I haven’t watched any of the debates yet - GOP or Dem - and I probably won’t until we get to the general. Watching Wolf or Pumpkinhaid or the powerphiliac Matthews run through their scripts has the cringe factor of a thousand Bush-Lieberman clinches.
I’m a news junkie, so I know the key positions of most of the candidates, anyway - I don’t worry for my own knowledge of the individuals or the issues. But what does worry me is that by ignoring the debates, by avoiding coverage of the internecine jabs and stumbles of the candidates, and because we don’t have cable, I am missing the national zeitgeist. My take on the candidates (thus far) is:
• Biden: I could never vote for Biden after the Bankruptcy Bill and his refusal to support a filibuster of the Alito confirmation vote.
• Clinton: As a woman, I would love to be able to support Hillary, but she is an old-school triangulator for whom power has far more importance than policy, and looking tough is more important that being right.
• Dodd: I wish Dodd had taken a stand against Lieberman during the Connecticut primary. I know the Senate is all about collegiality, but some issues, like war, trump comity. Dodd’s early support for Lamont (before the primary) could have torpedoed Lieberman’s successful independent run. I like Dodd, but I’m afraid he’s been in the Senate too long to take that body on head-to-head as President. That being said, he’d be a far better choice than Clinton - and I think he’d make a great Supreme Court justice.
• Edwards: Edwards is not without his faults, but he’s my guy for a lot of reasons: his obvious compassion, his conviction, his refusal to back down from a fight, his admission of error on the Iraq war. I’m not sure he and I are on exactly the same page regarding troop withdrawal, and I wish he were more progressive on the issue of marriage equality; but I believe Edwards is the fighter we need now.
• Kucinich: How I wish I lived in an America where Kucinich could be elected. He’d make a fabulous Vice President or cabinet secretary.
• Obama: Oh, how I wish I could support Obama wholeheartedly. He has the fire, but not the courage of his convictions. He’s too easily swayed by the process, and he’s allowing himself to be kneaded into a pliable dough by DC conventional wisdom.
• Richardson: I love Richardson’s anti-war and pro-choice stances, and his intellect is as big as his ego, but he is a free-trade fanatic (he loves NAFTA and the WTO) and would not be the best candidate to strengthen the middle class.
How far am I outside the mainstream?
Conversation around the Thanksgiving table should be interesting this year: my father-in-law is a former Republican who’s been sickened by the Bush administration, and is backing Hillary because it’s his nature to support whoever he thinks is strongest. The rest of us (save my husband, who just wishes they’d all shut up until next October) are progressives with loyalties scattered across the field.
L.’s 4th-grade sense of things is that Clinton or Obama should win, because “we need a change.” I couldn’t agree more, but unfortunately a change in gender or race isn’t the most urgent challenge facing us now. I wish it were that simple.
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