So the race to the White House is heating up, both in the Democratic and GOP. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are currently in a tight race. John McCain seems to be running away with the Republican Party nomination. There are so many choices with little time to think about who to vote for. People who back the GOP and are registered as Republican's will vote for McCain and registered Democrats have not made up their minds yet. That is where I stand but as I have stated in the past, I am not a Democrat or Republican. I am so confused right now and cannot make a clear decision, I may not vote this time around.

All I know is that anyone of these choices are better than who is in the office now, I cannot wait to see Bush out of office. I am so sick of his crap, but that is another Rant for another time…..

Barack Obama

My dad and brothers, who all live in California, say that I should back Obama. They say that I should due to his platform - It's time for a change. This is where I have a small problem with Obama, what exactly is he going to change. It seems to me that he dances around all the direct questions and that his stance on Iraq is that he wants to pull out by March or some ridiculous time line. I am sure that he is just making such statements so he can get the backing of all the Americans that are tired of the war, like I am, but I am a realist. I know that it will take time to pull out of Iraq and that we have to finish the job. On the other topics such as health care he seems to me that he wants to make changes. I am leaning towards voting for him because I believe all the hoopla, but there is still time to evaluate him and his standings on issues.

Hillary Clinton

No way am I voting for her. It is not that fact that she is a female what so ever. It has to do with the fact that she is a Clinton. I could not stand her husband in office; I mean he was impeached, right? Her stance on the issues is unclear just like Obama, but I do not want Bill to be in the background telling her how to run the country. We already had 8 years of that. Plus her episodes of crying on TV are complete BS, trying to get everyone to feel sorry for her, get real!! Sorry Hillary but you won't get my vote.

John McCain

He has pissed off a lot of the right wing GOP and is now currently trying to get back in their graces. He wants to put permanent military bases in Iraq and that is one thing that I cannot live with, I do not agree and that is why I am leaning towards Obama. I think that we need to eventually get out of Iraq and so do most Americans. Unless he changes his views, I am not sure he will get my vote.

There is no clear choice right now and I think that many Americans are in the same boat as me. I know that the issue and their stances will become clearer as we get closer to the National Conventions. I will try and keep this story updated on my feelings.

~Mike

I'm a little undecided, as well. Most of your views are reflective of mine, but with a few exceptions:

Obama:
I don't think he has realistic expectations (although not as unrealistic as Bill Richardson: "Day 1, I will cure AIDS. Day 2, we'll be out of Iraq. Day 3, there will be no more homeless people or drug addicts!" etc). He is pretty charismatic, though, and would probably be a good diplomat. I think he'd be okay, but probably shaky at the beginning. I have a feeling that he wouldn't be able to overcome the inertia of the way that things currently run in the White House - sort of like one person trying to stop the waves at the beach. We'll see.


Clinton:
You'd have to be more clear on why you didn't like Bill, but either way, Hillary is not Bill. Sure, they're married to each other and probably discuss stuff, but when was the last time you heard of a married couple who:
1. Were nearly identical in opinions and approaches to problem-solving AND
2. Had been together for longer than a few years?

My wife and I share similar opinions on many political issues, but if we were both presidents at different times, there would be a HUGE difference, and I think she'd probably actually do a better job than I would. Just don't blindly confuse Bill and Hillary without better reason than their last name. I could probably find more similarities between Huckabee and Obama. Really. If you're not going to vote for Hillary, that's fine, but you should really have a better reason than her last name.

And as far as the crying thing, I don't know if it's real or fake, but even it were fake, would it really be any worse than the rest of the sympathy-vote-getting tactics used by other candidates in just about every presidential race in the past 50 years? The only reason that we even heard about her "sniffle" (there weren't even any tears - just a mild waver in her voice for about 3 or 4 seconds) was because the media jumped on it like a pack of wolverines. I don't see what's so special about it - other politicians and candidates have cried before, and nobody thought twice about it. The only reason I can think of that it mattered was because everyone that said she was weak WANTED her to show any sort of weakness (I could easily list off a dozen occasions where other politicians or media people have commented negatively about her as being unable to lead because she would be weak as a female). In all, if you were to put aside her gender, she's run pretty much the same as any other candidate.

All that said, I haven't chosen her yet because I am still a little cautious and am curious about Obama, but I am still leaning slightly towards her because:
1. She did a lot of foreign diplomatic work while Bill was in office, so she has the international relationships covered pretty well.
2. She's already made a lot of mistakes in the past, so she won't have to repeat them.
3. She probably has had the equivalent experience of a VP, so that would help on day 1.
4. She has a track record of being decently aware of social problems, and addressing them. Bush just made serious cuts to the funding for the housing for the elderly and housing for the disabled and the department for violence against women. It would be nice to see those cuts reversed so the government gets back to trying to help people that are less fortunate.

My primary concern with her is that Republicans don't like her at all, so I don't know how much stuff she would be able to get through Congress.


McCain:
There's a bunch of things that I don't really like about him, but I think you hit the nail on the head with him wanting to stay in Iraq. I'm also concerned he'd be anxious to spread into Iran. He REALLY bought into Bush's constant talk about terrorism - he's been pretty much reciting all the major talking points verbatim.


With any of the candidates, just don't fall victim to the common problem of investing too much into a single person. The president is a powerful figurehead, but he cannot do very much by himself. The majority of the power lies in the rest of the cabinet, the Supreme Court nominees, and so on. So as much as the president may want XYZ to happen, he or she can be shut down before the public even hears about it.