Letters to the Editor

• Still the best potential to be a great and not just a good president

  [Read the article: Barack Obama's nouvelle vague]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  I worry that Clinton's best hope is to be a president as good as her husband. She may never be as popular, but maybe she would be a (slightly) better president than he was. Edwards might be as good as Kennedy? If Kennedy had survived. Maybe at worst like Carter? Which is not a put-down.

  But who will Obama be like?

  Joe Canston wrote earlier this month a suggestion that Obama hand over his passport to prove that he has traveled abroad in Europe. Is he serious?

  Shapiro suggests that Obama doesn't know his audience because he talked about slumming it at Target (who said he was slumming it?).

  Kerry was the candidate most popular in Europe. Clinton served on the board of Walmart for years. The soundchamber keeeps echoing.

  In simple terms, why I'm voting for Obama:

  he is the son of a hippie and an African absentee father who actually stands by his voting record on every issue:

  http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm

  For him to be in this race at all is nothing short of historically miraculous--, and yet I also believe that he has the best chance of the top contenders of being a great, not just a good president. I base this on his voting record, his books, his speeches that I have heard, and his willingness (and desire) to speak to people he doesn't agree with here and elsewhere in the world, in order to advance the progressive agenda that he (like the other leading contenders) and the American people deeply need and want. My top three issues: Iraq war (end it!), the environment (save it!) and healthcare (reform it!).

  There are worse reasons to support a candidate, right?

  Permalink Tuesday, January 1, 2008 05:54 PM

• thank-you AKA Smith

  [Read the article: Barack Obama's nouvelle vague]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  and for the list of issues that matter to you...

  I agree and I add two:

  meeting world protocol as the vast majority scientists suggest because we have the important opportunity right now to help protect the planet against further environmental damage through "climate change"--waiting isn't going to make it easier.

  and corporate reform including not allowing corporations to set up shop on what Naomi Klein discusses as Export Processing Zones where there is no accountability....people from the third world work in prison-like conditions (also see maquiladoras) without the right to organize. women are fired for being pregnant. We need to do this to protect our reputation in the world, and we should just do it because it's right. Treating people like animals is not the goal of a democracy and it should not be the objective of democratic capitalism either. I support sustainable growth and corporate reform in this nation and globally.

  I'm not sure I completely trust any of the candidates on all of these issues, but I "fell for" Obama when I read his book "Dreams from my Father" so I think I understand the way he thinks and I trust him do the best he can with these issues and to be authentic. (btw I'm not a rich liberal either, AKA Smith....I'm currently a temp worker/substitute high school teacher in a large city where I'm just scraping by. I worry about the poor too....and partially because I'm not homeless, but I'm not so removed from being homeless either. And thanks to horrible health care bills I have an ugly credit report at the moment.) I guess I should work on my resume instead of sitting glued to my computer over these issues. But thanks for your thoughts. If Edwards (or Clinton) receives the nomination, I'll gladly give him (or her) my support. I just really believe WE need to win. Anyone who believes in prayer is lucky at this point. Go to it.

  Permalink Tuesday, January 1, 2008 08:13 PM