Darn You, Mallory!

I was perfectly content with my political views until I spoke with you a couple of weeks ago.

For those of you unfamiliar with my family, my sister Mallory is a brilliant, adorable, articulate political science major. She got all the good genes in our family pool. See? Isn’t she cute?

Mallory graduates from college in May (providing she gets her senior thesis done) and will move on to grad school in the fall. While she has been in college, I can’t recall discussing politics with her. Ever. This is not unusual, as I cannot recall discussing politics with anyone in my family. Slinging jabs and barbs at each other – sure. Discussing political things – nope.

So when she brought up the topic of the 2008 presidential election, I was surprised. Not just because she brought the topic up in conversation, but also because it was March of 2007. The elections were 21 months away at that point! Who in real life is talking about this? Sure, the media is speculating, but they began speculating the week after the 2004 election. With several news channels broadcasting 24 hours a day, they have to fill that time with something, so they speculate about '08.

Anyway, Mallory and I began talking about the field of candidates for the 2008 election. No one on the Republican side really thrills me. They didn’t thrill Mallory either. Though, with Mallory being a liberal, it was no surprise.

After dissing several people on the Democrat side of the aisle, we ultimately began discussing the Hillary/ Obama campaigns. At the time, Mallory was fairly solidly in Obama’s camp. As we talked, I shared how I did not know much about Obama, but I very much disliked Hillary Clinton. As our conversation ended, I decided I’d look into the campaigns a bit more.

After researching both camps, I have come to the conclusion that Obama is not for me. He’s never really done anything; never managed or run anything. He’s only been a senator for a few years, and he’s spent most of that time running or considering running for President. He speaks in sound bytes and catchphrases, not really saying anything but still giving the impression that he’s said something profound. And for all his talk about uniting people and working together, he hasn’t actually done it.

But as I researched both campaigns, I was surprised how often I found myself agreeing with Hillary Clinton. My opinion of her has changed dramatically. For example, I have always thought she had a grating, plastic way of reading aloud. In any speech I’ve heard her give, she’s spoken in a shrill voice, sounding very forced and unnatural. I could not imagine having to listen to her speak for 4 years, were she to be elected. Listen to her at an event in Alabama:

But now I think that may have been an aberration. Listen to her chatting for a bit in this next clip. She sounds so natural now. Maybe I just needed to get used to hearing her voice more often, but she sounds so warm and comforting, like she cares about me. She sounds like a friend!

I think we need a friend in the White House nowadays.

The more I read, the more I found myself agreeing with her stances on the war. She’s also promised to make state-run health care a priority, and I’ve always been a big supporter of state-run programs. The state does a much better job of running things than giant money-sucking corporations, and pretty much anything Hillary proposes will be better than the status quo. When I was in Costa Rica I had several experiences with the government-run health care system there, and such a system would be fantastic here!

So today, I am placing myself firmly in Hillary’s camp.

Mallory, I know you wanted me to go Obama’s way, but I just can’t. But thank you for initiating the conversation last month. If you hadn’t brought up this topic, I never would have taken the time to look – really look- at Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

And Hillary would have one less vote come November.

Not this November. The November 21 months from now.

November 2008

Go Hillary!