I'm an independent voter that tends to vote Democrat. Although I have not had a real preference between the two Democratic presidential hopefuls(Hilary and Barack), in the last few week before the end of the primaries, I had been leaning toward Barack.
Now I have always liked Hillary. I truly feel that she was a partner president during Bill's terms -- if not actually running the whole show! And I really feel like the country was well run during the Clinton Era. I personally experienced plentiful, good paying jobs with great benefits at a time in which I had little work experience. I felt that the country was actually the most responsible that it has ever been in my life, and I really appreciated that. I feel that we need to wake up to the fact that the world isn't as big as it used to be, and we need to keep good relations with our neighbors even if we don't see eye-to-eye. We all need the resources of the earth, and future generations do too, so we should be looking at the big picture, not just the here-and-now. And I felt that both of these were being addressed in the 90s. (Yay for us!)
Then came the Eight Years of Devastation. Although I really feel that Hilary has a resume full of getting-things-donedness, I felt, in the end, that she might be a hard sell. She's not always easy to understand, she has made a few big mistakes in her career that make me uneasy (voting for the Patriot Act and voting to go to war in Iraq), and , frankly, she can come off as insincere. But probably her hardest obstacle to overcome is really the big downfall of the Democratic Party in general-- they tell you how honestly crappy things are but don't really make you feel that something can be done about it, so what is the point? Of course, people like me know that even the answers they give to the problems can be depressing, but with a little perseverance by everyone, those answers will get us where we need to be. To most other people, it just sounds like someone pissing on their personal feel-good parade.
Barack, however, has a great way of letting people know that things need to change while remaining positive. He has a special skill that allows him to reach people with the truth in a gentle way that doesn't send them running to their bunkers or shouting "Nay-sayer! You just hate America!" He has a comforting way about him that makes you feel that he has control over the situation and everything will be all right. He has an easy sense of humor that isn't high or low brow. And although he is very articulate speaker that doesn't dumb things down, you can actually understand what the hell he's saying!
Although I do think that Barack does make a more reasonable candidate for the Democrats, I actually would have been satisfied with either one; because having either one of them as the Democratic presidential candidate shows that at least a lot of this country is ready for change. Change that I wasn't sure that I would see in my lifetime. This primary has got to be one of the largest leaps in abolishing inequality in this country. And that is a win for everyone.
3 comments:
All good suggestions, Sylvana. Here in Arizona just as we passed the tomato scare, there is a Pepper scare from the imported variety.
Have a nice weekend! :D
Did you all get home Okay?? How did the rest of your trip go? Got soggy near the end, huh. Come now...Update!!
HUGS!!
Hi, long time no read your blog, but it's brilliant as always. My advice is that Visa is way better than Master Card at those things. I lived in Central Asia for five years and you know what? My card got blocked approximately once every six months when I bought anything. It was pretty amazing. Amazingly retarded, that is.
I hope you had a good trip otherwise.
MichaelManning, I'm actually creating a bigger vegetable garden just because I'd like to know where my food is coming from.
Lyvvie! OMG! What a trip! We thought of you a lot. I have some vacation suggestions for you and your family that you could do in a weekend.
Funny about the rain -- it would rain while we were on the train, ferry or bus, but as soon as we got off and wanted to do something -- it stopped and would even often go the step further to actual sunny. Weird. We're usually not that lucky.
Elizabeth, nice to see you around again. And thanks! I have not been updating regularly anyway due to my computer being ill and being off gallivanting across several island countries recently. We are back now, and my computer has completed some software therapy and parts transplants -- so hopefully I will be able to update more often.