Friday, February 08, 2008

Who I'm Voting For on Tuesday

This year Maryland will hold a primary that actually matters! While my preferred candidate, John Edwards, is no longer in the running, there's plenty to like about both of the remaining candidates. [My quick summation of the Edwards campaign; loved his message about corporate influence in D.C., too bad he (A) didn't know how to talk about it, and (B) not enough people care, or view it as a big issue.]

Despite the awesome speechifying prowess of Mr. Obama, I'm going to have to cast my vote for Hillary come Tuesday evening. Why? Three reasons, in order of importance to me; I'll try to keep them short.
  1. Health Care: In case you missed my sixteen-part series prompted by the movie SiCKO, this is a pet issue of mine. Hillary's plan of mandatory coverage moves us closer than Obama's plan to universal single-payer coverage - albeit incrementally closer.
  2. Partisanship: If anything, we need more fights in D.C., not fewer. The current Pelosi-Reid Congress rolls over on war/security matters all the time - if that's what bi-partisanship or post-partisanship look like, then no thanks. I have no desire to see Dems working together on security issues with a party that constantly questions the patriotism of any politician or citizen who opposes war, torture, or spying on Americans. Enough is enough. The president sets the tone for the party, and Hillary is more of a fighter.
  3. After everything she had to deal with four her previous eight years in the White House, thanks to Bill, Ken Starr, and the VRWC, she still wants to be president? What can I say, I'm impressed by that.
With all that having been said, I'd be perfectly fine with Barack as our next president. Two very solid choices; that's awfully nice, for a change.