Okay, enough of this parsing of Geraldine Ferraro's statements. He is who he is. I was fine with a Hillary presidency if she proved she could pull enough coalitions together to actually win. I really was. But when I heard him speak I felt proud and alive with the possibility of an invigorated democracy. Like many Americans who heard the 2004 keynote address, I felt that okay, you talk a good game but you have to show me that you can deliver over the length of the nomination process. Well, he has. He has taken hits and disappointing finishes and he keeps rebounding and focussing on the ultimate goal. He is a once in a lifetime politician.
I liked Edwards but he was saddled by the pro-war vote and I worried that every position that he had taken was in opposition to his voting record. I also hated the fact that during the '04 campaign he didn't call out Cheney for egregiously lying to his face. Honestly, that vote is still a big factor in not allowing me to get behind Hillary. If Bush duped her then how is that a reflection on her judgement now? But as a very white guy I am not looking to get behind a candidate based on anything other than how I think their judgement would affect their decisions in the Whitehouse. Please, I don't think Obama gets any more points for having an African American father than any other candidate has a claim to anything else. I listen and I like the fact that he is reasonable and open to opposing arguments. That point in the last debate where he conceded the point to Hillary and both denounced and rejected the views of Farahkan seemed eminently reasonable to me. I want a candidate who is considered and reasonable and lately Hillary seems to be flying off the handle. My mother adamantly supports Hillary and I understand her point of view. She believes the world is in such a mess that we need someone with the most experience to pull us out of it. But I also know that Hillary would undoubtedly be a drag on the down ballot races and would be less likely to get us a working majority to enact the legislation that we need to make things happen. Obama's embrace of the 50 state strategy would help us to remake the current status quo in Congress that has curtailed any hopes of a progressive agenda. I hope that most Americans are looking out for the best interests of their country, (I realize that current elections speak otherwise), but I have an enduring hope that people when given the time and resources to consider can transcend the notions of race and gender and make a judgement based on their own considerable reason. Frankly, it is the only hope for this country.