillary points out: how will that work exactly? With so many Republican governors how are you going to get the money poured in.

The European model of free higher education won't lead to equity. Over there, a smaller percentage of the population go to college -- it is for the intellectual elite, which often means the children of the wealthy; they go to the equivalent of our prep schools, they have tutors, computers, travel etc.

It is the sound bite that is killing Hillary. She gets the big picture, she wants to talk about ideas and solutions that have many facets and take time. As she said in one of the debates, she wants to do something about debt, but also about social inequality. She will chip away at it, not wave a magic wand.

As for single payer healthcare, how is Bernie going to get us there? I don't buy there is going to be a revolution and all the Republicans and Tea Partiers will be voted out. Or that once Obamacare is dismantled congress will gladly and quickly redesign an equitable health care system. Bernie must have some magic up his sleeve if he thinks he is going to change the interests of big pharma, insurance, physicians, etc to do what he wants.

He may have wonderful progressive ideas, but Hillary is a policy wonk. She understands the need for compromise, which means the need for imperfection. Though I support Hillary and I too think of her as flawed -- but then who is not? Men get to be imperfect; women must not only be better but perfect.

Maybe there is sexism involved in the anti-Hillary stance, maybe not, but there is some wishful thinking. The financial affairs of Bill Clinton and her have been combed through by the Republicans. They spent millions of our tax dollars auditing them -- if there was any irregularity it would have been found.

Having said that I think she is sometimes too expedient. I wish she had voted against Iraq. But, having been in the legislative leadership I know sometimes the electorate is not privy to all the facts. There may have been reason she took the wrong position at that time. It is hard to know. I do know that hindsight is brilliant and that I applaud Hillary for changing her mind and admitting her mistake. I have always found it amusing that we exhort citizens to lobby their legislators to change their minds and then rail at them for doing so. Politics is about convincing others and trying to accommodate the needs of the many. It is not getting our own way.

The young want revolution -- so did my generation and me. I am reminded of a chant from my youth. What do we want? We then would say something -- for example an end to the war, an end to racial discrimination, legal abortions etc etc. and it was followed by "When do we want it: NOW."

As we age we think it is never that simple, if but it were. Not sure if that is wisdom or lack of inspiration--but I can't think of a revolution that quite worked out as planned. Guess maybe I have become an old fuddy duddy, but you won't find me sitting around allowing simple answers (fantasies) to rule . I will continue to work for realistic government. We need it. Just take a virtual tour of countries that don't have good government. You won't' like the muddy streets, the garbage, or the chaos.