Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Another Political Post

As all of you must know by now, Barack Obama made history last night by securing enough delegates to clinch the democratic nomination.

Let me start off by saying, I believe this is a monumental moment for our country. We have come a long way from the days of Dr. Martin Luther King, but I do believe we still have a long way to go.

I do believe Barack Obama is the best possible candidate for President of this country, regardless of his race, I just feel that is is quite an accomplishment someone of African American decent was able to get the nomination.

As for Hillary. I have tried my best to stay off the Hillary topic on my blog. I think I have done a reasonably good job at voicing my support for one candidate without "bashing" or disrespecting another.

Today, however... it must be done. I must voice my opinions.

Let me say, when this race for the democratic nominee first started, I had a high degree of respect for both candidates. I did my research, I listened to both sides, I listened to hard core Hillary supporters as well as hard core Obama supporters, I read both of their websites in depth, and so on. I was ecstatic that I was able to chose between a Woman and an African American!! This, too, is historical and just, wonderful. I was not going to make my choice based on Gender or Race, however.

I chose Barack Obama for a variety of reasons. We all know, by now, where he stands on the many issues. We all know his personality, his hopes, beliefs, dreams for our country. So I am not going to get into it in depth why I chose him.

I still had so, so much respect for Hillary, however. Tremendous amounts.

As the campaigns rolled on, and on and on and on, I found myself losing tiny bits of that respect here and there. I felt like she was unfairly attacking Barack at times, while it seemed like he was trying his best to keep his campaign focused on the issues, where HE stood, and NOT on the other candidate.

Up until last night, I still had respect left for Hillary. I didn't mind that she wasn't going concede before either candidate had clinched the nomination, why should she? She has broken barriers, and it was such a close race, and her supporters from every state had a right to cast their votes. Yes, I was starting to grow concerned about the "unity" of the party, but... let the democratic process continue!!

Considering the candidates we had running, I knew it was inevitable that talk of racism and sexism would come up. And yes... Racism and Sexism are both alive and well in this country. And yes, Racism and Sexism were effecting both campaigns. Only one candidate could win this nomination, and I knew, whoever won, people would be crying out either Racism or Sexism about the other candidate. And regardless, they would probably be right to a certain extent. But the fact is, only ONE candidate could win this. So, either the country would be accused of Racism in the case of Hillary winning, or sexism is the case of Obama winning. It was, and is, inevitable.

I think it is incredible that Hillary made it as far as she did and I respect that. I really, really do. And the fact that the race was so, so so close speaks volumes about the progress we are making as a country in both areas of racism and sexism. But the fact of the matter is, only one could win, and Obama did it.

Last night, was Obama's night. Hillary has a lot to be proud of, but... it was Obama's night. We have to give him that. Our Children and Grandchildren and generations to follow will be reading about this in their history books. Thanks to Hillary, they will also someday be reading about the first Woman nominee and/or President, but last night was the night for THIS particular historical moment.

Last night was also the night that should have begun the healing in our Party. We DO need to unite, we need to come together. Hillary had an opportunity for that to begin, to start that process, to stand behind Barack Obama, to get her supporters behind him. Barack Obama has clinched this nomination fair and square. She needs to accept that and even embrace that. As democrats, we need to stand united and proud that we had a woman and an african american make it so far, and we have to stand proud behind our democratic candidate... Barack Obama.

What did she do instead? She refused to officially concede, she made her speech all about her when, in my opinion, it should have been more about Obama... like I said, it was HIS night. She pumped up her supporters to continue to stand with HER. she barely mentioned him, except in one short, almost obligatory phrase. And, she stated she was not making any decisions? Well, I'm very sorry, but... there are no more decisions to make. The American People have already decided. The democratic process played itself out, the outcome has been reached. If the party is going to come together, unite, and heal... SHE needs to accept this, and SHE needs to help this happen.

I have another thing to say that has been bothering me.

In my opinion, I don't think it was very fair for her to publicly announce that she would consider the VP position. Her saying this, in combination with the speech she gave last night, has put Barack Obama in very tough position. I feel like she has put him in a position where he almost HAS to chose her for VP to keep the party united. By declaring she would accept this, and by saying all the things she said last night, getting her supporters more rallied around her than Obama, she has made it so that if Obama does NOT chose her, her supporters might get even more upset.

Is she doing this on purpose? Maybe, Maybe not. I tend to think she is, though. I feel as though is after a "co-presidency" more so than a vice presidency. I, personally, don't really like that idea.

I am not completely 100% against her being VP, I can think a lot of good reasons to like that idea, but... I can't honestly say it would be my first choice. For many dems it may be, and that's fine. And if she were to be the VP choice, I would rally around the both of them and show my full support.

I will end this long rant of mine by saying, Obama's speech really blew me away last night. I also love the fact that he was so, so gracious and respectful to Hillary, even more than just respectful. He spoke so little of himself, too. He should have been the one to go and on and on about his accomplishments, instead he chose to go on and on about Hillary's and then focus on trying to untie the party. Thank you, Barack Obama.

Also, did anyone happen to watch McCain's speech? I'm sorry but, that was just awful.

I am done now. I just had to get that all out. I probably didn't even say half of all the things I've been thinking, and I may not have gotten it all out right, but... I tried.

4 comments:

Sweets said...

i don't know much about US politics so i'll just keep my mouth shut! but... i never liked Hilary, she did nothing specific but i just don't like her... historic times indeed :)

Angie said...

Several days after the fact, I agree with much you said and I think you did so in a non-inflamatory way. One thing I was frustrated about most these long months were a few friends of mine who couldn't believe I wasn't voting for Hillary. They thought I should because she's a woman. Like you, I did my research and I was voting for the candidate. I did not base my vote on race or gender. It was going to be an historic election no matter the result of the primaries, but I'm not basing my vote on that factor in November either. It is disappointing to hear people say they will vote for McCain because Hillary did not get the nomination. Come on people... this is about the future of our country and the issues. I can't believe people would vote out of vengenance and I truly believe those people are few and far between.

Angie said...

Everything okay? Wondering whre you are.

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