I Finally Know Who I'm Voting For

With John Edwards' departure from the presidential race, I have struggled over the decision about which Democrat to vote for in my state's primary.

But after much consideration, and a few pina coladas, I've decided -- and I'm voting for Hillary.

I know I have a lot of friends, colleagues and blogosphere compatriots who will disagree with my decision, but ultimately my choice came down to this -- given how precarious the world is today, I want the next president to be ready to lead and govern on Day One. 

I don't think that person is Barack Obama.

Obama's message is uplifting and hopeful.  And, yes, he does have plans for things that are similar to Hillary Clinton's -- but she does have a lot more experience dealing with our bureaucracy, navigating Capitol Hill and has what I think is a much deeper understanding of policy and what can realistically get done in Washington than Obama does.

But there are other reasons and for me the biggest one is health care -- Hillary wants universal health insurance and Obama does not. 

Sure, he wants most people to have health insurance, but I believe that we should be ashamed of ourselves as a nation if we can't make sure everyone has health care.  Period.

I know lots if people have problems with Clinton because of her vote on the Iraq war.  I'm not happy about that one either.  But I don't think Obama is being genuine when he starts down the road of claiming he's better than everyone else because he opposed the war.

That's great, but he's also voted for all the Iraq war funding bills since he was elected to the Senate, just as Clinton has.  So his comparison about their initial positions is, for me, apples and oranges. We can't know what he really would have done if he had been a Senator at the time.  And if he really opposed the war as much as he claims, he certainly could have voted against the continued funding in protest.

So Hillary will get my vote today, but I am very concerned about her campaign.

If anyone from the Hillary campaign reads this, I hope you're going to get focused on one thing ASAP -- You need a story!

Obama has the hope story.   Huckabee, like President Clinton, is from Hope, Arkansas -- lots of story there.  John McCain is a war hero.

Hillary, you may be qualified, but you need a story and it needs to be a good one. For better or worse, that's what resonates with people.  You need a story about the real Hillary -- even if that real Hillary is the wonky Hillary.  You need to turn it into a story we can all relate to, or you're toast.  Just wanting to be president and being qualified isn't enough.

So there you have it -- my late night/early morning/sleep deprived ramblings about why I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton.  For all my friends who are voting for another candidate in the primaries, don't hate me --I think we all want a lot of similar things for our families and our country, but we just have different ideas about how to get there.

Cross-posted from Joanne's personal blog, PunditMom.  She's also trying to come to terms with the fact that her husband voted differently than her for the first time ever.

Comments

[LawyerMama]

That's great advice for the HRC camp! I just don't think she can overcome the polarizing effect she has on so many people.

But yes, I wish Obama's plan included universal coverage. That's an important issue to me too.

[Glennia]

I heard Hillary speak last year, and her story comes across much more in person than in the TV soundbites. She spoke movingly about the difficult life her mother had as a child, and about her father. She is much more personable when she talks about these things than the programmed-in responses to questions on healthcare, Iraq, etc.

I hope that if Obama is the nominee, his advisors will fix the plan to include more of Hillary and Edwards ideas. My guess is that none of their plans will make it through Congress unedited.