The Obama Biden Ticket - A winning ticket - Source: Obama for President
I could not have been more disappointed as I watched the primaries that ended with the Spring, and saw that my candidate, Hillary Clinton was unable to clinch the nomination.
It is a shame how it all turned out and the ugliness of it all. It turned into a nasty war of race, gender, class, and all sorts of bias. The media didn’t help. And no doubt, in my opinion, gender bias was stronger than racial bias. Some of you may disagree but that is my opinion. And sure, when Obama was declared the winner, I swore I wouldn’t campaign for the guy, nor do anything to help him get elected and turned to my old sympathy for John McCain, and many in my circle felt that way.
The McCain Palin ticket - Source: CNN
It’s been a few months since my huge disappointment and I have been harboring those feelings, especially because I did not see any effort from the Obama campaign to reach out to me as a Hillary supporter, except to ask me for money. I saw their nonchalance in how they handled the VP selection. For the record, I was happy she was not chosen. In my opinion, she deserves to be the #1 in a presidential ticket. But the way they handled it was in my opinion rude and deceitful. It angered me more to think their belief is that we’d have no option but fall into the fold because we’d have no other choice. Some of my black friends who supported Obama from the beginning didn’t help by painting the Clintons as evil, something totally uncalled for.
Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail -- Source: Hillary for President
An enlightened friend of mine finally made sense to me this week as I was lucky enough to be able to watch the events that developed during the democratic convention in Denver.
Hillary’s speech calling for unity –we all knew she would do what she’d have to do—was compelling, but knowing the pressure was on for her to deliver, I was still not convinced into supporting the Obama ticket. Not because I don’t believe in Hillary, but because I believe she’ll do the right thing, regardless of her feelings and I didn’t think the other guy deserved that. As she gave her speech I was busily typing into my blackberry a compelling argument against a dear friend –one of those Obama supporters who vilified the Clintons—listing Hillary’s voting record, and presenting the case why I supported her.
The next day, in the afternoon I watched a historic moment in the convention during the roll call, when the NY State delegation, led by Hillary Clinton called for suspending the roll call and declaring Obama the nominee by proclamation.
NY Delegation with Hillary Clinton calling for proclamation of Obama
During the roll call, watching the states that came before NY, the majority giving a percentage of their vote to Hillary, gave me a dim hope that perhaps she would have enough votes and become the nominee. But when Hillary walked in with the NY delegation and called for the proclamation and for unity, I was utterly touched. I knew I was not the only one with tears in my eyes. I think I finally cried letting out my disappointment when recognizing that my candidate had done the utmost classy move and any remaining hopes of Hillary being elected to president this November were finally dashed. Watching her actions only made me admire her more, but also realize I needed to follow her lead. It was indeed a historic moment.
And then Bill Clinton spoke that evening. Bill Clinton, the man himself, a man who I’m sure was angrier and more disappointed at the way things turned out with our candidate. During the time he was president I wasn’t paying much attention to politics. Things, in my opinion and in my life, were reasonably good for me to worry about what was going on in Washington. It was the equivalent of being a healthy young person. We never pay attention until we develop a life threatening illness and then begin to pay attention. And ever since the race of 2000, I have been paying serious attention to our politics. But before that, during the Bill Clinton era I was somewhat oblivious.
Bill Clinton - Source: Bill Clinton.org
And when Bill Clinton spoke at the convention, he sealed the deal for me. Again, not because I believed in every word he uttered, but he made some points worthy of thought. Those points made me arrive to my own conclusions. Bill –without a doubt — is still a leader, and his call for support of the Obama Biden ticket was so compelling that I actually began to consider supporting the democratic choice, despite my feelings of disappointment for Hillary’s loss and anger against the cockiness and sense of entitlement of the Obama people.
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi - Source Speaker of the House.gov
I thought about the people I like in Washington, Nancy Pelosi, my hero, Hillary and Schumer, my senators, the people in NYS government, starting with David Patterson on down, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Biden, even those who disappointed me such as Ted Kennedy and Bill Richardson, the Spanish hot headed man governing the good ole state of New Mexico. They are democrats who I know are aligned with my beliefs and values, and I thought to myself, “Sure! I may not be crazy about the man who beat Hillary and is at the top of the ticket, but along with him, there will be a plethora of those people I do like, behind him, ready to be part of his team at every level, from Washington on down to our local districts. And I know they’ll work to insure to stop the flow of damage caused by the Bush/Cheney administrations and begin to work on the repair and rebuilding of our great nation.”
