Letters to the Editor
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Undecided '08
Of course, everyone who is decided and is an ardent supporter of either candidate will try to convince you whom to vote for.
An individual needs to be objective and clear all the media hype from the emotions and decide
intelligently who will be the best leader on health care, education, women's issues, job creation and leaving Iraq and Afghanistan as independent and free countries able to solve their own problems.
As I have watched all the debates including listening to the radio debate on MPR and watched the news interviews, I have clearly made up my mind. It is not for me to convince you, but for you to decide on the facts when honestly presented.
Unfortunately, there has been way too much hype and favoritism by the media that this might to difficult to do.
May you make the choice that you hopefully will not regret in the future.
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What a great piece!!!
This article really sums it up for me. I, too, have always known who I was going to vote for and was happy to tell anyone who asked about it. I, too, was an Edwards supporter and a life long feminist. Ms Traister has summed up my feeling exactly and this time for the first time I go to vote with a heavy heart in an election that undoubtly is the most important in my lifetime. Thank you Ms Traister for putting my feelings into words.
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Hillary was First Lady for 8 years
There simple is no denying that Hillary Clinton would not be where she is were she not married to Bill Clinton. I don't see a vote for her as a vote for the first woman Pres. I see a vote for her as a vote for someone who grew to national prominence as someone else's wife. Of course she's very smart, knows the issues, could handle the job. I believe she could do a decent job. If she's the nominee, I'll vote for her in the fall.
However - as a professional woman myself who never had a single door opened for me on the basis of family connections - I reject the notion that a vote for Hillary is a "vote for women." A vote for Hillary is a vote for a woman who used to be First Lady and who became Senator of a large state she had never lived in because of her prominence in that position as someone's wife!
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Should I vote for Clinton or Obama
Rebecca,
At the risk of sounding too Clintonesque, I feel your pain. But perhaps I can help you out a bit. Like you, I am an avowed feminist. If Hillary Clinton is our party's nominee come November, I will be very proud to cast my vote for her. Certainly she stands head and shoulders above any Republican candidate. And quite frankly, anyone with only half a head would stand above our current president.
Instead of casting your vote for "the first woman" or first "African American" president tomorrow, why not cast your vote for the candidate that appeals most to our nation's youth?
I was among the first crop of 18 year olds who got the right to vote in the 1972 Presidential elections. Barack Obama's candidacy reminds me of that time when as a young person, I truly believed that my generation could change the world. And in many ways we did. Our challenges to the political establishment ended an unjustified war, sent a rogue president packing and agitated for civil rights, reproductive rights and equal rights for women.
In Pennsylvania, we'll have to wait to vote until our primary on April 22nd. But when that day comes, my household, which includes my 83 year old mother-in-law, my 60 year-old husband, my 24 year old son and me (53 years old), will cast our votes for the candidate that appeals to young voters. Barack Obama's seemingly impossible candidacy resonates with the young because it comes at the singular time in one's life when you are optimistic enough to believe that all things are possible.
Obama's candidacy allows us to break from from the identity politics of the past. He makes us believe that government can actually work in a way that doesn't draw red state/blue state lines in the sand. He offers the possiblity of at least a truce in the nasty cultural wars.
We're casting our vote for the candidate that appeals to the young and the young at heart. And I gotta tell you, it feels really good to feel young again.
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Dear Rebecca,
Here is one thing you should consider: We live in an increasingly shrinking world. Your vote will not only set the course of American policy for years to come, it will send a message to the world about who America is and who we want to be.
Bearing that in mind, imagine the message we will be sending to the rest of the world if we elect a black man who has a Muslim-sounding name. The one thing a vote for Obama does that a vote for Clinton does not, is that is sends an immediate message to the rest of the world that WE HAVE CHANGED and that we are ready to embrace a new world -- to reach out to the Muslim word and have real discussions about what it means to be a human on this planet at this point in time.
We CAN change the world if we have the courage of our convictions.
Yes, we can.
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Translation: I will probably vote for Hillary because she's a woman and IK would be a traitor if I didn't.
Nobody who has read Traister's other articles should be surprised by this.
We get Bush-lite, but hey, at least she's a woman.
Right?
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Should I Vote for C or O?
Without a doubt, the best democratic candidate in 2008 is John Edwards, just as he was in 2004.
The first Political Correctness presidential campaign, dominated by identity politics--women for Hillary, blacks and their idolators for Obama, and veterans for McCain present horrendous choices for Americans at a time--if ever--when issues should dominate the election. Of these three, there's no one a sane person will want to vote for in November.
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Race not a barrier in this election
Ask yourself this. Based on Obama's record of accomplishments in the Senate and his level of national experience, would you vote for him if he were a white woman? Would you vote for him if he were a white man? Now tell me that race is not hugely important components in his popularity. Gender and race are the biggest detriments to Hillary. HRC's biggest assets are her proven track record of results for the American people. Don't we think about past accomplishments any more when we elect a president?