Yes We Can!
As a Canadian, and as pretty much everyone who might read this is Canadian, this post might be kind of pointless. But I'd like to take a minute to talk about the U.S. Presidential primaries, and specifically about Barack Obama.
I'm not sure how much people who read this follow U.S. politics. I do, though, and for a couple of reasons. Partially, it's out of interest. I've always been interested in politics, Canadian or not. Politics often plays like a sport, and its easy to be sucked into the energy, the competition, the us vs. them mentality. All of that makes politics a fun game to watch. But more importantly, I believe that politics play a much larger role in our daily lives than most people think. The way the political game is played often has vast repercussions that can be seen in media, popular culture, and elsewhere (of course, politics are affected in turn by the media, popular culture, etc.) Even politics outside our country has enourmous implications here. Nowhere is this more true than the U.S. presidential elections, and the U.S. president. When 9/11 came, and George W. Bush took the opportunity to spread messages of fear through out the world, we saw the result. We felt it in Canada, in our own national politics. As much as we Canadians like to portray America as the bad man, we sometimes collaborated with the U.S. in acting on that fear. We aided in sending an innocent Canadian citizen to Syria for years of torture.
My point here is that the U.S. president is the single most influential person in the world. Some may disagree with me. Nevertheless, that is my position. Hence, following the U.S. presidential campaign is not just interesting, but vitally important. Currently, we are in the middle of the U.S. presidential primaries, the system by which the two main parties choose their candidate for the general election in November. It seems fairly clear at this point that John McCain will be the Republican candidate (though Mike Huckabee is still hanging on). The Democratic party, however, is much more split. The two contenders there are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama currently has the lead in the delegate count, and has also won many more states than Hillary. Hillary, on the other hand, has won the larger states (California, New York). So they remain very close to each other in terms of delegates. Depending on the source, Obama has around 950-980 pledged delegates to Clinton's 900-920ish (if anyone has any questions about the U.S. primaries/election system, I will be happy to answer them. I've been following this race fairly intently, and I think I have my head wrapped around it all).
To me, it seems very likely that either Democratic candidate should win handily in November. John McCain is probably my favourite of the Republicans who were running, but he is still running almost as Bush-lite, with some exceptions (he is anti-torture, pro-environment, and somewhat more socially liberal....but not much). The point is, considering the legacy of Bush with the majority of Americans, a Democrat win seems likely (though, if anyone could lose this election, it would be the Democrats). But which Democratic candidate is better?
For me, the answer is clearly Barack Obama. I'll break down my support for him in two ways. First, his policies seem sound and fair. He promises to get the U.S. out of Iraq in 16 months (he spoke against war against Iraq in 2002, and showed great judgement of the situation). He is promoting a universal health coverage plan that would give everyone in the U.S. the ability to get and afford the same healthcare plan that Congress members have (I like our own universal health care better, but baby steps). He has promised to set emission standards for automobiles, and to cut down CO2 production through renewable energy, fuels, and other economic means. He plans to give college/university students $4000 a year in exchange for community service. I could go on, but these points are the ones that stick out to me the most. For his other policy, go here.
Second, his character. Obama has run one of the cleanest, most positive campaigns I have ever witnessed, especially for US politics. He has avoided attacking his opponents based on anything other than policy or judgement. He has taken no money from lobbyists. His campaign is based far more on grassroots than elitist politics. His fundraising support has come from a far broader base than any other candidate. He has been far more open with his finances during the campaign.
He has had to deal with any number of attacks, and has dealt with them with grace and honesty. He has admitted drug use (which he wrote about more than a decade ago). He has been attacked for being black, but has never used being black to promote himself to African-Americans (though it has undoubtedly helped his campaign). There are rumours of him being Muslim, none of which are true (obviously, I wouldn't care if he were, but in the atmosphere of the U.S., that would be a death knell to any campaign).
