The Moderate Liberal

My liberal buddy Jason from Up North in Canada called today.  He’s a Clinton backer. He thinks Obama is not long on details.

I tried to explain that after 8 years of being completely uninspired by Bush that Obama’s lofty visioning exercise is exactly what I (and many other Americans) needed to get me back in the political saddle. I think Jason feels that Clinton is a known quantity, and Canadians always seemed to like the Clintons.

My view is that American can do better than to recycle the good ol’ days of the Clinton administration. I’m ready for a break with the past. I am ready for woman President, don’t slap me as a misogynist. Nothing against Hillary, except that she’s married to Bill. No, I can’t separate the two.    Hill would bring in a plethora of old Clinton administrators; one only need to look at her campaign staff and advisors to understand this.  With Clinton, we’ve been there, done that. Time to move on.

America needs a real change, change we can believe in.  America needs a new vision. America needs Obama.  What Canada needs, I could give a shit (just kidding Jason). 

Jason frets that McCain is getting lots of “positive” spin up in Canada from all of his personal appearances. He notes that McCain actually seems likeable.

Superdelegates, why are you letting this drag on? Pick the winner and lets get on with it.  Time is awastin’.

But just look at what Obama has done. He has activated millions of new voters. He has shown that he can raise money by the hundreds of millions, not from giant donars, but from tiny little people. That is grassroots support that Clinton has not been able to build in her 30 years.  Clinton and McCain represent yesteryear politics.  Obama is the future, and the future is now.

Get used to it, Jason!

Since Edwards graciously left the race for the Democratic nomination, I quickly and easily transferred my support to Barack HUSSEIN Obama.

I get asked frequently: despite my contempt for a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton presidential succession, would I vote for HRC if she gets the nomination? The answer is Yes, I sadly, angrily, would.

But thats about all you can count on me for: it won’t be a vote for HRC as much as a vote against a conservative supreme court.

My enthusiasm will not transfer from BHO to HRC. I won’t be knocking on doors or driving little old ladies from Dem neighborhoods to the polling places. The extradinary money flow from my checking account to BHO will not transfer to HRC. It will be very difficult to put aside the hard feelings that she is inspiring… some very serious outreach will be required. I’ll cast my vote, but I won’t “believe we can” win this election in my heart with HRC. My expectations would be very low. My interest in the Democratic party would likely wane markedly. I would look forward to a challenge within the Democratic party in 4 years.

Hillary’s recent and well publicized praise of John McCain’s foreign policy credentials at the expense of Obama (and indeed, at her own expense) is just more proof that she is the wrong nominee. What a pathetic, mean spirited, stupid slash-and-burn strategy. If her underhanded tactics work and she is the nominee, this will come back to haunt her deny her hte presidency.  But its about what I have come to expect from Clinton, so in my heart I am not surprised.

 It appears that in her desperation to, not just defeat but destroy Obama, she seems to be courting a VP spot on the McCain ticket. She is doing McCain’s campaigning for him.

The results from Iowa, and the anticipated results from New Hampshire, are proving what we said here several times last year:  the moderates/independents are going to make this election.  And why not? It is high time that forces of moderation become active in the primary process, rather than leave it to the party hardliners to nominate the candidate. 

Although Clinton’s campaign is nowhere near dead, we are not surprised by the rise of Obama and Edwards against the “inevitability” of a Clinton presidency, only that it took so long.

As moderate liberals, we are still greatly troubled at the prospect that the American Kingdom could be ruled by two royal families (Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton) for up to 28 years!  We’ve said it before:  America can do better than this. 

As we have learned with the little Bush presidency, there are grave dangers to American-style democracy when administrations are recycled. We would expect a Billary administration to recycle the old Clinton Whitehouse. And while Hillary pronounces that the only way to deliver “change” is to get things done, Moderate Liberals want a certain kind of change — and it doesn’t come by bringing in the old guard to take another crack it. It comes from a vision, the sort that Edwards and Obama are articulating, and that Clinton just can’t project.

While Clinton scolds the media for being too “soft” on Obama, and she continues to flat out ignore Edwards, she then scolds their supporters, essentially calling them naive for wanting to believe that change is possible. 

Hillary remains our 4th choice, behind Edwards, Obama, and Richards. However, with so much at stake in this Presidential election, we have decided not to be distracted by 3rd party candidacies.   New York’s Bloomberg continues to make overtures in this direction, and its anticipated that this wealthy liberal former-Republican could skim enough independent voters away from the Democrats to tip the Whitehouse in favor of the Republicons.  This is no year for a protest vote, and if a broad swath of Americans continue to be active in the nomination process, rather than simply have a bad candidate foisted upon them by party radicals, there should be less perceived need to cast such a protest vote.

We are also enjoying watching Ron Paul rile the Republicon establishment.  The most Republican of all candidates, we are watching Ron Paul to see if he will run as the Libertarian party candidate.  His vocal supporters seem to be everywhere — just take a drive in the country and you will probably pass any number of “Ron Paul” banners taped to old trucks  along dirt roads.   Rather than ridiculing and belittling Paul, Republicons should be thankful to him as probably the only candidate who has brought some new DNA to the Republicon party in 30 years.

Although Clinton remains our 4th choice among Democrats, we’ve decided that we will vote for her if she receives the party’s nomination, if for no other reason than the Republicon Party must be disarmed.