Going with Obama

With Tuesday's Primary coming up tomorrow, I have been forced to make up my mind as to whom to vote for. It was surprisingly difficult. Months ago -- many months ago -- I had pegged Edwards as my candidate. Kucinich, of course, was really my candidate, but Edwards presented an electable option for me: straight-up-progressive on pretty much every domestic issue (hell, he set the domestic agenda for the entire Democratic campaign); made a regrettable war vote in '02, but understood enough to apologize for that vote, and to advocate for a modestly-aggressive withdrawal plan. Not perfect, but I was very excited about supporting him. Knowing that he had not been coronated by the media, I figured he was a longshot but I also figured that I would be pleased with pretty much any one of the dozen folks who were standing on the Democratic debate stage. But now that we're down to Clinton and Obama, two candidates that I desperately want to be excited about, I find myself decidedly unexcited about both.

Hillary is too hawkish, too poll-driven, too Clinton for me. On the other hand, given her political skills and her incredible command of the issues, she is probably the person still standing in either party most qualified to assume the presidential mantle. She is on target on many issues (health care, global warming), but her war vote, her campaign handling of her war vote, and her continued war-ish votes concern me deeply. Finally, she's a woman, the significance of which should not be dismissed, and cannot be overstated -- what a radical change it would be in our society if the President was a woman! I would love for Max and Eliza to grow up in that kind of society. But four (or eight) more years of the Clintons? I would listen to Bill give State of the Union addresses, and I would hang on every word, feeling truly inspired. And then there would be the inevitable letdown (Don't Ask Don't Tell, Welfare "reform"), and the squirming over every little controversy, no matter how true or contrived (by the vast right wing conspiracy which, by the way, certainly existed, you were dead-on about that Hillary). I'm not sure I can stomach another term or two of that if there's a presentable alternative.

Barack is too centrist, way too centrist for me. It seemed to take him forever to come out with a platform on anything, and everything seems like a compromise (Paul Krugman explained in The Times today that although universal healthcare may not be achieved under a Clinton administration, there's no way it could happen under Obama). Much to his credit, he was against the war from the get-go (though, having been out of office, had less of a political consideration to make in opposing it). And he's a person of color -- talk about radical changes in society, and the world that I want Max and Eliza to know and understand. But the guy can give a speech. I feel like not only could he lead this country through difficult times and perhaps make great headway in restoring this country's credibility, but he could inspire a whole generation to greatness. Oh, and my friend David's father, Richard Danzig, is an advisor to the Obama campaign. Given that Danzig's name was bandied about as a possible Secretary of Defense had Kerry won the election (he was Sec'y of the Navy under Clinton), I can only assume that he would be up for similar positioning in an Obama administration. Having a connection to someone like that, no matter how wafer-thin and tenuous, can't hurt if, for example, they reinstate the draft and expand it to include myopic 38-year-olds with bad knees.

So, tomorrow it's Obama for me. I wish I was more pumped about it, but maybe my excitement will grow over time. After 7+ years of the current nightmare, I crave an option to be pumped about.