His rhetoric is extremely positive all around. He speaks about hope and change. His supporters chant "Yes! We! Can!" at rallies. His skill at delivering a speech is unbelievable (especially when we've endured Bush for 8 years). For an example of this, I recommend watching this speech here (this was after he swept three states on Saturday...it was at a fundraising event for the Democratic party in Virginia, Clinton spoke before him. This is not at a rally.) He has shown that he can draw out young voters in larger amounts than ever. His rallies regularly fill up arenas of 20 000, with thousands more lining up outside. People are eager to hear his message, and are eager for the hope, and are eager for the change. For example, more people voted for Obama alone in the South Carolina primary than voted for all the candidates in the 2004 South Carolina primary.
Hillary Clinton's policies are not all that different from Obama's. However, this campaign has shown a wide gap in terms of character, in my opinion. She started out as the moneyed, elitist candidate. She has no trouble accepting money from lobbyists. She has expounded that she has '35 years' of experience, attacking Obama for his lack of experience. Yet she is counting not just experience in the Senate, but also as First Lady, and also as a lawyer before that. By the same measure, Obama has nearly 25 years of experience, in the Illinois legislature, as a lawyer, as a lecturer on constitutional law, and so on. She has used her association with Bill Clinton in hypocritical ways. She links herself to anything good that happened during his presidency, while distancing herself from anything bad. Bill Clinton has been campaigning for her, something ex-presidents historically do not do. Yes, he is her wife, but for instance George Bush Sr. never campaigned for George W Bush. Not only has he been campaigning for her, he has attempted to paint Obama as the 'black candidate' and has called Obama's campaign a fairy tale.
Hillary has also been running as a woman. Now, I think it would be great for a woman to be elected President of the U.S. However, she should not be elected president because she is a woman, any more than Obama should be elected because he is black (well, half-black). Yet, she has been running often specifically on the idea that women should vote for her because she is a woman. She has attempted to attack Obama as being soft on protecting women's rights, despite the fact that Obama has recieved a 100% rating from NARAL (the main pro-choice organization in the U.S.)
If Hillary is nominated and elected, yes, there will be different policies. But the game of politics will remain the same, and 4 or 8 years later, a Republican will return to the White House and the cycle will continue.
I feel that Barack Obama will truly bring change to U.S. federal politics. A change in rhetoric. A change in attitudes. I said earlier that sometimes, politics was interesting like a sports game. Obama had this to say about that attitude.
"Maybe the critics are right. Maybe there’s no escaping our great political divide, an endless clash of armies, and any attempts to alter the rules of engagement are futile. Or maybe the trivialization of politics has reached a point of no return, so that most people see it as just one more diversion, a sport, with politicians our paunch-bellied gladiators and those who bother to pay attention just fans on the sidelines: We paint our faces red or blue and cheer our side and boo their side, and if it takes a late hit or cheap shot to beat the other team, so be it, for winning is all that matters.
But I don’t think so. They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way-in their own lives, at least-to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves. I imagine the white Southerner who growing up heard his dad talk about niggers this and niggers that but who has struck up a friendship with the black guys at the office and is trying to teach his own son different, who thinks discrimination is wrong but doesn’t see why the son of a black doctor should get admitted into law school ahead of his own son. Or the former Black Panther who decided to go into real estate, bought a few buildings in the neighborhood, and is just as tired of the drug dealers in front of those buildings as he is of the bankers who won’t give him a loan to expand his business. There’s the middle-aged feminist who still mourns her abortion, and the Christian woman who paid for her teenager’s abortion, and the millions of waitresses and temp secretaries and nurse’s assistants and Wal-Mart associates who hold their breath every single month in the hope that they’ll have enough money to support the children that they did bring into the world.
I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don’t always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting.
They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them."
This is why I am adding my name to the long list of people who have endorsed Senator Barack Obama as presidential candidate, and as the next President of the United States of America.
Now, I know I can't vote for him, and neither can most people who will read this. But if you know any Americans, I would hope that you encourage them to vote for Barack Obama, either in the primary or come November. I am leaving this open to view for anyone, so if you want to direct them here, please do so. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.