Al Gore - He should have been President
Watching all those good democrats together, I thought to myself, regardless of my feelings for the top of the ticket, why should the team suffer because my choice candidate was not chosen?
I know very well what a McCain presidency would mean. He on the other hand, is a man I like, on the top of a ticket with a team behind him a team of people I have no faith in and who in all honesty are considered pretty scary. McCain has made it very clear he will follow the Bush Cheney mindset, and that would mean the possible overturning of important civil freedoms, especially for us women. I am concerned about healthcare since it is so difficult to afford it nowadays, I am concerned about business opportunities and taxes. I paid very high taxes this year and did not even qualify for the damn incentive. I am concerned about help for education (I am thinking about going back to school), social security (my mom is about to retire, will I have to bear the burden because her social security payments won’t be enough?
During the 2000 primaries Al Gore did not excite me. John McCain did. And I was hugely disappointed and angry at the way the Bush people crushed his exciting run for the nomination. Just watching the dirty plays of the republican party, turned me off about anything that had to do with George Bush. So I always harbored admiration for John McCain.
John McCain - Source: MSNBC
So since Hillary lost the nomination, I have been seriously considering supporting McCain, the maverick whom I have admired in so many instances.
But the McCain of today is barely a shadow of the McCain I followed in 2000. I looked at his voting record and it scared me. What’s more it scared me when he said that as president he would place judges more like Alito and Roberts. That would tip the balance of the supreme court to cater to the right wing! Talk about fairness!
What’s more, I saw an interview of Sheryl Crow in CNN this morning. The CNN anchor asked her why was she supporting the democratic ticket. She said something that confirmed I must support the democrats. Sheryl said she approached McCain at a fund raiser a while ago and asked him why have we been so reluctant to sign the Kyoto treaty and hesitant to support the scientific findings behind global warming. According to Sheryl Crowe, his answer was that “Our planet’s better days are behind us”. What???? Oh my God! Is this the kind of thinking we want of our next political leader? A world leader? I’m sure Al Gore would have choked hearing that. This is not the McCain I thought I knew.
And as of the last hour, McCain has selected a new running mate, Sarah Palin. There is no doubt they are going after us, Hillary’s supporters who have been majorly disappointed by the democrat party’s selection.
Sarah Palin -- Source: MSNBC
And I just heard Sarah’s first speech as McCain’s VP pick. She’s beautiful, sounds intelligent and said some things that resonated with me. She recognized Hillary and that clearly was a way to reach out to us.
But let’s take a look at her record. She’s aligned with the Republican mindset and will support John McCain’s decisions. And unfortunately McCain has been aligning himself with the Bush Cheney administration.
So, unfortunately she is not aligned with my democratic values. Will she support the continuous violation of the constitution brought about by the current administration? Will she support the crappy healthcare plan McCain is presenting? Will she support a woman’s right to choose and the right of gay couples to marry and or unite under law? I don’t think so because of her record so far.
As much as my first impression of Sarah is positive, she’s unfortunately in the wrong party. Hillary is very different from her. And I find it insulting of the republicans to think that just because she is a smart feminine leader the Hillary supporters are going to run to support the McCain ticket in the blink of an eye. To them a woman is a woman. They don’t see who Hillary is and what she means to us. How close-minded! Are we going to vote purely on gender? It’s as foolish as those who vote purely on racial issues. The unfortunate thing is that some people have done so and will do that very thing in November. Let’s just hope our vote in the national elections is a smart vote and not an emotional one.
There is too much at stake.
And now that the race has been defined, I can pledge my support to the democratic ticket, regardless of my feelings. I will follow Hillary and Bill’s lead and hope that one day either Hillary or another amazing qualified woman like her will be selected as the nominee and go on to lead us from the White House.
In the meantime, let’s vote democrat this November, if we are really to choose for issues important to us Hillary supporters.
