Looking at the options

A (formerly) conservative friend writes:

Well .... if it comes down to Hillary vs McCain then it is the same old political dynasty machine controlling who we get to vote for in my opinion. It was pretty sad in Florida that out of 17 million + population only about 1 million voted...... complete apathy. The people here will have no right to complain if they don't like who runs for president.

If Hillary wins on the Dem side I am forced to go the other way, but if Obama wins then I smell change and I like the smell!!!!!!!! I'll take a chance with the boy.....but the man I liked was Edwards and sorry he didn't seem to connect although I think the media didn't give him the coverage. So far 80 million bucks has been spent for seeking a $400,000 job. Could have fed a lot of hungry kids here in the USA.

I had to respond:

I think we're singing from the same sheet ... at least half the time!!

I agree about the need to leave the Dynasty politics behind and move onto something new and different. I've had enough Clinton and enough Bush to last a lifetime .. and it seems like it's been a lifetime, too!!

But as much as *I* feel Obama is a better choice (I, too, favored Edwards) if the Democrats decide that Clinton is their candidate for 2008, I'll vote for her. Here's why.

The Republicans offer:

Mike Huckabee who takes a literal interpretation of the beliefs of cattle sacrificing, bronze age nomads who believed all the species of animals on the planet lived within walking distance of Noah's house and that the sun revolved around the earth while at the same time he denies scientific method and the last 150 years of scientific breakthroughs - breakthroughs that are responsible for things like flu vaccines, the Green Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution), cancer therapy, and a broader understanding of how the world has changed over time - giving us insight into how we can avoid cataclysmic disaster in the future. I'm not sure that's a picture of leadership I'm comfortable with. Besides, given the primary voting pattern to date, it appears he doesn't have a prayer. Who knows ... maybe there IS a God!

Mitt Romney, the shape shifter, seems to believe that we have the best government money can buy... and he's willing to spend millions of his own money to prove it. He may be right but I like to think we're better than that. He's taken every possible position on every possible issue at one point or another - leaving him standing for absolutely nothing beyond personal ambition - it's the only thing that's been consistent throughout his career. Besides, we just went through 8 years of an MBA president and I'm not sure we need more of that. If anything, we need a little more protection from the corporate mentality which is capable of sacrificing human beings for the sake of profit. I don't need a president that reminds me of the guy who laid me off or the mentality that made it a priority. It may be good for a corporation but it's not good for a democracy - and every CEO that ever breathed air will tell you that a corporation is NOT a democracy.

John McCain was once a possibility on my radar. I appreciate his courage and admire his devotion to country and duty - however, his current platform seems to be (according to Joe Scarborough's recent assessment) "less jobs and more wars". Now there's a wonderful future to work toward! (Actually, if Scarborough was slightly more literate he's know that "fewer jobs and more wars" would be the grammatically correct way of saying it.) We can't allow fewer American jobs to be acceptable as McCain seems to suggest it should be - and I find the idea of engaging in more wars without any reference to exploring other options completely repugnant. He wasn't labeled "Senator Hothead" by his peers in congress for nothing. We're already involved in two mismanaged wars - neither of which is going particularly well. We don't need a guy with his hand on the nuclear trigger who gleefully sings choruses of "Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran" while our military is in its current state, our economy is in shambles and we can't deal with the quagmires already at our feet.

By process of elimination, given the choices and assuming Obama is not the nominee for the democratic Party in 2008, I see no choice but to vote for Hillary - however annoying I find her.

J

PS: Fortunately, those $80million bucks didn't get dumped into outer space. They got spent and are working their way through the economy, finding their way into the paychecks of printers, sign makers, and other people just doing a job.