I'm not sure how much people who read this follow U.S. politics. I do, though, and for a couple of reasons. Partially, it's out of interest. I've always been interested in politics, Canadian or not. Politics often plays like a sport, and its easy to be sucked into the energy, the competition, the us vs. them mentality. All of that makes politics a fun game to watch. But more importantly, I believe that politics play a much larger role in our daily lives than most people think. The way the political game is played often has vast repercussions that can be seen in media, popular culture, and elsewhere (of course, politics are affected in turn by the media, popular culture, etc.) Even politics outside our country has enourmous implications here. Nowhere is this more true than the U.S. presidential elections, and the U.S. president. When 9/11 came, and George W. Bush took the opportunity to spread messages of fear through out the world, we saw the result. We felt it in Canada, in our own national politics. As much as we Canadians like to portray America as the bad man, we sometimes collaborated with the U.S. in acting on that fear. We aided in sending an innocent Canadian citizen to Syria for years of torture.
My point here is that the U.S. president is the single most influential person in the world. Some may disagree with me. Nevertheless, that is my position. Hence, following the U.S. presidential campaign is not just interesting, but vitally important. Currently, we are in the middle of the U.S. presidential primaries, the system by which the two main parties choose their candidate for the general election in November. It seems fairly clear at this point that John McCain will be the Republican candidate (though Mike Huckabee is still hanging on). The Democratic party, however, is much more split. The two contenders there are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama currently has the lead in the delegate count, and has also won many more states than Hillary. Hillary, on the other hand, has won the larger states (California, New York). So they remain very close to each other in terms of delegates. Depending on the source, Obama has around 950-980 pledged delegates to Clinton's 900-920ish (if anyone has any questions about the U.S. primaries/election system, I will be happy to answer them. I've been following this race fairly intently, and I think I have my head wrapped around it all).
To me, it seems very likely that either Democratic candidate should win handily in November. John McCain is probably my favourite of the Republicans who were running, but he is still running almost as Bush-lite, with some exceptions (he is anti-torture, pro-environment, and somewhat more socially liberal....but not much). The point is, considering the legacy of Bush with the majority of Americans, a Democrat win seems likely (though, if anyone could lose this election, it would be the Democrats). But which Democratic candidate is better?
For me, the answer is clearly Barack Obama. I'll break down my support for him in two ways. First, his policies seem sound and fair. He promises to get the U.S. out of Iraq in 16 months (he spoke against war against Iraq in 2002, and showed great judgement of the situation). He is promoting a universal health coverage plan that would give everyone in the U.S. the ability to get and afford the same healthcare plan that Congress members have (I like our own universal health care better, but baby steps). He has promised to set emission standards for automobiles, and to cut down CO2 production through renewable energy, fuels, and other economic means. He plans to give college/university students $4000 a year in exchange for community service. I could go on, but these points are the ones that stick out to me the most. For his other policy, go here.
Second, his character. Obama has run one of the cleanest, most positive campaigns I have ever witnessed, especially for US politics. He has avoided attacking his opponents based on anything other than policy or judgement. He has taken no money from lobbyists. His campaign is based far more on grassroots than elitist politics. His fundraising support has come from a far broader base than any other candidate. He has been far more open with his finances during the campaign.
He has had to deal with any number of attacks, and has dealt with them with grace and honesty. He has admitted drug use (which he wrote about more than a decade ago). He has been attacked for being black, but has never used being black to promote himself to African-Americans (though it has undoubtedly helped his campaign). There are rumours of him being Muslim, none of which are true (obviously, I wouldn't care if he were, but in the atmosphere of the U.S., that would be a death knell to any campaign).
