Hillary or Barack?
It's looking more and more like Barack will be the nominee, which is OK, just as Hillary would be OK, but I still can't make up my mind as to which one I want to win. Which is really amusing since I have absolutely no say in the matter. Our state's primary is long past and I couldn't vote anyway; I'm a registered Independent.
Where we lived before, you just had to declare yourself when you walked into the polls. Here, you actually have to change your registration to a party, weeks before the primary (for federal, state and local offices). We can't even vote for judicial candidates who are not affiliated with a party, e.g, pick 3 out of a list of 10. Then I suppose if you wanted to stay as an Independent, you'd have to change your registration again. Two years later you'd have to repeat the process if you wanted to vote in the primaries.
It is supposedly a safeguard against one party sabotaging another's chances. Who'd do a thing like that?
Who? This is who:
Republicans in Indiana and Republicans in Ohio are a couple of examples. They're voting for Hillary in the primaries because they think she would be easier for McCain to beat, or because they think dragging out the Democrat's nomination process will help McCain.
If true, that means that Hillary's wins are not as wide as they appear, and her losses are wider than they appear. This makes Obama's victory even more likely. My spouse (who is white) and friends (multi-ethnic/racial) have long been pro-Obama while I'm still fence sitting. Maybe because I'm a woman, or more cynical?
My concern is not the primaries, but the general election. If I'm really an Independent, then why care about defeating McCain? I could have voted for McCain, especially versus GWB, eight years ago, or even four, but not now. Perhaps I'll elaborate on this in the future.
With either candidate, the United States will be making history, but it will only make a difference, imho, if the Democrat is ultimately the winner in the general election. Recently there's been speculation about who would be the best candidate to put up against John McCain, but the Democrats should have made that a major consideration long ago. The polls have been up and down and currently forecast a very close election no matter who is put up against McCain.
I foresee things getting really ugly. I've been reading comments posted about news articles and I'm seeing ugly things, particularly regarding Barack Obama. This ugliness is no longer just confined to individual blogger's comments and is spilling over to the mass media. Here are just two incidents:
The Jews against Obama t-shirt. Not that ugly. This is more an issue about Israeli politics than about race, but Obama's candidacy is creating significant division among American Jews and it's not pretty. But then, there's this:
A white Georgia man is printing and selling t-shirts with what appears to be Curious George eating a banana and the words "Obama in '08" and he and others see nothing wrong with this. The article reports that the Curious George publisher is considering a lawsuit for the unauthorized use of the little fellow's caricature and does not include an image of the t-shirt. I don't want to give it further publicity; if you want to see one, you can find it on the internet (Fox News). He's apparently doing a brisk business.
This is just the beginning. It's only going to get uglier. With Hillary we have a pretty good idea what the ugliness will look like; with Obama as the nominee, we can only imagine that it's going to get far uglier than we can possibly imagine.
Where we lived before, you just had to declare yourself when you walked into the polls. Here, you actually have to change your registration to a party, weeks before the primary (for federal, state and local offices). We can't even vote for judicial candidates who are not affiliated with a party, e.g, pick 3 out of a list of 10. Then I suppose if you wanted to stay as an Independent, you'd have to change your registration again. Two years later you'd have to repeat the process if you wanted to vote in the primaries.
It is supposedly a safeguard against one party sabotaging another's chances. Who'd do a thing like that?
Who? This is who:
Republicans in Indiana and Republicans in Ohio are a couple of examples. They're voting for Hillary in the primaries because they think she would be easier for McCain to beat, or because they think dragging out the Democrat's nomination process will help McCain.
If true, that means that Hillary's wins are not as wide as they appear, and her losses are wider than they appear. This makes Obama's victory even more likely. My spouse (who is white) and friends (multi-ethnic/racial) have long been pro-Obama while I'm still fence sitting. Maybe because I'm a woman, or more cynical?
My concern is not the primaries, but the general election. If I'm really an Independent, then why care about defeating McCain? I could have voted for McCain, especially versus GWB, eight years ago, or even four, but not now. Perhaps I'll elaborate on this in the future.
With either candidate, the United States will be making history, but it will only make a difference, imho, if the Democrat is ultimately the winner in the general election. Recently there's been speculation about who would be the best candidate to put up against John McCain, but the Democrats should have made that a major consideration long ago. The polls have been up and down and currently forecast a very close election no matter who is put up against McCain.
I foresee things getting really ugly. I've been reading comments posted about news articles and I'm seeing ugly things, particularly regarding Barack Obama. This ugliness is no longer just confined to individual blogger's comments and is spilling over to the mass media. Here are just two incidents:
The Jews against Obama t-shirt. Not that ugly. This is more an issue about Israeli politics than about race, but Obama's candidacy is creating significant division among American Jews and it's not pretty. But then, there's this:
A white Georgia man is printing and selling t-shirts with what appears to be Curious George eating a banana and the words "Obama in '08" and he and others see nothing wrong with this. The article reports that the Curious George publisher is considering a lawsuit for the unauthorized use of the little fellow's caricature and does not include an image of the t-shirt. I don't want to give it further publicity; if you want to see one, you can find it on the internet (Fox News). He's apparently doing a brisk business.
This is just the beginning. It's only going to get uglier. With Hillary we have a pretty good idea what the ugliness will look like; with Obama as the nominee, we can only imagine that it's going to get far uglier than we can possibly imagine.