As has been pointed out by many others, this is an odd primary season. More often than not, by the time I start paying serious attention to the candidates, one has already distanced himself from the pack. This year, however, things were still up in the air when Massachusetts voters got a chance to speak, and I had to get serious about the choice of candidates.
I’m a lifelong Democrat, so it surprises me a little to see a guy like John McCain apparently win the nomination on the Republican side. I disagree with about half of what he says (which is better than with most Republican candidates), but with a few painful exceptions, he doesn’t seem to pander. He is a bit of a wiseass, which is another reason to admire him. But as I said, I’m a Democrat and so my choice boiled down to Clinton or Obama.
It turned out to be pretty easy for me. As far as I can tell, there is 95% congruence between Clinton and Obama in terms of policy (see Paul Krugman for one of the differences). If Hillary gets the nod, we know what we’re going to get: incrementalism and viscous and relentless attacks from the other side’s machine. If she wins, it will only get worse. With Obama, there is at least hope that he will inspire enough people so that the attacks from the other side will be ineffectual. At this point in my life, I need that hope.
You are probably one of the nearly 3 million who have seen this clip, but I think it is pretty impressive:
Here’s the actual speech:
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonan …We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea —
Yes. We. Can.
FWIW, celebrities (half of whom I don’t know) include: Jesse Dylan, Will.i.am, Common, Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriguez, Kelly Hu, Amber Valetta, Eric Balfour, Aisha Tyler, Nicole Scherzinger and Nick Cannon
The contest is gripping the British media like nothing I can remember. The best comment I’ve read in the aftermath of Ohio/Texas is in The Guardian ‘This is the Democrat’s plight: In a year that should be theirs, they are caught between a potential winner who can’t seem to win - and a probable loser who just refuses to lose’
That feels about right to me - The worry must be that Obama and Clinton destroy each other in the coming months and McCain slips through.
Obama must be the politically astute choice. Can they re-run Florida?
Left by William Eccleshare on March 6th, 2008
There is some noise being made by Hillary et al. about rerunning Michigan and Flordia. See this site for more details.
Left by Glenn on March 6th, 2008