With Super Tuesday approaching, I realize I need to make a decision on this whole nomination parade quick. Hillary or Obama, Hillary or Obama, Hillary or Obama?
These are the platform issues that I am most passionate about, in no particular order:
- getting out of the war in Iraq
- expanding gay rights to include, at least, civil unions
- creating a universal health care system
- protecting women's right of pro-choice
Iraq
Obama: Hopes to remove all troops from Iraq by 2013, but no pledge. (Sep 2007)
Clinton: Push Pentagon to start planning for Iraq withdrawal. (Aug 2007)
Gay Rights
Obama: Voted NO on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
Clinton: Positive about civil unions, with full equality of benefits. (Aug 2007)
Health care
Obama: Believes health care is a right, not a privilege for the few. (Sep 2004)
Clinton: "I want to be the health care president." (Sep 2007)
Abortion
Obama: Supports Roe v. Wade. (Jul 1998)
Clinton: "Keep abortion safe, legal and rare." (Jan 1999)
They're pretty much the same on each of these issues, which is why this is such a tough choice for me. I don't really like Hillary's personality so much and how she's using dirty tactics and low blows to attack Obama, and also a history of things like this is a concern. But I do like her experience level as a politician and her enthusiasm for universal healthcare and ending the war quickly.
I think Obama is very charming, smart, passionate, and will be a new and refreshing type of leader. I like that he was a civil rights lawyer and he's very persistent on how ridiculous it is to deny gays equal rights. I worry that he's not experienced enough, and I've watched Hillary make him look like a little boy during the debates...if he can't stand up to her, how will he stand up to rest of the world?
In the end though, my stepmother, DEMOCRAT EXTRAORDINAIRE, actually said that if Hillary wins the nomination, she will be voting Republican this year. The image of that is seriously unfathomable to me. Not to say I can't stand up to the influences of others, but if you knew how hardcore my stepmother is about the Democratic party, you'd be nervous about voting for Hillary too.
I'm declaring BARACK OBAMA as my choice for the Democratic nomination...but if Hillary wins it, I'll still vote for her too.
Etch-a-sketch portraits from Etchasketchist's photostream on Flickr. Pretty amazing stuff, check him out.
10 comments:
the hillary experience thing is a bunch of brainwashing bullshit that her campaign is trying to push. hillary was a first lady for eight years and then a senator from 2001 to the present. claiming "first lady" as experience is complete bullshit-- my mom has technically been the "first lady" of several cities since 1983 and she doesn't know the first thing about running a city and she's brilliant. obama has experience as a community organizer in chicago, eleven years in the state senate and three years in the US senate. edwards doesn't have much experience either (i think six years in the US senate) but hillary feels the need to attack obama because she knows he is a threat. UGH! i think obama is brilliant and very well spoken and most of the debates i saw with him (with the exception of the last one), i thought he was better than her. i may be a little biased though...
i refuse to vote republican but i'd have to agree with your mom-- i guess i just won't be voting if she gets the nod. or maybe if there is an independent i will vote for them. blech.
also, will you be participating in the caucus?!
It kills me to say that I won't be participating in the caucus. I can't get out of work. A terrible excuse, but a real excuse.
I have never ever liked the Clintons.
Also, there is the whole idea of the Bush>Clinton>Bush>Clinton thing. That is a bad, bad dynasty and I think our founding fathers would be rolling in their graves.
I'm not really all that smitten with any candidate on either side. Obama is up there, but I don't like his tax policy. I did celebrate when I heard Giuliani dropped out. That guy could have very well been Satan. I think we would have been worse off than we have been with Bush. McCain is a shell of his former self, but Romney and Huckabee don't seem half bad I guess. Outside of the run-of-the-mill empty and mind-numbing political rhetoric, they seem pretty moderate.
Oh well, we will see.
I really like McCain, but he's too old...and even though he's quite moderate, I just really want to see the boot given to the Republican party...I've been in college too long to not be a hardcore wacky liberal at this point.
I agree about the BCBC...it's time for something new. Really if you think about it, it's been the same 'ol people in the White House for almost 30 years if you count Bush Sr's terms as vice president.
this has nothing to do with presidential candidates. I just think the picture you have for your profile is really great.
see you at all-staff
Thanks! My bf took that photo of me when we were in Memphis last summer before heading to Graceland. Kind of a day of dead people, but it was fun!
Indeed, I'm glad your comparisons have led you to push for Obama. I actually didn't really think you were considering Hilary for some reason.
As for her "experience" in the white house, I'm with Laura, it is a bunch of BS, it's almost like she's using that as her main ploy over Obama. "Um yeah, so we support a lot of the same things, but just so you know, I totally used to live in the White House, so I'm used to it. That's why I'm better than Obama. Vote for me." - Hilary
The only person that really counted as having experience in the white house for 8 years during that time period is Bill.
As for Hilary planning to have troops out before Obama was planning on it, it is just another ploy to try and tell people she's better by acting like super women. Realistically, Obama is the only one being logistic. It's going to take a bit of time to get outta the fucked up mess Bush has put us in.
I say go for the one with the realistic views, not the one with grandiose ideas.
P.J. O'Rourke put it very well, I think, at least from a clever chauvinist perspective:
"Being a Republican, I'm backing Hillary Clinton. Because she could lose. The reason is not that she's a woman. The reason is that she's the particular woman who taught the 4th grade class that every man in America wished he were dead in. Hillary Clinton is Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown. Hillary Clinton is 'America's ex-wife.'
"A man can be a Democrat to the core, going into the voting booth to pull the lever with the donkey label no matter what. Then he sees Hillary's name on the ballot. And it all comes back to him . . . the first marriage . . . the time he came home a little late, it wasn't even midnight, and he'd only had four or five beers, and she threw his bowling ball down the storm sewer."
I can't fucking stand Hillary Clinton. My anti-establishment friends talk shit on the fact that Obama got the nod from Ted Kennedy, but at least, unlike Clinton, he will under no circumstances be supported by Ann Coulter.
Ha! Nice. Yeah I was a little baffled by Mann Coulter's backing myself...America's ex-wife. Way to sum it up.
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