One For Hope
Oh, it's trite and simplistic to put too much into a speech, a song and a feeling, but with too much in the way of packaged, calculated, bloodless passion (if any at all) from candidates, I can't bring myself to shoot down what seems like a genuine, JFKesque message of hope and pride.
The video itself isn't really a great match for my musical tastes, and I worry how alienating all of the Black faces will be for some people, but I'm trying to keep locked on the message.
Here in PA, our primary isn't until April 22nd (ludicrous) so aside from discussing it I'm relegated to the status of bystander as Tuesday's huge spread of elections approaches. (Here's a handy, interactive map of the primary contests one can check out by state or date.)
There is no one on the Republican side of candidates I could conceivably vote for.
None of the independent candidates I've seen have appealing platforms upon inspection.
I never just sit an election out.
So, I'll be voting for the Democratic candidate come November, warts and all.
A Hillary Clinton candidacy is, at best, not one I can get much enthusiasm for. Moreover, rightly or wrongly, Hillary has been so vilified and demonized by the right that I'm afraid of how much her presence in the race would galvanize those opposed to her (or opposed, at least, to whatever Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, or one of any number of religious hacks have told people she stands for) to come out and vote against her. Some indications are that the religious Right, which is mostly unenthusiastic about a McCain presidency, may very well come out in strength to support him because they've been convinced Hillary's the anti-Christ.
I'd feel far, far better about supporting an Obama campaign. Sure, the devil's in the details, but we need something to reach for, not the defeatism of "that won't work" nor "things will work out if we cut taxes, return to God and let the Free Market solve the problems." We've had far too much of that B.S.
Oh, it's trite and simplistic to put too much into a speech, a song and a feeling, but with too much in the way of packaged, calculated, bloodless passion (if any at all) from candidates, I can't bring myself to shoot down what seems like a genuine, JFKesque message of hope and pride.
The video itself isn't really a great match for my musical tastes, and I worry how alienating all of the Black faces will be for some people, but I'm trying to keep locked on the message.
Here in PA, our primary isn't until April 22nd (ludicrous) so aside from discussing it I'm relegated to the status of bystander as Tuesday's huge spread of elections approaches. (Here's a handy, interactive map of the primary contests one can check out by state or date.)
There is no one on the Republican side of candidates I could conceivably vote for.
None of the independent candidates I've seen have appealing platforms upon inspection.
I never just sit an election out.
So, I'll be voting for the Democratic candidate come November, warts and all.
A Hillary Clinton candidacy is, at best, not one I can get much enthusiasm for. Moreover, rightly or wrongly, Hillary has been so vilified and demonized by the right that I'm afraid of how much her presence in the race would galvanize those opposed to her (or opposed, at least, to whatever Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, or one of any number of religious hacks have told people she stands for) to come out and vote against her. Some indications are that the religious Right, which is mostly unenthusiastic about a McCain presidency, may very well come out in strength to support him because they've been convinced Hillary's the anti-Christ.
I'd feel far, far better about supporting an Obama campaign. Sure, the devil's in the details, but we need something to reach for, not the defeatism of "that won't work" nor "things will work out if we cut taxes, return to God and let the Free Market solve the problems." We've had far too much of that B.S.
Comments
Last night, I attended the Democratic Caucus. Moreover, I brought my soon-to-be-18 daughter to her first real political event.
I like Obama. I have read his policy papers and while I don't agree with everything, I believe he will do a lot of good if elected.
I don't like Hillary Clinton, but at least I can get behind a lot of her policies. I have always felt that her personal life was a total mess, but politically I don't have a lot about her I find objectionable.
So either way, I'm voting Democrat for president this year. So is my daughter.
My older son is turning 18 this year, too, so politics have been even more of an issue at home than normal. It's helping to make this a particularly interesting political year... though as that ancient Chinese curse goes, that's not necessarily a good thing. So far, so good, though.