Letters to the Editor
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As a note:
Both Obama and Hillary are centrists. Hillary, is running on being a tough centrist on the issues, and Obama wants to find some middle ground with the Republicans.
They are of course, both dumbasses for thinking this will solve anything - it is exactly the same mentality which allowed the Republicans to yank America rightwards into what it is today.
That said, between the two Obama shows the more promise because he has the magic ingredients Hillary lacks - a cool head and charisma. The former means he can think clearly when other people are panicking, the latter means that while his stance is a compromise from the outset - he will occassionally get things through.
Hillary does not have the charisma to get things through without compromising further, and her position is already a compromise.
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Thank You Rebecca
I've been feeling the same unease. An Edwards supporter, I too had hoped to avoid the Clinton Obama clash until it was over.
I will vote on Tuesday. All my lefty friends are psyched about Obama--but I'm still not sure why--he's young, yes, and he's handsome, yes, but do his policies reflect mine?
A hand-made sign on the side of the road up here says "She voted for the war." I can't get around that--but she did try to fix health care--my other most important policy issue.
Many people want Obama because they won't have to listen to the "Clinton mess" for another for years. I have to tell them that the Clinton mess was created by and is maintained by the brainless MSM in thrall to the republican noise machine.
In a deep way, I want revenge for the eight years of national shame brought on us by the Bush junta. Should I let this desire for vengeance decide which candidate I vote for? Neither Clinton nor Obama seem to be interested in exposing the republicans for what they are: traitors.
Being an agnostic, I don't expect much help in the voting booth, but if it comes, I'd be grateful.
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Identity Politics
How exactly was choosing to vote for the "white guy" not identity politics? Do you think that "white" isn't racialization? Is "guy" not gendered?
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good night texas
Dear Texan -
let me help you to bed with a fairy tale -
Once upon a time there was a election and if the American people would have elected me - and I like you and Bush always thought Sadam was an evil terrible dictator - I probably would
have hired Karl Rove - and I would have send him down to "Arabia" - I was there - and I had a great time because
I had a lot of "mullah" (money)and you can buy nearly everything for "mullah" on an Arabian bazar.And so Karl Rove probably would have returned with one of this wonderful "Roveplans" to just "bribe" the right people to
get rid of this terrible dictator!
I realize this would have been really a ridiculos and idiotic plan but the other one (you know "THE WAR"!!!) was not much better!
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OH MEH
meh meh Meh. Some day my prince or princess will come: our children will in their lifetimes see better black men and better white women run for this office. They will see better white men or latin women run too. It's possible there will one day be better Republicans than these compromised Democrats!
One small comfort of being a white male, with those oft-smothering institutions that uphold us, are those sports metaphors always ready at hand. 755 home runs and 61 in a season were unbeatable. Never again will there be a better chance for a team to go undefeated than there was for the 1972 Dolphins. Wait. Never again will there be a chance for a team to go undefeated the way the Patriots-- Wait.
Greatness comes back. To be supplanted over and over and over again. You will get a clear choice one day (if you believe like I do, it will come so quickly no matter who the GOP nominee is). We will get to cheer greatness. Or our children will. Does it matter if you don't? Greatness always comes back.
It's a quiet voting booth. If you're that torn, believe me no one cares or notices if you just. flip. a. coin.
What is the sound of one shoulder shrugging? meh.
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Complete Ambivalence
I am one of those undecided voters Ms. Traister is writing about. I have been following all of the debates and have had countless conversations with my friends, ALL of them die-hard Obama supporters. Yet, I am still sitting on the fence.
Problem is, with all of the momentum that Obama seems to have, I am just not convinced that he can pull of the massive amount of repair work that is required to put us on the right track in the next four years. Yeah, Hillary could be a deadlock president. She has also been known to change policy tracks for convenience, and her saber-rattling on Iran was just ....disturbing.
More than anything, though, it is the scolding and meanness that my Obama supporting friends deploy when discussing this with me that keeps me on the fence. The harder they push me, the less I am buying into their point of view. Frankly, the best thing they could do is to calmly layout why he is better than Hillary. Passion and charisma alone will not get your policy ideas turned into a reality. What I hear and read does not have me convinced. There is something to be said for the machine politics that Hillary represents: it gets sh*t done.
My one Hillary supporting friend put it to me this way: 'You have the luxury this time around of voting with your heart, far be it from me to tell you how you should feel one way or the other.' That was the best sell I have heard in weeks. Thank you for not calling me names and for not being a jerk about it.
Really, I would be perfectly happy with either candidate going to the general election. But thanks to the Obama supporters that I know, I would rather vote for neither than be swayed by a bunch of a-holes that I thought were my friends. In the end, politics is also personal. The best thing Obama supporters can do for their cause is to be kind to those of us that are still considering their options. If Obama does take the nomination, whether or not I vote for him, I want to be happy about it, not bitter. If you support Obama, and want him to win the general election, and want the support of all Democrats to get there, then don't be a mean freak about it, okay?