And on a much different note

[annathepiper]

I haven't been saying much about the election this year, though it will surprise exactly none of you that I'll be voting for whoever gets the Democratic nomination.

While I really would like to support the first serious female contender for the President ever, I can't get behind Hillary as that person; I don't like her particular brand of politics, suffice to say. I strongly disapproved of Bill going off on the race card in South Carolina, and I have rolled my eyes repeatedly at several of the jabs Hillary's campaign has tried to take at Obama.

And I have been leery of committing support to Obama, just on the grounds that, as many others have said, he's awfully untried. For a while now, I have heard so many people asking the experience question--does the man have the necessary background to prepare him for the Presidency, does he walk the walk as well as he talks the talk, etc.

I have shared these fears. I got to be old enough to vote pretty much just in time for Bush Sr. to come into office, followed by Clinton's two terms, and then Bush Jr.'s--I'm one of that generation who has never known any option but a Bush or a Clinton in office.

The turn politics in this country has taken as a result saddens and disheartens me. I have lost friendships over it, friendships that had lasted for years. I have seen other friendships wither and die. Time and time again, I have witnessed people I care about, on opposite sides of the political spectrum--or hell, sometimes even the same side of the political spectrum, but not the same exact position--turn strident and bitter. It's gotten to the point that I've been scared to bring up political topics with anyone I know online or in person, for fear that I'll discover that I'm a blue-stater and they're a red-stater and nary our twain shall meet.

I'm sick and tired of that.

I've been longing for a political environment where we can all stop being red-staters or blue-staters, liberals or conservatives, Democrats or Republicans... and instead, start being Americans. I want to live in a country where, instead of half of us being at the throats of the other half, we all stand together, shoulder to shoulder, to make this a country each and every one of us can be proud of.

Listening to Obama's speech tonight, I begin to hope that maybe, this is the man that can help us do just that.

Let's hear it for hope.

Comments

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I think sometimes, the best color state is purple. :-)

[solarbird]

Whereas I'm sick of the "let's split the difference" and "balance" bullshit. There isn't any difference in the core establishment that has dominated both parties for the last couple of decades, except in rhetoric, and the "balance" between "liberty" and "authoritarianism" always leads to more authoritarianism, and there isn't a "middle ground" between rule of law and rule of personality.

Or so I have ranted endlessly about on my own journal.

PS: Get well soon!

[annathepiper]

Purple is a good color!

And yes, get better soon! *snugs!*

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

Not arguing with your take on Obama's speech(and it *was* a good speech), but did want to briefly point out that I don't think there is any realistic (i.e. not involving supernatural or alien powers rewiring people's brain circuitry) possibility of the progressives and fundies walking hand in hand any time in the next few decades. Obama as Jasmine? I think I'd rather keep the partisan warfare.

That said, so far the vast majority of Obama supporters on my f-list have kept me around despite my increasingly scathing dislike of him and his campaign, and I haven't unfriended any of them who didn't unfriend me first, and you aren't ever likely to get remotely in the realm of two of them (one who proudly posted their "no one is inevitable, bitch!" bumper sticker, and one who is one of many online who makes me wonder if the Obama/Jasmine comparisom might have something to it)

Quite seriously, even I feel the electricity from his speeches (how much is him, how much the particular dynamic of his audience) and wordcraft-wise they flow really well even when you read the text, but for the most part I have found the substance wanting. Today's was an exception, but too little too late to bring me anywhere near his camp.

Also, both of you get better soon!

[annathepiper]

Re: Obama as Jasmine... *snort*. Now now, we have absolutely no proof whatsoever that he's an ancient incarnated deity who's secretly eating people. ;)

More seriously, yeah, the likelihood of progressives and fundies actually working together is indeed pretty damned small, I agree. That's the very reason why I feel like I still can't entirely commit to Obama's camp--because the ideal is fabulous, but I'm at a genuine loss as to how it can be achieved. I need the man to put his money where his mouth is, to show me the substance to back up his style.

Now, though, he has my attention. We'll see what happens. Thanks for sharing your position. I appreciate it. :)

And, re: getting well, thanks! Hoping to work on that over the weekend!

massively veering off topic . . . (well, sorta)

[mojave-wolf.livejournal.com]

an ancient incarnated deity who's secretly eating people. ;)

Oh, the eating people thing -- that and her being secretly ugly always bothered me about that arc (which was one of my favorite on any t.v. series every), even tho I realize to some extent it was metaphor and shorthand and such.