His rhetoric is extremely positive all around. He speaks about hope and change. His supporters chant "Yes! We! Can!" at rallies. His skill at delivering a speech is unbelievable (especially when we've endured Bush for 8 years). For an example of this, I recommend watching this speech here (this was after he swept three states on Saturday...it was at a fundraising event for the Democratic party in Virginia, Clinton spoke before him. This is not at a rally.) He has shown that he can draw out young voters in larger amounts than ever. His rallies regularly fill up arenas of 20 000, with thousands more lining up outside. People are eager to hear his message, and are eager for the hope, and are eager for the change. For example, more people voted for Obama alone in the South Carolina primary than voted for all the candidates in the 2004 South Carolina primary.
Hillary Clinton's policies are not all that different from Obama's. However, this campaign has shown a wide gap in terms of character, in my opinion. She started out as the moneyed, elitist candidate. She has no trouble accepting money from lobbyists. She has expounded that she has '35 years' of experience, attacking Obama for his lack of experience. Yet she is counting not just experience in the Senate, but also as First Lady, and also as a lawyer before that. By the same measure, Obama has nearly 25 years of experience, in the Illinois legislature, as a lawyer, as a lecturer on constitutional law, and so on. She has used her association with Bill Clinton in hypocritical ways. She links herself to anything good that happened during his presidency, while distancing herself from anything bad. Bill Clinton has been campaigning for her, something ex-presidents historically do not do. Yes, he is her wife, but for instance George Bush Sr. never campaigned for George W Bush. Not only has he been campaigning for her, he has attempted to paint Obama as the 'black candidate' and has called Obama's campaign a fairy tale.
Hillary has also been running as a woman. Now, I think it would be great for a woman to be elected President of the U.S. However, she should not be elected president because she is a woman, any more than Obama should be elected because he is black (well, half-black). Yet, she has been running often specifically on the idea that women should vote for her because she is a woman. She has attempted to attack Obama as being soft on protecting women's rights, despite the fact that Obama has recieved a 100% rating from NARAL (the main pro-choice organization in the U.S.)
If Hillary is nominated and elected, yes, there will be different policies. But the game of politics will remain the same, and 4 or 8 years later, a Republican will return to the White House and the cycle will continue.
I feel that Barack Obama will truly bring change to U.S. federal politics. A change in rhetoric. A change in attitudes. I said earlier that sometimes, politics was interesting like a sports game. Obama had this to say about that attitude.
"Maybe the critics are right. Maybe there’s no escaping our great political divide, an endless clash of armies, and any attempts to alter the rules of engagement are futile. Or maybe the trivialization of politics has reached a point of no return, so that most people see it as just one more diversion, a sport, with politicians our paunch-bellied gladiators and those who bother to pay attention just fans on the sidelines: We paint our faces red or blue and cheer our side and boo their side, and if it takes a late hit or cheap shot to beat the other team, so be it, for winning is all that matters.
But I don’t think so. They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way-in their own lives, at least-to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves. I imagine the white Southerner who growing up heard his dad talk about niggers this and niggers that but who has struck up a friendship with the black guys at the office and is trying to teach his own son different, who thinks discrimination is wrong but doesn’t see why the son of a black doctor should get admitted into law school ahead of his own son. Or the former Black Panther who decided to go into real estate, bought a few buildings in the neighborhood, and is just as tired of the drug dealers in front of those buildings as he is of the bankers who won’t give him a loan to expand his business. There’s the middle-aged feminist who still mourns her abortion, and the Christian woman who paid for her teenager’s abortion, and the millions of waitresses and temp secretaries and nurse’s assistants and Wal-Mart associates who hold their breath every single month in the hope that they’ll have enough money to support the children that they did bring into the world.
I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don’t always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting.
They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them."
This is why I am adding my name to the long list of people who have endorsed Senator Barack Obama as presidential candidate, and as the next President of the United States of America.
Now, I know I can't vote for him, and neither can most people who will read this. But if you know any Americans, I would hope that you encourage them to vote for Barack Obama, either in the primary or come November. I am leaving this open to view for anyone, so if you want to direct them here, please do so. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.