I have been agonizing about who to vote for on Super Tuesday. I am really excited about Hil and about Obama...and my dream would be to have both of them on the ticket.
But alas, I have to make a choice, and thus I have.
I am voting for Obama, and the debate helped me decide.
Two things:
- The war. I completely understand Hil's previous explanation of why senators should give authority to go to war prior to tough negotiations with a foreign belligerent (and we did NOT know that GW Bush was such a DOMESTIC belligerent at the time). After all, without muscle to back the words, Hussein would have never agreed to let the inspectors back in. I understand that.
But Hil did not make that case in tonight's debate, she made the "big scary Hussein" case. Hil, who should have understood back then how CONTAINED he really was.
Obama is right, we need someone to be right on day one. She made a logical vote based on historical precedent, but she did not stick to that story. She fumbled in the debate. And that will mess her up in the general against McCain. The Dems need to be right on this issue.
- Immigration. Barack Obama said we shouldn't scapegoat immigrants for lost jobs, then Hil jumped right in to discuss one African-American man's belief (someone she met) that he lost his job due to illegal immigration. Ugly use of a wedge issue to divide two vulnerable populations, I thought.
Anything else? Not really. A part of me is scared that we will lose the opportunity to have a great woman in the WH, but that risk is there with Obama too. Although he is young, who really knows what will happen between now and the next election where we have a non-incumbent? This may also be his only opportunity.
It's close, it's really close. But I have to vote for one of them.
In the end, I'll fight hard for the winner. But for now my vote goes for Barack Obama.