That is all.

Re: massively veering off topic . . . (well, sorta)

[annathepiper]

Yeah, the entire Jasmine arc was one of the high points of Angel, and a good contender for best storyline on any of the shows I've watched, to be sure.

But yeah, she was not only ugly, she was actively horrifying, and yeah, been there done that. I'd have liked to see them play it rather as her true form being sort of Uncanny-Valleyish... still humanoid, but just enough different and alien that it freaked you out a lot more subtly. If I want some deeply horrifying looking Elder Gods, I'll go back to Lovecraft, the grand master. ;)

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is it exactly. ::nods::

[annathepiper]

I'm not officially in his camp yet--I need him to put his money where his mouth is--but now, I have to say, the man's got my attention. So. :)

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

I don't even bother to tell people what I think of the election any more, because I've been a proponent of Obama's approach since before I'd heard his name, and been largely written off as a simpleton for it anyway. "Yeah, yeah, you still think that there's merit in looking for common ground, guess you'll never grow up, I envy you your optimism," but cloaked in diversions so as not to seem rude. But seeing what stick-to-your-guns partisanship has made of a once-great country, and by extension the world, I don't think that being good at it is particularly helpful.

[annathepiper]

Hi there and delighted to see you around. ^_^

Yeah, I really don't care for the sneering at optimism reaction, either. Very much not helpful, that. Being able to see a glimmer of hope doesn't mean your brain shuts down in the process.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

World's best-kept secret! And as for "bitter = sophisticated," I'm with Rob Brezsny (http://freewillastrology.com/) - it's bunk, pure and simple.

[ellerisse.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I like the guy: he's been dismissive about the grandmother who reared him and yesterday's speech, while moving, was caused by a situation the man shouldn't have put himself and his family in, in the first place. However, Obama's political skill is much touted and with mostly good reason, and in a race where there seem to be no alternative-party candidates of any strength, we could certainly have worse options than we do. I permit myself tiny glimmers of hope.

[annathepiper]

Were there prior remarks he made about his grandmother, before this speech?

It has interested me to see the various reactions to what he had to say about her in there--accusations such as "he threw his grandmother under the bus." I didn't get that at all from what he had to say. My vibe out of that was, rather, "I cannot dismiss this relative of mine from my life even if she has said things that make me cringe." Hell, I've had similar thoughts about more than one of my own relatives, especially after having to sit once through a 20-minute lecture on the evils of homosexuality. So yeah, I know all about the cringe-inducing awfulness of hearing such things come out of the mouth of someone who's supposed to be a loved one. And yet, well, they're still family. So.

But yeah... tiny glimmers of hope is about where I am, here. I'm not yet fully committed to supporting this guy, but he's got my attention. We'll see what happens.

[ellerisse.livejournal.com]

Obama writes in his memoir, Dreams From My Father, "I’d arrived at an unspoken pact with my grandparents: I could live with them and they’d leave me alone so long as I kept my trouble out of sight.”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madelyn_Dunham) (Ref Wiki)

Now, I haven't read the book, so perhaps there's some context in here that I don't know of - and this leads to my comment elsewhere that of course it's totally possible that Barack and his grandmother just didn't get along. That would be a typical, normal teenage sentiment, after all. I'm not sure he's wording it very well, either in the book or in later comments, however:

Barack calls grandmother a 'typical white person.' (CampaignSpot, not an unbiased source, but clean and easy to get to from Google)

Maybe she IS a typical white person. But I'm not sure it's political brilliance for Barack to say so in these exact words. (http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDg1MTk0YjQ2YjI1ZDBhNDYzMTA4Y2NhMDA4ZWRlOWU=)

[ellerisse.livejournal.com]

Worth noting that he does say some good and race-irrelevant things about her in the book, also.

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly with you -- but my dislike of Hilary is pretty vivid. (In hindsight, I'm looking forward to a re-vote in Michigan. I was incapacitated during the first one, so now I can cast my vote for not-Hilary and hope Obama-rama-lama-ding-dong clinches the nod.)

(I'm totally down with the notion of a female Prez -- I just can't shake the feeling I get that she'll say anything at all to get-or-stay elected, panders like crazy, doesn't give real answers, is the most Right-wing Lefty I've seen in recent memory ... classic and totally political animal, in short. If there's gonna be a female Prez, I'll write in 'Xena' and call it a day.)

[annathepiper]

You lay down pretty much what my objections to Hillary are. Thanks for chiming in!