Amy Sullivan is a contributing editor for the Washington Monthly & a writer for Slate.com. In May she appeared on a panel discussion at Yale Divinity School on the subject of Faith & Citizenship in America. I listened to a recording of the panel. She was awesome. I really empathized with her struggles with finding a church home. Her sense of frustration over the state of religious rhetoric in Politics matched my own. She's politically liberal but religiously conservative (but in my kind of way.) So, when she commented on the genuine nature of Barack Obama's discussions about his faith, I took notice. When she and Congressman Price (D-NC) used his faith positions in juxtapositions against Bush and the religious right, I became even more interested. So, I did some digging.
I found a commentary she wrote about Obama in July:
The Real Meaning of Obama's Speech
I did some additional digging about Obama, his position on a variety of issues and realized I could vote for this guy. He finally became my viable alternative to Hillary. And yes, I'm really not excited about Hillary. Why?
Let me speak plainly: There is too much hate for her and her husband for her to become the uniter that my liberal friends say she will be. Too many of my moderate friends share this view. A friend in the military said that he doesn't trust her nor do the other soldiers he knows. His lack of trust for Hillary matches the lack of trust my Liberal friends have for Bush. Yes, I know there will always be a number of people who will not trust someone purely on the basis of their political party. Some may not like this reasoning, but there it is. AND I'M NOT ALONE!
I need someone that I vote for to not be named Bush or Clinton. End of story. It has nothing to do with her gender (I think women often make better leaders) or her politics (I agree with nearly everything she says.) Nope, she's got guilt by association. And certainly, I'm willing and able to forgive and forget, but the country won't. We don't need that baggage in the White House after the crap we're dealing with right now.
So, Obama's a man of faith, he's electable, he feels presidential, I like his stances on issues and he's doesn't come out of the gate with a mark against him. That works for me.
OK, but what about the other candidates? Well, ummm...no. I don't think any of the other Democrats have a snowball's chance. I, like a number of my friends, might have jumped sides in 2004 for McCain, but not this time. His desperate attempts to build bridges with the religious right just didn't work for me. And, you couldn't get me to vote for any other Republicans if you held a gun to my head.
Note: McCain was on the Diane Rehm's show on NPR yesterday. He answered some tough questions. A caller asked him about the whole Falwell thing. He handled it well. The fact is that I just don't agree with his key platforms. I specifically don't agree with his position on Iraq anymore. However, (and I know some folks are going to take issue with this) I still respect him.
But why am I going on like this...
Vote Obama!
So, what happens if Clinton gets the nomination? I'm going to keep that answer to myself for now.
1 comment:
i am still torn and go back and forth on the issue of which one i feel is best. i'm starting to drift back to obama even though i think both of them are excellent candidates.
i think it might have to do with the spin they are both using for their campaigns. clinton is supposed to be the one with experience, but excpet for the fact that she lived in the white house, does she really have all that much more experience than obama?
and what the obama campaign is saying is that experience might be a great thing... he also has a great deal of foresight and sense needed to make the decisions this job requires.
who knows which lever i'll be pulling...
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