I’m a liberal, hell I’m an extremist on some levels. I once told a friend the best description for me was a socialist libertarian. I think everyone should pay higher taxes so we can all take care of each other but we should be allowed to live our lives any way we damn well please.

I am however also a realist. When it comes to a president I typically vote for the person I think can most represent the middle. We have many extreme factions in this country but the President should be able to take the best of each and find a compromise that works. Obviously Bush is not that guy. For my money John Edwards is the candidate who can do this best of our current crop of candidates.

Here’s why I’m pissed. I think this current two person democratic primary race is a joke. It’s a bunch of knee-jerk liberals who want to make history by voting for a woman or an African-American. Even if neither are the right person for the job.

Now I like both Obama and Clinton. Actually I kind of love Hillary but there are very strong reasons to not vote for either one of them. Bill Clinton was an excellent middle guy. He crossed the aisle many times and got some good things done. Yet he still managed to polarize this country. The Republicans hated him with such a vengeance that they spent millions to air his sexual misadventures. Seriously, people? What the hell was that about? Hatred of Clinton or something he stood for, I’m still not sure what exactly. but a lot of it was Hillary. She rubbed them the wrong way because she opened her mouth. She still does. We polarized in the other direction under Bush. I just don’t see how another Clinton era can heal the wounds of the past 8 years. Not to mention that in the past 20 years we have had 4 years of a Bush, 8 years of a Clinton and 8 years of a Bush. Do we really want to add another 4-8 years of another Clinton?

If you’re a big Hillary fan I’ll give you my favorite reason why she shouldn’t be president. I call it the Ted Kennedy irony. Ted Kennedy has done more for this country than either of his brothers ever did. Now of course their lives were cut tragically short so we can’t know what future contributions could have been made but realistically as a senator Ted has helped passed numerous bills into law that have benefited millions. He has had in my opinion far more of a positive influence on our country than he ever could have as president.

At this point you may be thinking well then Obama is a nice fresh face. He might be able to unite rather than divide us. My issue with him is his youth. Not in age, more in political experience. After the past 8 years we are a mess. Even the Republicans are starting to admit it. I think it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to make things work well again. Plus there needs to be a lot of healing of our international relationships. I’m not sure he’s ready for that. There is also the Oprah issue. I don’t like that he seems to be riding so high because of her support. Oprah has a lot of influence, too much if you ask me. I like her and I nearly always agree with her political opinions but that doesn’t make that kind of influence on a potential president any better. I don’t want another president who has other people whispering in his ear about what is important even if those things are seemingly what I want them to say.

By all means vote for Clinton or Obama if you really believe in what they are promoting but be sure that’s your reason. It’s not racist nor sexist to vote for a white man if he is the candidate you believe in. Edwards has plenty of things to make him the right man. Take some time to listen rather than voting by reflex.

Posted by Nancy