My vote isn't about Me. Who I am, how I conceive myself, how my vote positions me in the pulse of the moment. The tab I flip in the voting booth isn't intended as a dramatic gesture to pin in my lapel like a carnation and sniff during intermission, like some Clifton Webb character. I don't accept being lectured or morally browbeaten into voting for one candidate over another in order to prove my virtuous intent...
Perhaps it's my atheism at work but I found myself increasingly wary of and resistant to the salvational fervor of the Obama campaign, the idealistic zeal divorced from any particular policy or cause and chariot-driven by pure euphoria. I can picture President Hillary in the White House dealing with a recalcitrant Republican faction; I can't picture President Obama in the same role because his summons to history and call to hope seems to transcend legislative maneuvers and horse-trading; his charisma is on a more ethereal plane, and I don't look to politics for transcendence and self-certification.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
An Argument for Clinton...
From James Wolcott at Vanity Fair.
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I'm back and forth on Clinton every day, but I think Walcott has me remembering what is important. And I think he's right that Obama's campaign has already done what everyone has projected it will do when he is elected; namely, change the political landscape and redefine the membership of the DNC.
Further, he cites Tom Watson's critique on those who would call honkeys racist for not voting for Obama. A really sharp posting, but even better are the comments. One dad quotes his 23-year-old daughter:
"I need to share this from my daughter, she is 23 who has been vilified by her friends for not choosing Obama. Mind you this is a girl that is a community organizer so she picked up all the BS from Mr. Obama:
'I think to capitalize on people's dreams and wishes, when you are just your average appeasing, compromising, not particularly progressive, politician is almost cruel. I know dad finds it exciting, but I find it deceitful because I know he will not turn out to be what they want him to be. Obama's fall from the pedestal will be a hard one to watch because of what he has come to symbolize. But Hilary is not an ideal, she is not a concept, she is a human being with thousands of visible and televised scars, and therefore I think we better know what to expect from her, we can prepare ourselves for her inevitable humanity.'"
Very sharp. I have been trying to picture an Obama White House for the last couple of weeks (during my tumultous tour of the two final candidates, post-Edwards) and I'm afraid the only image I can conjure is exactly what the 23-year-old daughter details: a crash and burn of idealism and the cold, hard slap of corporate interests as they will their way through the Legislature.
I'm still not decided. But I like that Clinton's pragmatism is the one constant in her campaign. She knows who the enemy is, and she's fought it before--to the teeth. Obama, on the other hand, (note: as he's projected by the media and the blogs) seems like a lamb--a reminder of our own humanity and an easy target.
I hate that our culture must be divided along the lines of idealism and practicality. I've been fighting this mentality all my life ("H, your optimism is sweet, but I'm afraid you're very naive." "Eff off!"). And while Obama is perhaps one of the first viable presidential candidates to capture my own sense of hope for what/who we can become as a people, I'm afraid the current state of American society is still too staid for his brand of governing.
Maybe in 8 years, Obama.
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