No more hiding behind Edwards

January 31, 2008 at 12:48 am | In politics | 5 Comments
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I was a John Edwards supporter plain and simple. I love the historical idea of electing a woman or an African-American (although Obama is mixed race. A fact that the media doesn’t look at). However, I want to win. I don’t want to take any chances with a Republican getting into the White House in November. Poll after poll showed that John Edwards was the most electable nationally of the three leading Democrats. And for the first time in my life I gave money to a Presidential campaign. After he finished second in Iowa I was hoping for a miracle but it wasn’t to be. Maybe because Obama is that charming, or maybe because Hillary is that established, or maybe the Democratic party so badly want to be progressive but Edwards was never able to get a second place finish again. The 4% he got in Nevada pretty much said it all…Yet after a stronger than expected showing in South Carolina I expected him to stay in the race until at least next Wednesday.But it was a lost cause. Deep in my heart I knew it and clearly Senator Edwards knew it too. The funny thing is I didn’t expect it. Just yesterday I was thinking of starting this blog with an entry called “Why I’m Still Voting For Edwards.”—I see strengths with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yet I have issues with both of them.

Hillary comes with so much baggage and she has made some votes in the Senate I seriously disagree with. She had the opportunity to stand up against Bush in 2001 but instead she allowed him to fear monger this country. At the same time I admire her for being such a strong woman and while it may not be pretty the Clintons know how to win. But I have heard of some truly ugly things the Clinton campaign has been doing to eek past Senator Obama. Really underhanded stuff. And I must point out that I still feel betrayed by Bill Clinton. He swore he would end the militaries ban on gays. That was when I was 15 years old and now I’m 30. We are still stuck with Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. He said he was our friend then in 1996 he signed DOMA to get reelected. I know they are two different people but I can’t help but wonder if Hillary will stab us in the back the way her husband did.On the other hand Barack Obama…I really don’t think this country is ready for an African-American president, people say he’s like JFK but a lot of people hate hope and I fear he could face a similar fate to JFK, he’s not for gay marriage. Considering he parents were a mixed race couple that wouldn’t have been able to marry 50 years ago I find that reprehensible, he seems to have gotten greasier and greasier in the last four years. But this the topper for me is that Obama included Donnie McClurkin as part of his campaign in South Carolina. For those of you who don’t know McClurkin in an anti-gay singer, not only his he an anti-gay singer he claims to be an ex-gay. Yes, he is one of those people that claim you can stop being gay at the drop of a hat. McClurkin also campaigned for George W. Bush in 2004! Obama says he doesn’t play the game yet what is that? Turning your back on the gay community to gather support in the African-American community. It worked, Obama won South Carolina by a landslide but he betrayed the LGBT community. He apologized when word broke that McClurkin had been included in his campaign and blamed it on his staff. That’s not enough for me. There is so much homophobia in the African-American community than I can’t forgive Obama for dipping into that to get votes. Yet, sometimes when I listen to him I am inspired. He speaks of the America we all dream of. I want to believe but at thirty I can’t believe. I have to be more practical than that. And you can spin till the cows come home but the fact that he mentioned anything good about Reagan bothers me. Reagan let the AIDS epidemic happen!

So when I go into the voting booth on February 5th I will vote for…I don’t know… I could see it go either way. I’ve never been undecided before. It’s not an easy place to be. Maybe I should throw my vote away and give it to Gravel! Just kidding. No more hiding. It’s time for me to decide.

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