Monday, February 4, 2008

'We are not as divided as our politics suggest'

Now that my man Kucinish is out of the race, I don't know how I'm going to vote tomorrow. I've been getting letters from friends encouraging me to vote for Obama. One sent this very compelling MoveOn video.

His "Yes We Can/Si, Se Puede" message is powerful. But it's really Cesar Chavez's message from years ago. What's funny is that I heard a story on NPR about how Chavez's United Farm Workers endorsed Hillary Clinton.

And of course because I linked you to it earlier you read the NYT op-ed by Gloria Steinem about Hillary. I think Steinem makes the most compelling argument to vote for Hillary of all that I've heard.

A colleague said something to me to day about how he's voting for Obama because Hillary is dishonest. He said, "She's a politician; we need change."

Um, okay. But actually what we need to get out of this fucking quagmire Bush has snared us in is a politician.

Also, as you may know I majored in Political Science back in the day. I had a professor who said that to get elected to any office outside the city council, you have to lie, exaggerate the truth, minimize the truth, or just keep your actually views to yourself. Politics requires "creative truth telling." It's an unfortunate fact.

Everyone's got a seedy underbelly. Barack hasn't been around long enough to show us his. Hillary's been around long enough to show us about 10 different shades of her seedy underbelly. I wonder if the devil we know is better than the devil we don't?

But then there's Ann's McCain loving neighbor putting an Obama sign on his yard. That's a powerful statement.

I want a message of hope. I want someone who can rally the people and excite them about what we can do. I don't want the hawkish bullshit. But then, I absolutely want an experienced politician who knows how to run a show to clean up the fucking mess around here.

What's a girl to do?

I'll decide in the voting booth.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

"I absolutely want an experienced politician who knows how to run a show to clean up the fucking mess around here."

Well put and I agree.

February 4, 2008 at 10:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you want an "experienced" politician whose weathervane votes helped get us into this mess in the first place, like Senator Clinton? An "experienced" politician whose solution to the health care crisis is passing laws forcing everyone to buy coverage from her cronies in the insurance industry? An "experienced" politician that McCain will beat the pants off of, because he is more "experienced" and less reviled?

I want a different kind of politician: a bold, honest, above-the-board candidate who inspires people from all walks of life; a positive, hopeful new candidate with proven ability to unify America across party lines.

February 7, 2008 at 12:11 PM  

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