A friend– whom I’ll call Reader W — sent this in.

I’m voting for Hillary for three simple reasons. First, she’s been through the Republican wash already. There’s nothing bad they’ll find out about her that they don’t already know. Also, who won’t get rattled by the attacks that will begin the minute that she’s sworn in? I hope whomever the Democratic nominee is, that he or she wins and that he or she is ready for the attacks that follow. With Hillary, I know that is true.

Second is stewardship of the economy. The Clinton economic team, led by Bob Rubin, did an amazing job of leading the country through a period when median income, the most important measure of economic well-being, grew about $6000, adjusted for inflation. Under Bush, by contrast, it’s gone up a paltry $1000, It’s not likely that this difference is entirely due to the Clinton administration’s actions, but a track record is a track record. Knowing that Hillary is likely to have an economic team similar to the one Bill had certainly inspires a lot of confidence. And at a time when markets on our edge, that can make a big difference.

Third is that that Hillary will hit the ground running. She already has specific policy proposals in place. The importance of that is underlined by the failure of the health care plan in the Bill Clinton administration. Here’s Paul Krugman on that:

Though Mr. Clinton may not have run as postpartisan a campaign as legend has it, he did avoid some conflict by being strategically vague about policy. In particular, he promised health care reform, but left the business of producing an actual plan until after the election.This turned out to be a disaster. Much has been written about the process by which the Clinton health care plan was put together: it was too secretive, too top-down, too politically tone-deaf. Above all, however, it was too slow. Mr. Clinton didn’t deliver legislation to Congress until Nov. 20, 1993 — by which time the momentum from his electoral victory had evaporated, and opponents had had plenty of time to organize against him.

In a way, it all comes down to experience. After seven years of disaster by a president with none, it’s the most important factor for me.