Three Reasons

Another post I wrote over vacation...

Three Reasons
From Winthrop, Washington
2/22/08


I had a hard time making up my mind at first. For a long time I thought I’d just vote for whomever the Democrats nominated, but now it doesn’t seem that easy. The Democrats might screw it up and fight over whom they’ll nominate so I feel compelled to take a stand.

Others around me have been certain. Our neighbor, for one. She said, “I want to go with my heart, but I’m going to vote with my head.” This was her logic behind casting her caucus vote for Hillary. “She’s more experienced and I think she can win the election over any Republican they put up against her.” The other neighbor is for Obama. “Hillary’s old news,” she said. “I want someone new, fresh. Hillary scares me.” Not so much a vote for Obama, but definitely one against Hillary.

I like both candidates. Okay, like isn’t quite the word, but as I said earlier, I’d vote for either.

Well, until recently. Recently I’ve collected three reasons why I’ll vote for Obama. Here they are, though not in any particular order.

Reason #1: Bill Clinton.

My parents are affirmed, dyed in the wool Democrats. They both work for the Democratic Party on the local level. They are liberal and all my life spouted their disdain for Republicans. So they’ll be shocked to know that when Bill Clinton first ran for president I didn’t vote for him. I was standing in line at the polling center convinced I had no other choice but to vote for him when a report came over the loudspeaker that Clinton was the projected winner. Everyone in the polling place cheered though a few disgruntled Republicans clucked their tongues and marched into the booth with their ballots blazing.

I was relieved. Now I could vote for Ralph Nadar and not have to worry that my vote didn’t make or break a Democratic victory.

The second time around, I did vote for him though I was still not convinced. Rather I was casting my vote against the Republican and bedding myself down with a candidate I felt to be a bit too slimy for my tastes. And now, looking back, I think I was right to be wary. Who signed into law Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Who signed the NAFTA treaty? Who squeezed any life out of the welfare system?

Bill Clinton.

I’m not naïve to think that any candidate elected won’t be pushed more toward the middle than to the extremes once they get to the White House, but now that we’ve suffered through the ridiculous and deadly circus of the right-wing, I have a bit more hope that a liberal candidate like Barack Obama will be able to swing that pendulum back past center and more in line with a progressive momentum.

If Hillary were any other thing than a Clinton, if Hillary were just Hillary and not married to someone who obviously is beyond arrogant, then I would vote for her. But she chose to stay with the man even after the Monica affair and though I don’t really care about the president’s private life, I remember saying very clearly when the news broke, “What the hell is he thinking?”

Hillary would have more of a chance with me today if she’d divorced the bastard, but apparently I’m in the minority in that poll.

Barak is not a Clinton. Barack doesn’t have ties to Bill. Barack’s wife, while incredibly intelligent and yes, stunningly gorgeous, won’t assume second in command as Bill would if Hillary were elected. Michelle Obama will be involved, but she strikes me as much more level-headed than the man with a penchant for cigars and young berets.

I could be wrong, but my initial instinct back in 1990 and then again in 1994 was a deep distrust and dislike of Bill Clinton. Bad feminist that I am, I can’t separate the wheat from the chaff, the wife from the husband in this instance.

And maybe I’m silly, but in the film, “True Colors” when Kathy Bates (playing the role of the devoted friend and aide) confronts John Travolta and Emma Thompson (playing the role of Clinton look-alikes) on their willingness to sell out and give up on their sense of ethics and Emma Thompson counters with the argument that selling out gets them the White House, Hillary Clinton fell a few notches in my book. No one argues with Kathy Bates. Not even Emma Thompson. And though it was all “fiction” I remembered that scene for weeks after watching the movie and have been unable to remove that turning point from my overall assessment of Hillary Clinton.

Reason #2: The night Obama won the Wisconsin (and Hawaii) primaries he gave a speech in Texas. It was a stump speech of sorts, but for the first time I heard him say something that made me really listen. I don’t remember the words exactly, but he was talking about education and the need to not only pay teachers more, but to support them. That was all well and good, but what made me lift my head from my dinner was a line about the arts. Something to the effect, “…and I will bring back the arts to our schools.”

