Making my political decision
Jan. 28th, 2008 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexI don't usually 'do' politics here. Mostly there's a clear choice and I've made up my mind - I can't recall ever being this undecided this late in the primary season. Events of the past week have made up my mind, though.
Come February I'll be voting for Obama.
I find all of the Democratic candidates preferable to any of the Republican. On the Repub side only McCain strikes me as even vaguely tolerable. I may disagree with him, but he speaks straight truth as far as he can. Watching him in Michigan telling unpleasant truths to auto workers whom he had to know would just go out and vote for Romney's lies was painful. I don't see any third-party candidates worth my attention.
Of the Dems, there are a couple of back-of-the-pack names I think have good positions on many issues, mostly Dodd and Kucinich. But neither is going to be nominated. That leaves Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
Edwards doesn't make the cut because I find him too strident and angry. Not that he doesn't have a right to this, but I don't think more anger is going to help us at this point. The next US President is going to have to do SO much work to rebuild our national and international integrity. I think either Obama or Clinton could do this and both have put positive and hopeful themes into their campaigns.
EDIT: cos linked to this blog entry about Obama's attempt to bring a conflict-resolution mentality to the race. This kind of thing, if it wins, could be tremendously powerful in an American president.
I like Mrs. Clinton as a person. I think she did about as well as she could have during the Lewinsky mess. I think she's done a decent job in the Senate (though she was dead wrong on the war and needs to come clean on that). I also like Obama. I agree he's less experienced than ideal and I wish he was more willing to address black issues up front. I think he should have been the one to put racial issues (such as income inequity, profiling, etc) on the table and address them. The fact that he's now on the defensive on these issues annoys me.
The deciding factor for me is how the Clinton campaign is running things, and the attacks on Obama. I believe Mrs. Clinton is executing a carefully planned strategy; she's scripted from the get-go. And we've just had 8 years of experience with a President who surrounds himself with vile, evil handlers and managers who script attacks on opponents. I don't like how Mrs. Clinton is focus-grouping her campaign rather than leading it. Obama may stumble, but at least he stumbles because he's trying to lead, rather than using a protective coccoon of attack dogs and scriptwriters. Mr. Clinton should be ashamed of his performance these past few weeks - he's played a major part in losing my vote.
Commentary welcome, as always.
Come February I'll be voting for Obama.
I find all of the Democratic candidates preferable to any of the Republican. On the Repub side only McCain strikes me as even vaguely tolerable. I may disagree with him, but he speaks straight truth as far as he can. Watching him in Michigan telling unpleasant truths to auto workers whom he had to know would just go out and vote for Romney's lies was painful. I don't see any third-party candidates worth my attention.
Of the Dems, there are a couple of back-of-the-pack names I think have good positions on many issues, mostly Dodd and Kucinich. But neither is going to be nominated. That leaves Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
Edwards doesn't make the cut because I find him too strident and angry. Not that he doesn't have a right to this, but I don't think more anger is going to help us at this point. The next US President is going to have to do SO much work to rebuild our national and international integrity. I think either Obama or Clinton could do this and both have put positive and hopeful themes into their campaigns.
EDIT: cos linked to this blog entry about Obama's attempt to bring a conflict-resolution mentality to the race. This kind of thing, if it wins, could be tremendously powerful in an American president.
I like Mrs. Clinton as a person. I think she did about as well as she could have during the Lewinsky mess. I think she's done a decent job in the Senate (though she was dead wrong on the war and needs to come clean on that). I also like Obama. I agree he's less experienced than ideal and I wish he was more willing to address black issues up front. I think he should have been the one to put racial issues (such as income inequity, profiling, etc) on the table and address them. The fact that he's now on the defensive on these issues annoys me.
The deciding factor for me is how the Clinton campaign is running things, and the attacks on Obama. I believe Mrs. Clinton is executing a carefully planned strategy; she's scripted from the get-go. And we've just had 8 years of experience with a President who surrounds himself with vile, evil handlers and managers who script attacks on opponents. I don't like how Mrs. Clinton is focus-grouping her campaign rather than leading it. Obama may stumble, but at least he stumbles because he's trying to lead, rather than using a protective coccoon of attack dogs and scriptwriters. Mr. Clinton should be ashamed of his performance these past few weeks - he's played a major part in losing my vote.
Commentary welcome, as always.
