Posted by
animalgirl on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 8:09:46 AM
So continuing my little series (as if anyone cared about my opinion around here :) ) I decided to tackle what I thought of the top-tier Democrats before moving on to second-tier Republicans.
Hillary Clinton
As I have said before, my biggest issues as a voter are executive power, especially these days. Before all else, we must guard against authoritarianism.
And I think Hillary has an authoritarian bent. Not as bad as Rudy, but the worst among the Democrats. Though I admire her accomplishments, I dislike her hunger for power. And I think her time in the Senate has been bad for her--she's cozied up to the same bad guys that I dislike the Republicans for cozying up to. I don't want pharmaceutical company lobbyists having undue influence. She probably had my values back in her Harvard days, but the machine has corrupted her too much.
Besides, I am honestly frightened as to what would happen to this country were she elected presidents. We had several terrorist attacks by right-wingers during the Clinton presidency, including the second worst in our country's history. I am NOT saying all conservatives are terrorists, of course, but there are so many people who hate her with such a rabid hatred they make the Code Pink ladies look like the epitome of rationality. During a Clinton presidency, a federal building would be bombed, I would bet a great deal on it.
I want someone who could unify this country. Now, there are a lot of rabble-rousers out there who will fight unification at all costs, because they make a lot of money off of demonizing liberals and tearing this country down the middle. But Clinton would throw a lot of fuel on that fire.
We can do better.
Barack Obama
He's my guy. I like that he has political experience, but it's not lengthy--careers in politics just corrupt you. I think this country could really use a Constitutional Law expert as a chief executive. I like that he got involved in politics in a very non-glamorous way, as a community organizer on the Southside of Chicago (showing a real desire to serve, not just get glory; the exact opposite of a guy like Thompson, with no real interest in serving this country as an elected representative, just interested in the prestige and attention and perks).
His life story is clearly compelling. I think his experience with Muslims is only a plus--we need someone who can deal with and understand people around the world as HUMAN BEINGS, not someone who reduces anyone non-American into either simplistic provincials or bearded maniacs. In these dangerous times, I think we need someone with a broad understanding of the ins and outs of the various slices of humanity, something that I think Obama offers more than any of the candidates on either side.
Though the usual suspects will have to tear him a new one if he gets nominated (they get paid millions to do so) I do think that he can be a unifying figure. And maybe the country's residual racists would finally realized they lost and give it up.
John Edwards
Not a fan of trial lawyers, dealt with too many of them. I like him last time around because of my preference for Southerners, but he's just too phony. I do like that he talks about some of the issues of poverty (like the large number of 'near-poor' there are in this country, which don't always really show in statistics--the millions that are one financial setback away from plunging into poverty) that the other Democrats won't touch, but it rings a bit hollow from him. My heart breaks for his wife, but not so much that I can support him.