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Next round of primaries and making my own choice
If you live in a Super Tuesday state and haven't already voted: please don't forget to go and vote!
For the first time since I started voting at age 18, I might cast a presidential ballot that counts -- assuming that the Democratic party primaries go as expected today. I might have to choose between Hillary and Obama. Since neither lines up more directly than the other with my politics, I'll probably end up choosing based solely on electability.
For now, I think Obama is more electable. He seems to wear well with the electorate (the more time he can spend with a group of voters, the more his poll numbers go up) and he doesn't inspire the rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth opposition that Hillary does. It annoys me greatly that the latter is a concern but I'm nervous about running Hillary. I really, really, really don't want another round of Republican presidents, their Supreme Court nominees, their judges, their handling of the economy, their profligate spending and graft, or their flavor of foreign policy.
Happily the Democrats have an amazing wealth of talent. I'd have preferred to vote closer to my morals and had the chance to vote for Kucinich but he has withdrawn. I think Obama would make an excellent Democratic president so, as much as it annoys me that I have to consider the unreasoning and unrelenting hate of the talk radio/right winger branch of the opposition in my vote, it isn't as if I'm having to choose someone I have serious reservations about.
I know a lot of people said they were turned off by the way the two campaigns went at each others' throats in South Carolina but I'm one of those voters who wants to see some toughness in a candidate. I don't ever want to send out a candidate against the Republican machine who refuses to fight or correct gross mischaracterizations. I *liked* seeing Obama stand up for himself. He challenged the much liked former president when he got it wrong. I don't want another guy who will stand for president rather than run. I don't want another Swiftboat election.
I'm still livid at Bill Clinton for injecting race as an issue -- and incredibly disappointed in him -- but I'm glad Obama got the chance to show me the stuff he's made of as a candidate.
For the first time since I started voting at age 18, I might cast a presidential ballot that counts -- assuming that the Democratic party primaries go as expected today. I might have to choose between Hillary and Obama. Since neither lines up more directly than the other with my politics, I'll probably end up choosing based solely on electability.
For now, I think Obama is more electable. He seems to wear well with the electorate (the more time he can spend with a group of voters, the more his poll numbers go up) and he doesn't inspire the rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth opposition that Hillary does. It annoys me greatly that the latter is a concern but I'm nervous about running Hillary. I really, really, really don't want another round of Republican presidents, their Supreme Court nominees, their judges, their handling of the economy, their profligate spending and graft, or their flavor of foreign policy.
Happily the Democrats have an amazing wealth of talent. I'd have preferred to vote closer to my morals and had the chance to vote for Kucinich but he has withdrawn. I think Obama would make an excellent Democratic president so, as much as it annoys me that I have to consider the unreasoning and unrelenting hate of the talk radio/right winger branch of the opposition in my vote, it isn't as if I'm having to choose someone I have serious reservations about.
I know a lot of people said they were turned off by the way the two campaigns went at each others' throats in South Carolina but I'm one of those voters who wants to see some toughness in a candidate. I don't ever want to send out a candidate against the Republican machine who refuses to fight or correct gross mischaracterizations. I *liked* seeing Obama stand up for himself. He challenged the much liked former president when he got it wrong. I don't want another guy who will stand for president rather than run. I don't want another Swiftboat election.
I'm still livid at Bill Clinton for injecting race as an issue -- and incredibly disappointed in him -- but I'm glad Obama got the chance to show me the stuff he's made of as a candidate.
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Our elections are nasty, aren't they? They don't reflect well on any of us: the candidates for behaving as they do, the media for failing to parse the campaigns and their attacks, or the electorate for falling for it. I keep my eye on the end - who it is I want choosing our bureaucracy heads and justices - and try to ignore a lot of what happens. I vote based on issues and the Republicans are so far from my beliefs that I have no hope of ever voting for one for president.
But yeah, the electoral process is very ugly.
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The weirdest thing has been watching my very militaristic, very Republican step-father (former Air Force officer) morph into a global warming expert and passionate advocate for conservation.
I haven't generally discuss politics with them, either, although I'm coming to have more in common with him than with her. That is extremely odd for me.