But a ruthless pol whose private sense of self really looks like this, a ruthless pol who genuinely believes a campaign to elect her president is "about" "inspiring" "more kindness"? That's sort of sad, and it's a little megalomaniacal too. What the world needs now may be love, sweet love, but Washington isn't going to provide it; of all the things that might inspire people to do more to help their friends and neighbors, surely the presidency is nowhere near the top of the list. Yet here Clinton is casting her candidacy as a kind of national encounter group, with herself as our therapist-in-chief.
Add the fact that this particular politician is better known for war than warmth, and we find ourselves in deeply dark territory. President Clinton lecturing us on love and kindness as she drops bombs on Syria or Yemen—that would be bad enough. But if the lecture is sincere, if she sees each airstrike as an act of love: Now that would be unbearable.