I haven’t heard a candidate say that in a long time. In fact, in my adult life I don’t think I’ve ever heard a candidate say that. And he didn’t stop there. He talked about the value of music and theater, creativity and expression. He talked about kids needing art to be fully human.

To be fully human. Have you ever heard a politician say such a thing?

John F. Kennedy talked about the arts, but not since FDR have I heard a president so impassioned about them. Of course, I wasn’t around when FDR used the arts (along with other ideas) to pull us out of a Depression, but I’d read it about it in my history classes and studied the underpinnings of the New Deal when I was required to teach it to a class of 11th graders in my first years of teaching.

Arthur Miller said, “When the guns boom, the arts die,” and even though I wasn’t alive when he said it, I can fully appreciate the sentiment.

Afghanistan and Iraq. The hunt for Osama. The hatred of Saddam. Bombs and guns and tanks and dead civilians alongside of dead soldiers at the same time school budgets slashed music and art classes, as symphonies and theaters across the nation struggled to stay afloat.

That Obama never voted to send us to war was impressive, but during his Texas speech, it became apparent to me that he knew that the focus on war had killed the arts and even more, that the death of the arts was like a disease in our nation. We are without a soul. We are without deep roots. We are without any semblance of humanity. We are simply a machine, uninspired and asleep, marching ourselves into death and bloodshed.

Okay, he didn’t say all that, but that was the underlying message. We are nothing as a nation if we kill the arts. That impressed me.

Reason #3: We’ve been on vacation in Winthrop, Washington for the past half a week. It’s a conservative place. There are cowboys and truckers in abundance. There are four radio stations – two play country and western, one plays oldies, and the fourth is a conservative talk radio show. While waiting in the car for Ann, I listened to the talk radio for a few minutes. They were talking about the upcoming elections and were on the phone with a caller who was “seriously worried” about Barack Obama.

The radio host said: We should be worried. The man is passionate. The man says all the right things about hope and hard work. The man obviously cares about his country and the citizens, but let’s face it. He is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate. He makes Hillary look like a moderate. He is a grassroots organizer who has hit the streets for liberal causes his entire life. And if that isn’t enough, he stands in direct opposition to what most of our listeners believe in – he believes in abortion.

I’m not sure what struck me the most about this diatribe. I’ve longed for a “true liberal” in the White House. (I’m actually longing for a radical, but I’m not stupid enough to think it will happen in my lifetime.) I’m not convinced Obama is such a man, but if the conservatives are, if the right-wing Christians are then I say bring him on!

But underneath this radio announcer’s worries was a hum of respect. He saw Obama as honest and forthright. He saw Obama as passionate and caring. He didn’t speak ill of the man. Rather he disagreed with his stance on certain issues, one in particular, but he never slammed Obama for his views. He just disagreed.

Could he have done that for Hillary Clinton?

I doubt it.

There are definitely areas where I disagree with Obama. Well, maybe not disagree, but don’t agree fully. He’s committed to carbon credits for one while Hillary Clinton wants to tax the oil and gas companies. He doesn’t believe in gay marriage, though he says he’s open to talking about it. He talks of universal healthcare, but it isn’t really. And he says he’s not taking any money from special interest groups, but Oprah seems pretty special interest to me.

Still, just like the conservative radio host I sense something different about Obama, or at least, I’d like to sense something different. He seems honest. He seems committed. He seems very genuine and intelligent and aware of the mistakes of the past eight years. He’s not about dividing, he’s about bringing together. I remember thinking that when he gave his speech at the last Democratic Convention in 2004. “It’s not red states and blue states,” he said. “It’s the United States.” I liked him even then. He reminded me of Barbara Jordan in a way – compassionate, collected, intelligent.

I will vote for Hillary if she gets nominated. I will vote for her, but once again, it will be more a vote against whomever the Republicans nominate. But if Obama gets nominated, it will be the first time in my life that I’ve actually voted FOR someone who I can believe in.