February 22, 2008
The Democratic Debate and My Civic Duty
I’ve been fairly removed from the political sphere for a while. Once I got caught up to the last season of The West Wing and had nothing left to distract me from the unimaginable disaster that is the Bush Administration, I tuned out as a means of self-preservation.
But now things are getting exciting. The 2008 presidential election will be historic: one of the candidates will either be a woman or a person of color. The notion that the President of the United States may for the first time not be an old, rich, white guy pleases me to virtually no end. I’m just so sick of this country being represented by everything that I hate most I could vomit.
In an effort to better inform myself, I watched the Texas Democratic debate in its entirety.
I won’t waste precious time rehashing what the pundits are all talking about. In short, Senator Obama started out nervous and stammering. Seriously, by the time you’re running for president your use of verbal garbage (um, you know, ah) ought to be ironed out of your system. Yeah, Dubya, I’m talking to you, dipshit.
But as the debate rolled on Obama became more confident. Once he gets the chance to start going all church on it he truly shines. Gone was the vagueness of which he has been accused, and his confidence during his rebuttals was stunning.
Senator Clinton, while eloquent and detailed as always, showed herself to be a bit on the humorless side. Her crack about “change you can Xerox” rightfully drew boos from the previously friendly audience. And for any politician to accuse another of cribbing words and lines from someone else is asinine. The “I’m rubber and you’re glue” game is playground crap, and Obama zinged her with his “political silly season” comeback. Brilliant.
Clinton’s closing remarks were outstanding, garnering a standing ovation. But look back at Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign and you’ll find a nearly identical speech. So again her accusation of plagiarism rings of desperation.
Obama seems at times to be blindly optimistic, as when he chided Clinton for going behind closed doors to draft her previous (failed) attempt at universal health care legislation. There is truth to the idea that sometimes that’s how things get done. If “everyone gets a seat at the table” then the political process can get bogged down in line items and bickering.
But if you’re going to aim high and try to instill sweeping changes in not just legislation but in the political process itself, to bring a higher level of discourse to the nation, why not go all the way as Obama hopes to do? I’m a realistic optimist, and I believe that you can’t get what you don’t ask for.
I believe Obama will be more successful at drawing independents, swing voters, and Republicans who may be on the fence after the utter failure their policies have proven themselves to be. And watching the post-debate recap, the token Republican strategist again brought up failures in Bill Clinton’s policies. These people simply will not let go of the idea that the Clintons were the worst thing to happen to this country. I fear this association would doom a Hillary Clinton presidency, and we’d be stuck with John “Matlock! Where’s my pills? 100 years of war! Stop looking at my cancerous, swelling face!” McCain.
Regardless of who wins Texas and Ohio, and thus the nomination, I do feel comfortable endorsing and voting for either one of them. While neither touched on environmental issues, they are both sharp, intellection people who are passionate about education, health care, and social issues. As long as one of them wins the presidency, I think this country will be much better off. Either is capable of assembling a cabinet and cadre of advisors composed of brilliant, compassionate minds who can help them guide this country into a brighter future.
And for the love of all that is good and right, don’t fucking vote Republican. We’ve seen what they’re capable of, and it’s an unmitigated disaster. It’s time for the idiocy to stop.
Back to my site, Retired Time Bomb
I had an interesting discussion over lunch yesterday culminating in a recommendation that candidates be selected via draft and voted for via a combination of reality show/mySpace popularity contest.
Soon. Soon.
Wow. Look at all of the campaign ads on this post!
Those aren’t nearly as good as:
http://hillaryismomjeans.com
and
http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/
thanks for the bike link. my cousin sent that to me and i couldnt stop smiling.
but the truth? those links are coming via mega political post later this week.