In a scant four months, I have done a complete 180 degree turn politically. Until January 8th, 2008 I was an Anybody But Clinton voter. I supported John Edwards because I share his view that poverty is a moral imperative and that the country needs to rededicated itself to principles of fairness and equality from which we have strayed decisively since the Johnson Administration. As Edwards’ candidacy faltered, I had to take a good hard look at the two remaining candidates. And the more I listened to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and examined both their record and their policy proposals, a funny thing happened on my way to the polls. I became a Nobody But Clinton voter.
Part of my evolution is clearly that I find Senator Obama lacking in substance and experience coupled with a political naïveté. But more of it is that I simply do not share his values and I vote my values. If I were to vote my own narrow economic self-interests, I would have been voting for the GOP all my life. But I haven’t done this because ultimately I believe that the United States is best served where there is equality of opportunity for all. CEO to average worker pay in 1964 stood at 24:1. Today the ratio of average CEO pay to the average pay of a production (i.e., non-management) worker is approximately 431-to-1. The cumulative pay of the top 10 highest paid CEOs in the past 15 years totals some $11.7 billion. Clearly something is amiss.
I believe in universal health care. I believe in a sound energy policy. I believe that war on terror is a war we must fight, not in Iraq but in the backalleys of the Middle East and the forgotten valleys of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some of this battle will require troops on the ground but more of it will be waged with counter-intelligence operations and poverty alleviation programmes. On these three scores, only Senator Clinton gets it. The first two are both values vote entirely and the last one a combination of values and tactics. Obama’s plan is not universal, it leaves out 15 million people and there is no concern for pre-exisiting conditions. That’s not fairness. On energy, Obama voted for the Bush-Cheney Energy Plan that Clinton did not. Ultimately our economy is tied to a sound energy policy and Clinton’s energy proposals are far greener and far fairer than Senator Obama’s. And on Iraq and the war on terror, Clinton’s experience from her work on the Armed Services committee and her endorsement by over 35 former military top brass gives me the confidence that she can accomplish the yet unaccomplished, the dismantling of Islamic terrror networks.
This campaign has morphed from a political campaign into a battle for the soul of Democratic Party. On the one hand, the Democratic Party establishment led by Howard Dean, Donna Brazile, John Kerry, Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy would have us believe that someone who dismisses rural and working class voters as “bitter and clinging to guns and religion” is electable in November without carrying white working class voters. They’re wrong. I am not an effete liberal and I am tired of supporting candidates who are because they just do not understand the concerns of the working class. It is not just economics, there is a disconnect on core values. Obama’s values contain elements of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Reverend James Meeks, Tony Rezko, Sidley-Austin LLP, David Alexrod, Jesse Jackson Jr, and Donnie McClurkin. This is plainly offensive to me and I think to many other Americans. You are the company you keep.
I am willing to bolt the Democratic over this. For me, it is Nobody But Clinton. I vote my values and if Clinton isn’t the nominee, it would appear that I share more of my values with John McCain. And if I can’t cross that bridge, I am more than happy to stay home. And what should really worry that effete liberal Democratic establishment is that poll after poll points that approximately a third of Clinton voters feel the same way as I do. Yesterday’s exit polls pointed to the urgency that Obama now faces, less than half of Clinton supporters in both Indiana and North Carolina stated that they will vote for Obama in the general election. You see there are alot of NBC voters out there.