It took me a while, but I finally get it.
The political fight for the Democratic nomination is knocking at my front door…and calling me on the phone…and leaving fliers in the mailbox…and freaking out the dogs by peaking in the window while I’m eating dinner. I was brought up in the South…West…so while my girlfriend ignores all this and the recycling bin fills up, I try to exchange pleasantries with Obama and Clinton supporters alike. It’s not working…
Either I’m for them or against them…I didn’t feel comfortable saying I was undecided, because I’m really not, but I really didn’t want to say who I was voting for. All I would commit to was “I will support the Democratic nominee no matter who it is.” Maybe I’m stupid, but that seems like an OK stance. To the credit of some, they thanked me for my time and said be sure to vote and gave me more stuff to recycle. Others kept at it, though. Knowing that I have already said I would support either candidate for president, they begin the list. You know the list. We’ve all seen the list. All the reasons why I shouldn’t vote for the other person. And then it hits me…why I got so beat up swimming in that political ocean the other day.
They just don’t care. They don’t want to hear what the other side has to say. There really is no debate. They don’t want to be fair. They want to win at all costs. The ends justify the means. Not all supporters are doing this, mind you…but it my opinion, both sides are guilty of it.
Do ya’ll want to know the terrible thing I said that got me beat up at the lesbian political debate? “Both Obama and Clinton supporters are guilty of slander”
That’s all…I just played Switzerland. “You know there’s two sides to this coin“…the rest of the time I just tried to say that we needed to stop fighting within the party and take that energy to the Republicans…take it to the White House…take it to the Iraq War…take it to Health Care…but these people were fired up and to me, were not seeing a bigger picture. Case in point:
These people were so mad that they said they would (a) stay at home instead of vote for the other candidate, (b) vote 3rd party, or (c) vote for McCain.
Stay at home? I don’t know…I like to vote…I’m patriotic that way…vote 3rd party?, I can identify with those that say there needs to be more that a 2 party system, sure…but just to say f*ck you…no.
But that last one is still a shocker to me. I hear it more and more, and I’m appalled.
I can understand the merits of one Democratic candidate over another, and have heard eloquent pros and cons and I have all the respect of those people hitting the sidewalks after work and on the weekends, volunteering to get out the vote.
But for the people that are so against the other candidate that they will vote Republican…you are not a Democrat.
And I think if you had the chance to speak with the candidate you are for (Obama or Clinton) they would say the same. What Obama and Clinton would say to you is…
“You are not a Democrat”.
You know that when either of them concedes the other will give a gracious speech and stand behind the other united against the Republicans. Both have already said that it is an honor to be running against one another. Yes it gets heated. The media brings out every piece of dirt. Bizarre rumors are flying around the internet. To buy into dirt and rumors is ludicrous and immature.
So to you…Obama and Clinton supporters who will vote for McCain if you don’t get your way…(although, I doubt you made it this far though the post…because you won’t read something you don’t agree with, or you’ve skipped right over the whole thing to tell me I’m wrong) but if you’ve made it this far and you’re still set on voting for McCain. My question is this:
Can you honestly picture this…Democratic Senator Clinton/Obama going to the polling booth on election day and voting for Republican McCain because she/he didn’t get the nomination?
Yes…the fact is both these candidates are U.S. senators. The state of Illinois and the state of New York have elected these individuals to represent them in Congress. I think that speaks for their legitimacy as well as sending the fact home that if you vote for a Republican you will be f*cking over your chosen Democratic one.
After having a Republican Conservative Republican, in office for 8 years, the nation has a chance to vote in a Democrat. The scale of checks and balances has been biased towards the Republicans with a Republican President and Republican Majority Congress (until recently) and that has impacted many issues our nation is concerned about.If you vote Republican and McCain wins…we risk staying stagnate…it will take so much longer to right the wrongs that have gone on. We need to start things rolling.
With a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President the president and Congress can work together and maybe by this time next year, some of the ribbons on the back of the cars will say:
I Gave Peace A Chance
I Supported Healthcare For Everyone.
I Saved Our Environment.
Our Troops Are Home.
Hate Wasn’t A Family Value.
That is why I’m voting in this election…
and yes…zealot supporters…
I have listened to both Obama and Clinton on these subjects, and I know beyond a doubt that ANY Democrat (by default Obama or Clinton) will do more towards these issues than ANY Republican because of the core nature of those two parties.
5 Comments
I’m with you, sister. Third Party? McCain? WTF?
We as Americans have a tiny sliver of a chance to make a huge difference in our nation and the world – who cares who’s at the tip of the spear, as long as their ideals are more or less in line with the quiet majority?
Healthy debate is great. Hillary is mean (not necessarily a bad thing) and Obama is an idealist (not necessarily a great thing), but after the convention, I won’t care. Whoever is nominated will be representing me, for better or worse.
You said it well, my loverly Hostess. Make room in the pool for me.
Kisses,
Maxine
Damn I love you Maxine…
I will admit that I, from time to time, listen to conservative radio talk shows. It is not because I agree with them (at all), but I like to know what I am up against. These talk-personalities clearly don’t like Clinton or Obama, but they have actually said that they will not vote for McCain. I’m basing most of this on Jay Severin (formerly Severino-but that sounds too “foreign” so he dropped the “o”) who is very conservative and doesn’t like McCain because he is not conservative enough. So, here we are in a democracy where we all have the choice to vote for who we want. The Obama and Clinton supporters are threatening not to vote Dem if their candiate does not get the nomination and the conservatives are threatening not to vote at all if McCain is their only choice. How can this be? Are we all children in the school-yard sulking because we are not getting our way? I want a demoncrat in the white house so that my partner and I can move closer to having federal recognition of our marriage (we already have state recognition in MA) so I will vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is. If the Republicans were as convinced of the politics of their party as I am, they would do the same. SInce this is not the case, they clearly only have their own self-interest in mind.
Jos76
http://www.jos76.wordpress.com
Jos76…I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one shaking my head at all this. Friends that I’ve talked to say the same. They have their favorite out of the two…and we respect each other’s choices, but we know that we want a Democrat in the White House just as you have said. I’m hoping that these very “vocal” people saying they are switching to McCain because their Democratic candidate didn’t get the nomination are just a small minority that are getting headlines.
I have visited this site on many an occasion now but this post is the 1st one that I have ever commented on.
Congratulations on such a fine article and site I have found it very helpful and informative – I only wish that there were more out there like this one.
I never leave empty handed, sometimes I may even be a little disappointed that I may not agree with a post or reply that has been made. But hey! that is life and if every one agreed on the same thing what a boring old world we would live in.
Keep up the good work and cheers.