Yet another election year is upon us. I find the unending campaigning and mudslinging disheartening. I find the complexity of issues absolutely overwhelming. To make matters worse, I'm not a fan of any of the leading candidates. Come election day, what shall I do? Thankfully, I don't have to answer that right now. There's still five months to decide.
While it's a blessing to have choices in candidates, it's this very blessing that complicates the matter...at least for people like me. (Don't get me wrong, multiple choices is a good thing.) When I look at the candidates, I see pluses and minuses, so much that I remain unconvinced as to who I want to lead my beloved country. Trying to be objective, here's how I see it:
John McCain: perhaps the boldest of them all as he has taken up the fight against the powers that be (corporations, wealthy, etc). That was the past, not sure what he'll do going forward. I think his strength will be a strong military. My concern is that he seems desirous of prolonging a war that I now question (reasons which I won't get into in this entry). He's also known to waffle on the marriage issue. Furthermore, I remember an article about him referring to Vietnamese as "Gooks", then got defensive when questioned about it. Racism is too important an issue to me. I have trouble backing a man who would say such things. And speaking of venomous speech...
Barack Obama: His long-time association with his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, pretty much killed it for me. (In all fairness, Wright does speak some truth about horrendous portions of our nation's past. But I think he crossed the line with the "God damn America" bit.) Sure, Obama calls him a "former" pastor and I totally understand about inconsistencies and conflicting loyalties in all of us. However, why did he wait until now to distance himself. It comes across as reactionary and insincere. My only other major criticism is his lack of commitment to protecting the unborn. I just hope the "abortion reduction" lingo becomes reality as the underlying issues of poverty and economics are addressed. As for Obama's strengths, I think he's a good consensus builder with demonstrated success at building coalitions across party lines. That's desperately needed and is something I want to see more of in the political world. He's also comfortable dealing with matters of faith. It's good to have Christian voices raised on the Left (and all across the political spectrum). Last thing I'll say about him is that I find it deplorable that people tried to use his own name against him, suggesting that he's suspicious for having an Arab name. Having a middle name of Hussein makes him no more dangerous than having the name of Angel or Jesus (hay-soos) makes one godly. People need to calm down. And while we're on names...
Hilary Clinton: we've had her hubby Clinton as our chief before. Now she's running, bringing him along, and both tend to have undendingly scandalous reputations. Yes, as humans they are brilliant, likeable, and have done some good things. However, given the troubles, I don't see her candidacy and possible assent to office in the best interest of our country. Character counts. As for her strengths, I truly think she may be able to bring some desperately-needed health care reform. I don't know exactly where I stand in terms of solution, but she at least gets the issue on the table.
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