As a Pennsylvania voter, I have until April 22 to make up my mind. And I didn't care for the rush to coronation that came after Iowa and was fortunately halted by Sen. Clinton winning New Hampshire. I am happy that we've had more time to examine these candidates. I had supported John Edwards, and I am happy to see Sen. Obama adopting more of the Edwards rhetoric on trade and other areas. I hope he follows through.
But I have been wary. And I have until April 22 to decide. :-)
I have researched Sen. Obama, and while I'm not thrilled at the lack of a mandate in his health care plan, apparently it could include a late enrollment penalty and/or other ways to address the same problems.
And his vote for the energy bill seems to have been a home-state-focused vote -- ethanol and coal. By the way, we've got a lot of coal in Pennsylvania and other swing states, and we'd like to use it in a clean way if at all possible. And I forget who pointed it out, but jobs in Appalachia from coal can be considered anti-poverty. (If anything, the Obama vote on energy in 2005 shows he hasn't been planning forever to run for president.)
(And at least he didn't vote for the bankruptcy bill... Ugh.)
Plus no one can hurl at him the charge that devastated Kerry -- "for the war before he was against it." (Which, by the way, is part of the reason I don't think electability is leading us down a primrose path this time.)
But still I was unsure. So what finally pushed me over the fence?
Following on the heels of "those states don't matter" and "look! he wanted to be president in kindergarten!", Team Hillary is offering us ... "look! he and his friend share some lines from speeches!" And Team McCain is giving us "Look! Mrs. Obama isn't proud of America!"
Are you freaking KIDDING me?
I'm 36 years old. I expect to have to live a long time with the results of this year's election. And I deserve better than that -- we all do.
To quote the movie "The American President," "We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them."
No, Obama's not perfect. But he's pretty damn good. Experience? He's got enough for me.
So on April 22, unless he gives me a compelling reason not to, I plan to vote for the 2008 version of the Bill Clinton of 1992 -- Barack Obama. I still believe in a place called hope.