I've let it be known here and elsewhere that I would not vote for Hillary Clinton in the '08 general election. In truth, I let my emotions get the best of me. I do not like Hillary, though I was a fan in the 90's. I was also a big fan of Bill Clinton; in my predominantly Republican high school, I was the only one I knew of that endorsed and voted for Bill.
Since Hillary's Senate run, I have felt myself grow more distanced. It seemed to me that everything she did or said was first screened through this question: "Will this make me President?" Especially with the way she tacked Left from her endorsement of the Iraq War by slowly upping her rhetoric to fit the anti-war stuff we've been saying all along.
In the middle of this came Barack Obama. I am proud to live in Chicago, and in 2003 was siding with Blair Hull in the Senate Primary. Obama convinced me to vote for him, which I gladly did, then and in the 2004 election.
Seeing the Clintons and their surrogates attack Obama from all directions has done nothing but further galvanize me against them. In this heat, I've been telling people since New Hampshire that I would not vote for her in the GE.
I was wrong. I recognize that her policy positions are very similar to Obama's, and that she would probably appoint better Supreme Court Justices than McCain. I can and will put up with another slimy politician in the White House as long as there are tangible benefits to the country.
It still seems to me that it would be even better if we put somebody in office that wasn't just power-hungry. Even if Obama doesn't become the Democratic nominee, I am POSITIVE that he would us his new national presence to evoke SOLID change in the Senate through LEADERSHIP and the Legislative process. If Clinton were to not become the nominee, then it's business as usual.
In a glut of candidate diaries, I am not expecting anyone to sit through and read this one. I just want to be on the record that I will vote for HRC in the GE, even though I have said differently in the past.
Oh... and I've already voted early (not often) for Obama in the Illinois primary.