democrats for democrats

This is not going to be a blog about why people should vote for Barack Obama or why Hillary Clinton's campaign is over. It is not about the giant sucking sound (to steal a tiny Texan's phrase from years ago) that the nation's emotional adrenaline would make as it leaked out following a McCain election as it realized it was about to settle into the third Bush term. Nope, it's not about any of these things.

This blog is about principles. And it's about voting. And it's about actually caring about something and believing in it.

Until a little over six weeks ago, I really could have eagerly supported either Democratic candidate for President, though I've been a fervent Obama supporter since he ran for Senate in 2004 and have optimistically always believed he would be the 2008 nominee. I am of course pleased at the way things have worked out, and from some of my other diaries you can tell that I have been more than a little bit disappointed by the way that the Clintons have run Hillary's campaign. However, I still believe that either of them would make a much better President than John McCain. I simply do not understand anyone who claims to be a Democrat who says she would vote for him over Clinton or Obama.

This is a peculiar political season. If there were enormous philosophical differences between Clinton and Obama, that would be one thing. If we were talking Ronald Reagan vs. the first George Bush or Joe Leiberman (forgive me) vs. Dennis Kucinich, OK. There are fundamental differences between those who would vote for one and those who would vote for the other. But this is Clinton Vs. Obama, for crying out loud. They agree on 97% of their policies; even they acknowledge that. And where they differ it is more a matter of degree than of substance. And of course a matter of style.

I'm not here to argue though for one over the other. I've done that before and that's what the whole primary season is about anyway. What I'm here to wonder is simply this: if you are a Democrat, and you admire the principles of Democrats; if you have detested what has happened to this country for the last seven years under the Bush White House; if you believe in the freedoms that W. has systematically taken away in the name of anti-terrorism; if you believe that the Iraq war was a huge error from the beginning and has become a boondoggle that threatens to drag our economy down with our international image; if you are a liberal whose voice has been stymied by the conservative appointments to the Supreme Court that our Supreme Court appointed President has made; if you are someone who honestly supports either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton and what they are fighting for...

How could you spite all of these beliefs--not to mention the efforts of your candidate--by voting for more of the same Republican policies just because your candidate is not the choice of the majority of the party?

I respect the right of people to vote their beliefs. I respect the right of McCain voters to disagree with those of us on the Left and to vote their own consciences. I respect the right of millions of Democrats to believe that Hillary would make a better President than Barack. I even respect anyone who really believes in Ralph Nader for some reason other than the kind of "none of the above" absurdity that helped give the Supreme Court that opportunity eight years ago. What confuses me, what I find it harder to respect, is someone who swears that he or she believes in democracy, yet cannot abide by its rules. We have elections for a reason, and whether this is a razor-slim majority or a landslide, one candidate will win, and whoever wins will share 97% of his or her ideology with the defeated opponent.

If somehow that victor is Hillary Clinton, I will vote for her. I may not be as enthusiastic about it, but I am a Democrat. I will help in whatever way I can. It is simply too important. The country cannot afford another four years of McBush. It cannot afford even one more conservative Justice. It cannot afford four more years of this infernal war. It cannot afford any more erosion of the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. It cannot afford another four years as an international pariah. It cannot afford four years of a President who is admittedly less than competent in economic matters and who is unable to keep straight the most basic details of the foreign affairs that are his supposed strengths.

This country cannot afford another Republican President right now.

If you call yourself a Democrat and you would even consider voting for him, what exactly does that say about you?

--sunspark