Several people have asked me who I'm voting for in the presidential primary, so here it is: I'm going with Obama. It's a really hard choice for me - I like both of them, I think they would both be terrific leaders. I really want to support HRC just because having a woman leader in America would be so amazing. But I feel like we had 8 years of the Clintons and their advisors and their perspective and I must admit, I would really like to give someone else a chance (even if their "policies" are virtually identical). Obama represents such a breath of fresh air. I know he's "inexperienced," but so was Nelson Mandela. Sometimes a strong character and good advisors can be enough (IMO, Bush would have been a much better president, regardless of his experience or lack of it, if he'd had some better advisors!)
In addition, if McCain is the Republican nominee, Obama will be a great opponent - the contrast of his youth and energy will be very stark against McCain, and I think that Obama neutralizes a lot of McCain's appeal to independents - do they want to support an old, worn out maverick or a new, dynamic one?
Another reason to vote for Obama is that the Democrats ALWAYS pick some wonky know-it-all, and it hasn't been a winning strategy. Kerry and Gore and even Dukakis would have made great presidents, but they made lousy candidates. I REALLY don't want to watch yet another class valedictorian go down in flames.
ADDENDUM
Watched this terrific video created by the Black-Eyed Peas' will.i.am and a
bunch of famous actors and musicians. At this site you can watch the video and there's a list of people who appear in it - see how many you can recognize.
http://www.dipdive.com/Lyrics:
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots;
a President who chose the moon as our new frontier;
and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...
they will only grow louder and more dissonant ...
We've been asked to pause for a reality check.
We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA;
we will remember that there is something happening in America;
that we are not as divided as our politics suggests;
that we are one people;
we are one nation;
and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast;
from sea to shining sea –
Yes. We. Can.ADDENDUM 2
On the flip side, my dear friend Stessa sent me this wonderful essay by feminist author Robin Morgan, in which she makes some very good points. It's long, but worth reading. Below is just an excerpt:
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/020108.htmlFebruary 2, 2008Goodbye To All That (#2)by Robin Morgan "Goodbye To All That" was my (in)famous 1970 essay breaking free from a politics of accommodation especially affecting women (for an online version, see http://blog.fair-use.org/category/chicago/).During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women's movements, I've avoided writing another specific "Goodbye . . ." But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and Barack Obama (BO) unfurls. So.Goodbye to the double standard . . . —Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who's emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.—She's "ambitious" but he shows "fire in the belly." (Ever had labor pains?)—When a sexist idiot screamed "Iron my shirt!" at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted "Shine my shoes!" at BO, it would've inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.Goodbye to the toxic viciousness . . .Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary's "thick ankles." Nixon-trickster Roger Stone's new Hillary-hating 527 group, "Citizens United Not Timid." John McCain answering "How do we beat the bitch?" with "Excellent question!" Would he have dared reply similarly to "How do we beat the black bastard?" For shame.Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame.Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan "If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!" Shame.Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that this is funny. This is not "Clinton hating," not "Hillary hating." This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?Goodbye to the news-coverage target-practice . . .The women's movement and Media Matters wrung an apology from MSNBC's Chris Matthews for relentless misogynistic comments (www.womensmediacenter.com). But what about NBC's Tim Russert's continual sexist asides and his all-white-male panels pontificating on race and gender? Or CNN's Tony Harris chuckling at "the chromosome thing" while interviewing a woman from The White House Project? And that's not even mentioning Fox News.[. . .]Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she's the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because she's refreshingly thoughtful, and I'm bloodied from eight years of a jolly "uniter" with ejaculatory politics. I needn't agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama's—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she's already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first U.S. woman president, but as a great U.S. president. As for the "woman thing"?Me, I'm voting for Hillary not because she's a woman—but because I am.Labels: politics
