Political Statements

ohgod.

— the admin

Shag: Been reading your comments on the blog. You and my husband would get along great (unless of course, you happened to be on opposite sides of an argument!).

Seriously, I’m going to trust y’all to keep yourselves under control — make sure I know if you think anything gets out of line, ’cause I’m not going to watch this thread too carefully (I’ll skim, but unless this gets off-topic I have very little to say).

I am copying the huge-ass comment I left on the blog post, I suppose:

The way I see it, Clinton and Obama’s platforms are virtually identical.

So that leaves personality and viability left to vote on.

And Obama wins those rounds. Not with me, necessarily. There’s something about his speaking style that I find distinctly off-putting. But with the nation as a whole – there are just so many (young) people who are so motivated by him, and that’s a *good* thing, that’s a *fantastic* thing, that people are getting interested and involved and passionate.

And then regarding viability. Personally, there are zero people I know who would say “I am not voting for X because he is black, and I am morally opposed to having a black president, because black people are too weak and too emotional.” On the other hand, I know TONS of people who would say that about a woman. Granted, they are generally people who would vote Republican, but still, they’re votes Clinton’s losing. And generally I’d say fuck those people because their opinion is absolutely ridiculous, but there’s also a whole nother group of people who hate Clinton because of what happened earlier, or because it would continue the Bush-Clinton dynasty. (My roommate explicitly told me that she could never support someone who let her husband get away with cheating on her.) – and ultimately she just seems like such a divisive candidate that it’s maybe not worth it, maybe even if her healthcare plan is better, or if she’s more experienced, or less full of rhetoric.

(As for what I do like, I know I sure liked Joe Biden a hell of a lot. Because the foreign policy ideas of both the remaining Republicans [we must Win, whatever that means!] and the Democrats [we must Pull Out Troops As Fast As Possible, irrespective of the possible consequences!] seem ridiculously naive and ineffective, but that’s something else entirely, I suppose, and completely unfeasible…)

(And regarding healthcare, since I mentioned it earlier – I have an eerie feeling that out of everyone, Mitt Romney’s plan makes the most sense [although I like the idea of socialized medicine a lot too] – it seems like both Clinton and Obama are trying to find some awkward middle ground that just doesn’t make sense … I don’t know that much about economics, so my perspective/opinions are perhaps not well founded, but I feel like you have to either go one way or the other and not try strange middle-of-the-road things that end up getting the worst aspects of both sides of the left-right economic spectrumful of ideas.)

In conclusion, I have no idea whom to support, but I’m glad that you’re secure in your convictions…

I think GWB helped to make a lot of non-political or somewhat political people become much more so, like myself. Everything he does just incenses me. I can’t even listen to him talk anymore, because, as one of my friends says, “Talking, lying!” Ten minutes into the State of the Union address, I was already yelling at the TV. (“What do you mean we have to trust our research scientists?! Since when do *you* support research scientists?! Arrrrrgh!”)

At this point, I’m not looking for a wonk. I kind of don’t care about policy specifics, because I know that those may get compromised into non-existence during the political process. I want someone with vision. Someone with overarching principles who I feel would make Right choices instead of Correct choices (or Bad choices, of course). A wonk with vision would be best, but Al Gore isn’t running. 😉

[edited to fix typo – a principal is a prince and a pal! – oops]

I don’t think there’s any reason to hold one’s nose while voting if you recognize that nobody is perfect, especially nobody viable…

One thing I don’t get is why people like McCain, or more specifically, why people who support him so often seem to argue something to the effect of “well, he’s a vet and he suffered horrible torture in Vietnam, therefore we should elect him!”. To my mind, having survived five years of imprisonment and torture makes one admirable but not necessarily leadership material, especially in a potentially triggering, high-stress job where one is supposed to represent the entire nation to the rest of the world.

Politics in general makes me sad. And cynical.