The Candidates

Well, this entry is a long time coming! I’ve been too busy, too lazy and/or too angry to put anything out here. Something said on one of the endless news/commentary/biased opinion programs that are almost as common as reality shows motivated me today.

It was about the election. What else could you think I meant? And, no, I’m not talking about the election in Australia. I am relieved, though, that the people of that country finally figured it out and canned Howard. I just hope the people in the good ol’ U.S.A. finally get it, too. It’ll be more than a day late and a dollar short, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I want to be up front about this, but please read my whole argument before dismissing it. If you’ve read the previous posts, you’ll know I’m a liberal. I am also a Clinton supporter. I won’t go into many of the reasons, but I feel they are valid. Barack Obama is my second choice. In another time, the line-up might have been reversed.

To get back to the topic, the bit of discussion I saw centered around Barack Obama being a force for change but inexperienced, and Hillary Clinton being experienced but not as much for change. Both of these are, in my humble opinion, accurate. My concern is that massive change for the country, the U.S.A., may not be the right thing to try to do at this moment in our history.

We are in a hole, a deep, dark and incredibly dangerous hole. I’m going to compare it to a black hole because it is threatening to suck in the rest of the world, too. We can like it or not, but the fate of the United States is tied to the fate of the entire planet and vice versa. It really isn’t “us” or “them”, it is “everyone”. We absolutely have to think in those terms. Our future depends on it.

Let me mention a few of the reasons I think this way. National debt, trade imbalance, the falling value of the dollar, non-Americans buying up property and companies like it’s a fire sale, a failing education system leaving us with an ever diminishing pool of engineers, scientists, doctors, are a few.

There’s global warming. It’s not just global warming, though. The oceans are rising. Forests are being cut or burned down faster than ever. Our children and the elderly are suffering from more respiratory illnesses than ever. That’s only going to get worse. There are no barriers that can keep airborne pollution in or out.

Terrorism belongs to all of us. We need to worry about the terrorists grown in our own back yards as well as those in extremist groups from other countries.

Oil is getting harder to find and more expensive for almost everyone. It’s going to run out sooner or later and we will all feel the pain.

We are in a war that is exacerbating all of the above. We are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars and, more importantly, the lives of our young men and women, into something that cannot end well. The military is stretched to the breaking point. President Bush is now talking about expansion and worse.

The U.S. has the worst possible image around the world and even at home, making it “them” and “us”. How far do we need to fall before we hit bottom? How long will it take to crawl back up from that hole? And, the most important question, will there be anything left to come back for?

Now, finally, to the point of this entry. I like Barack Obama. He is intelligent, charismatic and very earnest. I think if he had been running eight years ago, I would have been an enthusiastic supporter. He would have been great. But, now, right now, no.

We need someone who is very savvy and tough as nails, who has been around in national and international political circles for more than a couple of years. We need someone who can talk with the world’s leaders in their political language. We need someone who is more than a little calculating.

I know Hillary Clinton has been a senator for only three years longer than Obama, but she has been part of the scene for a lot longer. She is intelligent, tough and focused. She also does not need to be introduced to the world. She knows everyone and is known by everyone.

First, we need someone that has a greater possibility of winning the presidency. If I can point out his freshman status as a real concern, what will the Republicans do? Can he really fight the battle that will be needed next November?

Then, we need someone that can tackle the whole mess that we are in, and I mean the whole mess. Our recovery on the home front and the international scene is going to be a monumental task.

Right now, at this point in history, I believe we need someone like Hillary Clinton.