I Pick Obama

I said that I was going to wait and see what happened on Super Tuesday. Even though there is no clear winner, I have made up my mind. Ever since John Edwards dropped out of the campaign, I have been trying to decide who to support. There are things I like and don't like about Obama and Clinton. I have been leaning toward Obama but now I have decided to support him in his run for the White House. When you get down to it the reason I support Barak Obama is very simply, the 90s are over and there is no reason to go back. Right now the Republicans are down and they are depressed. The hard core conservatives hate their probable nominee John McCain. However the Republicans would love to run against Hillary Clinton, and even though they may not fully support McCain nothing will motivate the Republican base like fighting against the Clintons. I don't see any reason to activate and motivate the sluggish Republican base. Besides even if Hillary Clinton does become the president there is a strong chance that it will be a return to the battle of 90s. It will be hard to move forward with another Clinton White House. Think about the heyday of right wing radio was during the Clinton years. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity could have a field day bashing away at the Clintons again. Having said that it will not be easy for Obama. You have seen the stories that Obama was a Muslim and taught at madrasa. You have also seen the questionable story from the National Journal about Obama being the most liberal Senator. You have already seen many of right wing talking heads playing that story up. So far he had done well fighting those kind of stories, but I would like to see him a bit tougher. Another advantage Obama has over Hillary is he able motivate and excite people in a way Hillary can not. It is clear just be looking at results that Democrats are much more active and excited about their candidates this cycle. Obama supporters most embody that kind of raw enthusiasm. It just may be the excitement and positive nature of Obama's message may overwhelm the Rove like gutter fights the Republicans are known for. When you get beyond the excitement and into the details of Obama you begin to wonder what kind of president Obama will be and how he will be on policy issues. The most important question may be will he will be able surround himself with good people. I will be curious to what an Obama administration and cabinet would look like. Lots of people say that Obama does not have enough experience, but the experience issue does not really bother me. Chenney and Rumsfeld had lots of experience in government and see where that got us. I can't help thinking even with unknowns there is far more upside and promise with Barak Obama. This is a chance for something new and Obama can represent that change better than Clinton.

Update - This morning at the CPAC conservative love fest Mitt Romney annouced that he is dropping out of the race. I heard a couple of interesting things on talk radio this morning. There was one that was conservative Rush Limbaugh and one was progresive Thom Hartman. I listened to Rush for about 20 minutes at lunch and it appears without Romney he has given up on McCain and is instead saying that Hillary is our best hope. He wants to have Hillary as an opponent because he knows that will be the best thing to motivate this conservative base. Thom Hartman is at CPAC and he was all there was tons of anti-Hillary stuff but nothing about Obama. So in other words these conservatives have been planing and working on running against Hillary Clinton for at least two years now. I think Barak Obama is the best hope for the Democratic Party. We can not give the Republicans Hillary to run against.