I don't normally talk much about politics on my blog, because honestly, I don't spend a lot of my spare time thinking about politics. But this presidential election cycle is different - this election is important - potentially the most important election that we've had in decades. The country is truly, perilously, on the wrong track. And it is super-important to get the right candidate out of the primaries, so that we can all vote in November.
And I feel that the right person for the job is Barack Obama.
Not only do I feel like Barack is the best candidate in a wide field of candidates - I think that he's possibly the best candidate that we've seen for president in a long, long time.
No candidate is perfect, they all have flaws. But when I look at all of the contenders, I think that Barack is clearly the best. I like his ideas. I like his passion - the passion that he brings when speaking about America, and the challenges that lie ahead. I think that the country is ready to move forward, and that he's the guy.
But when I heard that Barack is actually trailing in the polls leading up to Super Tuesday, I did something that I haven't done before - I started putting some time towards this. Today, I dug into my voter registration situation - I have moved so many times within California, that it is a bit funked up. I confirmed that it's too late to get my registration fixed up properly before Tuesday, but that since all of my moves have been within one town (Sunnyvale), I'll be able to go ahead and vote anyway.
So, I'll be voting on Tuesday, and I hope that you all will too. There is a lot at stake in this election - and I'm really hoping that we can come together, and get America back moving in the right direction.
-Andy.
Technorati Tags: Super Tuesday, Barack Obama, Democratic Primary, Presidential Election, Indecision 2008
Funny you should bring this up, Sheila and I decided to donate to the guy last night. I'll probably end up regretting it just because of all the spam I'll end up getting. There are several major problems with Hillary in our eyes: It's bad for a country to have leaders from the same family passing the presidency around (Sheila's big on this one), Hillary's monkeybusiness with the Florida and Michigan primaries is unethical (we both hate the primary system, but that's still no excuse) and, of course, (my big one) no way in heck am I going to "forgive" or overlook Hillary's vote to authorize the Iraq war.
I liked Dennis Kucinich and I was fully planning on giving him my vote come February 5th. Frankly, I don't think Obama or Clinton, as specified in their campaign platforms, are planning to do enough in the areas of health care and global warming which are my top two political concerns.
Also, did you know that California is the only state in the union making inroads to having universal healthcare for all its residents? SB 840 was vetoed last year by Gov. Schwarzenegger but is now being reconsidered by Californian legislature. You can sign the online petition to show your support for this bill here:
http://www.onecarenow.org/index.html
Hillary is going to be the next president.
Not that I like that a whole lot but the Inkling prediction markets have her winning by a pretty wide margin and they're pretty good predictors. They have been wrong before though.
Since the system works the way it does, how you vote in CA might matter. In IL it'll always go to the democrat and since he's a local it's gonna go to Obama. That's why while I favor him over Clinton my vote would be redundant and that's why I'm voting for Paul like the rest of the internet crazies.
I don't know how the wind is blowing in CA but if it looks like Obama has a good strong lead there I would strongly consider voting for Ron Paul. He's not in line with all my views but he's the only candidate out there who's proven to be anti-war. His immigration views are too restrictive for me but so is everyone else's. He wants to return to using the constitution as a set of laws that is obeyed and he embodies what the republican party should be, not the shitpile that it has become.
Would he make a good president? Eh, maybe not, he seems a bit disorganized and he does have a couple nutball views.
Back to Clinton though, the odd thing is that despite her lead I don't know of a single person who's voting for her. Probably has to do with my location and peer group. Most of the youngish people I know favor him because of his freshness and local appeal and all of the older people I know are conservative suburban types. Both Clinton and Obama are promising to institute massive entitlement programs of unknown efficiency but as long as they keep us out of more wars we should be able to afford it. At least Obama wouldn't be dynastic tied to a previous administration that levied crippling sanctions and dropped a lot of bombs in the mideast.
Conclusion: Voting for Paul, hoping Obama will win, preparing for Clinton to win.
Mark,
I mostly agree with your comments about Ron Paul - he's an intriguing candidate, with some crazy ideas. I don't think it is wise for me to vote for him, however, for two reasons. First, I think that Obama and Hillary are pretty close in California, so I need to ensure that Obama takes a first place finish.
Second, most of the Democratic primaries (including California) are based on proportional representation - even if Obama wins California 51% to 49% - he'll only get 51% of the delegates, not 100%. So, I need to ensure that he gets as many delegates as possible.
Also, I'm not so convinced that Hillary will be the next president. I think that if she does win the nomination, a Hillary v. McCain election will be like 2004 and 200 all over again - super close, with the specter of voter fraud being what decides it.
-Andy.
You know what, that's a good point. I had been thinking in terms of the electoral college where it's winner takes all instead of the delegate thingie.
So I guess my choice is Obama or Paul and I think I'm still going to go with Paul confident that no matter how crazy he is, he can't do any real damage cause he won't win. To compensate I'll vote for Obama in the presidential election against whatever Republican does get the nomination. How's that?
Speak of the devil. The Inkling market for the Dem nomination just went neck and neck.
http://home.inklingmarkets.com/market/show/2089
Hillary Clinton $50.29 $-20.12
Barack Obama $49.70 $20.13
It's been volatile but with Clinton in the lead most of the time. I do have imaginary money riding on it so I hope Obama does pull ahead.
Mark,
My understanding is that Obama has Illinois under control, so you should be fine voting for Paul.
The whole point of my post, though, is that I hope that we have the opportunity to vote for Obama in November. That's what I'm worried about. I'm not worried about Obama being able to take the presidency, I'm worried about the Clintons working the democratic party to the point that he is denied the chance.
My prediction for tomorrow is that Obama and Hillary are going to be really close, dividing up the delegates almost evenly. But I'm secretly hoping for a blow-out in Obama's favor.
-Andy.