The Poetist

A number of people continue to ask me, now that John Edwards is out of the race, who will I vote for/who might JRE endorse? It’s been reported by this point that both Obama and Clinton have sought an Edwards endorsement, but it’s not clear if/when he will. I can’t really speak to the possibilities of his endorsement but I can discuss who I would like to vote for in the NC primary.

If I were a single-issue voter I would hands-down vote for Hillary Clinton. Health care is a huge issue for me. While her plan admittedly isn’t the most ideal – especially given her ties to the health insurance industry – it is stronger than Obama’s plan. A major weakness in his plan is that there is no mandate – which means health insurance is optional. So whatever plan he puts into effect, the people who bought insurance will be punished when their rates increase as a result of the people who didn’t buy it but still have access to emergency care; which is one of the main problems with the existing system. What really gets me is that even if Obama changed his mind, he has already made it politically impossible for himself to adopt a more universal plan with a mandate. When Obama attacked the JRE plan (and as a corollary, the Clinton plan) from the Right, essentially using Republican talking points for his criticism, he burned the bridge for universal health care in an Obama administration. That really pissed me off. If you want to ‘reach across the aisle’ to people who don’t want to help you, that’s fine. But if you’re going to join them in attacking solid policy emanating from your own party then just cross the ‘aisle’ and let’s get on with it.

But I digress. I’m not a single-issue voter… I’m slightly torn because I think Hillary would make a more stable and competent executive and while I think it’s great that Barack – excuse me – the Barackstar, is so popular that celebrities are making music videos for him, I don’t know if that translates to effective leadership in Washington. One of my big brothers, who is an enthusiastic Obama supporter, told me that he believes if Obama can unite so many voters across such a broad spectrum he’ll probably be able to do it in Washington as well. I remain skeptical. It’s one thing to be the voice of people who previously felt like no one represented them; it’s quite another to challenge entrenched, powerful interests with warm and fuzzy phrases like “yes we can.” But I do hope my brother is right, and that Obama doesn’t get run over by the conservatives in Congress and the Supreme Court.

I fear that Obama might get run over by the Democratic Party as well. One of the things that initially drew me to him after his speech before the DNC in 2004 was that he baldly spoke out against the stigma that “a black child with a book is acting white.” This is an issue very personal to my family as boosting ‘minority achievement’ is something for which both of my parents have volunteered hundreds (thousands maybe?) of hours. I and my siblings have been those token black students in the AP classes in high school and at not-so-diverse institutions of higher learning. When he made that statement I was like yeah! Finally – somebody is talking about this! And then it disappeared; but what a missed opportunity. Sure that wasn’t on the nation’s collective consciousness, but neither was poverty – before JRE made it an issue. Universal health care wasn’t an option – until JRE proved it was possible. Barack Obama had the chance to address real issues that are holding back a lot of individuals in this country. He could have taken on stigmas that go beyond de facto academic segregation in schools; he had the platform to make it an issue, but he didn’t. So I wonder what other convictions he’d be willing to shed to remain the darling of the Democratic party.

On the other hand, I believe that Hillary Clinton would be willing to tear apart the Democratic party in order to get ahead. I believe her priorities are 1) Hillary Clinton; 2) the Clinton machine; 3) the American special interests; 4) the American people. Case in point, her vote to designate Iran as terrorist organization (or whatever that issue was, it’s been a while). There she was saying that we should stand up to Bush, etc, and then she goes and votes with along with him on his chronic war-mongering. I personally think she did it to ingratiate herself with the conservatives for the general election. And now she’s trying to get the votes/delegates of Michigan and Florida to count even though they violated their agreement with the DNC and were punished pursuant to that agreement. Yes, it’s unfair to the people of those states that they’re being put in the middle of the the DNC’s dirty laundry but they need to take that up with their state leadership that decided to flaunt the rules. Furthermore, what about the people who didn’t vote because their votes wouldn’t be counted? Might it be unfair to them to assure them their vote would not be counted, thereby strongly discouraging voter participation, and then count the vote? I think Hillary is only fighting that fight because she wants those delegates.

And did I mention that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for nuclear power? Because it is. And I am soooooo anti nuclear power. If we’re going to invest money to make it ’safe’ as Obama has suggested, why don’t we invest in energy that is truly safe and renewable? Because IL nuclear power companies have invested strongly in his campaign, that’s why. To Hillary’s credit, she does not support nuclear power.

As it stands, I think that hypothetically Hillary Clinton would be a good executive, but with the exception of health care I’m not so trusting of her or her policy choices. I respect that Barack Obama has inspired so many people to participate in the political process, I think that’s fantastic; but I’m not convinced about his policy choices either, or his ability to stand his ground. And I must say, I’m not committed to politics; I’m much more a believer in policy. I believe that sound policy, when communicated well and sufficiently funded, is really what can change lives.

(All) that being said… I’ll probably support Obama in the NC primary (ahem, once I register to vote). I do believe that we need change – although I don’t necessarily believe that Obama will bring it. My hope is that all the people he has inspired to vote will remain a part of the process and begin to change it from the grassroots level, that they’ll call their congressmen and women to hold them accountable, that they’ll become more engaged in policy discussions, and that they’ll be motivated to do more than cast their vote. I don’t think Obama represents ‘change we can believe in’, but the individuals that support him do.