Barack, HIllary & Politics in General

To the extent that anyone gives a shit, I have to voice my opinion about the current democratic party and what I see happening. I come at this with some education, but honestly, this is just my opinion and feel free (and I'd love it) to disagree with me.

So, I don't honestly understand everyone's fascination with Barack Oboma. I remember listening to him speak at the Democratic Convention four years ago (Kelly and I were watching it together) and we both commented on what an amazing, charismatic speaker he is. And what a political powerhouse he is going to be. And how what he says is important - it has a place in our party and in our politics. I don't want, and would never, discount the man's ability to uplift and energize...something the Democrats sorely need.

What I take a major issue with is how it seems like many people in our party are just jumping on his party line and not looking below it.

(An aside here - having studied politics in college and in graduate school, I do understand that many, many people are sheep when it comes to political thought and just follow the herd. I don't understand that, and can think of very few things that are more dangerous...but I do get it).

Anyway. Back to my original thought. Barack is running on a message of change (we can be the change we seek, yes we can...blah, blah, blah). And while I LOVE the sentiment and really respect his ability to uplift the people...the hard, cold reality is that WHAT HE IS SAYING IS UNREALISTIC. He cannot (and I truly mean CANNOT) walk into the White House on day one and make radical changes in the government and in how the government makes decisions. As a nation, we have processes in place that actively PREVENT him from doing that (the whole seperation of powers thing for those of you who don't know). Seriously - one man cannot effectively change the face of our government by himself and just because he wants to. It doesn't work that...and we should all be damn happy that it doesn't (spend a couple of minutes thinking about the repercussion if one person truly could change everything just because he or she didn't like it).

Now, here is where my experience in politics changes some thing for me. First of all, the reason that I'm not a staffer right now on the hill is because I learned a lot during my graduate program in Legislative Affairs. I learned that in real life, politics is a lot less political than it seems. In order to make ANYTHING work on the hill, you've got to be able to work with everyone (on both sides of the isle) and you have to know how to deal. You have to know how to bargain, to negotiate and to compromise. If you don't, nothing happens. You hit stalemate. I found this out and realized that I could never be in politics - because I cannot work with Republicans. Honestly. That's why I changed my entire carreer objective. Because I couldn't be objective.

Now, put it all together and you can understand why I am not in love with Barack. First - what he's saying he will do cannot happen. He cannot walk in there all cowboy like (think W, here) and force the government to operate in a way that would please him. Second, without the skills (and we all know that skills are gained through experience) to create the kinds of coalitions that he'll need, it's unlikely that he'll be able to make real change at all.

That's why I'm supporting Hillary. She's not fancy. She's not a great speaker. She's a woman who is percieved as a bitch. She doesn't manage to spout rhetoric in a way that makes people believe her (an essential quality in a good politician), and in many ways, she's just cold and distant.

But. She's got experience. She's got years, and years, and years of experience in Washington. Whether you like the lady or not, she's know how Washington works and she knows how to get shit through an incredibly complicated political system. She is not promising earth-shattering change. Because she knows she (and nobody else) can deliver. What she is saying is that she's got 25 years of history, of coalition building and of actual, hard-earned experience with the best and the worst of our political system. And all of that comes with her on day one.
And, she's got Bill. And love him or loathe him...the man is one of the world's most talented coalition builders. He's a foriegn policy genious. And honestly, we need to mend some foriegn fences. W fucked us up pretty bad.

Hillary is my candidate. She is NOT the person who most closely aligns with my political philosophy. She's far to moderate for my liking. She doesn't support gay marriage (none of the candidates left do, though).

But she knows the game. And right now, after 8 years of a stumbling fucking idiot in office who made us look bad, I'm voting for a little finese. I'm looking for someone who can actually make our nation powerful again....not just strong.