Sadly, the formatting on this one is messed up. Always use the clipboard :)

How do you feel about Hillary as VP?

Amen!

Destor, Destor, Destor:

You have been an Obama supporter for about two days now, and you have already done more than just about all of the TPM Obama supporters combined have done in the past six months. This is one of the first posts I have read in a very long time in which the poster seeks to explain his or her support for Obama, as opposed to so many posts that reiterate the same reasons to detest Hillary Clinton over and over again. Well done Destor.

Still in all, with respect, I ain't convinced. I'm proudly sticking with Hillary. She's tough, she's progressive, she's experienced, and she will make us proud. Anyone who still stands tall after the abuse she has been subjected to over the past decade-plus is my kind of leader. In short, Hillary rocks, no matter how many regrettable things have and will be written and said about her over the next several months.

I voted for John Kerry in 2004 even though he voted to authorize war, just as Hillary did. Yea, I wish HRC would have said she was sorry for her vote too, but I submit that there are a helluva lot more important reasons to vote for a candidate.

I'll pick Hillary for the economy over Barack Obama any day of the week, and that's my number one issue. I am so tired of representing unions in bankruptcy court and watching the court rip apart collective bargaining agreements negotiated and adhered to over decades. I see first-hand the absolute destruction of entire communities because of plant closings. I genuinely believe that Hillary hears American working people far better than Obama the conciliator does, and I believe that her message resonates with American workers.

On the other hand, Obama seems to want to make nice, but nice and two bucks often get you on the subway and nothing more. I like nice and tough, nice if possible, but always tough as nails. Politics ain't campfire. Where is Obama's toughness Destor? I see it in nothing he has done. I will, of course, qualify this posture if Obama manages to beat Hillary and secure the nomination. But he has to prove he is tough by winning this thing, and until that happens, where's the beefcake?

I wholeheartedly agree with John and Elizabeth Edwards, both of whom take the position that there is only one remaining Democratic candidate with a proposal for universal healthcare, and he is a she. Healthcare matters. Obama, by condemning mandates in the classic Republican style, has already ceded an important principle, and to me this demonstrates extremely poor judgment on the merits of the healthcare debate and with respect to negotiating a final resolution on healthcare.

Finally, with respect to foreign affairs, I categorically reject the notion that Obama is superior to HRC. I think he is being fundamentally disingenuous with respect to his plan to get us out of Iraq (is it or isn't it 16 months?), and if Kyl-Lieberman is a reason to reject Hillary, then so too I say and then some should Obama be rejected--because he didn't even bother to vote on the darn bill. Abstaining from such an important vote is not leadership. Missing the vote is even worse. I like my leaders to take stands, even stands I don't agree with (such as HRC's vote on Kyl-Lieberman).

Again, I promise from the bottom of my heart to support Senator Obama with vigor if he is the nominee. In the interim, Destor you now bear a heavy responsibility. In this tiny community, by switching candidates midstream (traitor :)), it is your job to bring us together. I am ultimately for a Democratic victory in November and I know you are too, and I promise to help you with unification once this thing is over--assuming you want my help (hee).

Always in solidarity,

Bruce

workerbee:

Well-stated as always. And, at least as of this morning when I came to work, the subway was indeed still two bucks a pop! :)

I do think that the Obama campaign has come to recognize the limitations of the kumbaya approach to the meat grinder that is the American political system, and I think that that realization is evidenced by the demise of the rock concert rallies and the "come to Obama" admonitions. I think they realize that words alone, and yes again, two bucks, gets ya on the subway and nothing more. Stay tuned, but the kid from Chicago via Hawaii via Kansas, etc., if he wins, definitely has much to learn, beginning with the reality that the extraordinary and unmatched honeymoon he has thus far enjoyed will some day end, and it will end with a bang and not a whimper.

Bruce

I'm not convinced there is something deeply wrong with choosing via negatives. Many important decisions are of this sort, from where to attack the opposing army to whether to marry someone. Often the positive choices are roughly OK, but many negative choices are deadly---consider mushrooms or McCain. As one biologist said, there are vastly more ways to be dead than to be alive; it follows that most choices are made in order to avoid a danger.

With two candidates from our party we rightly assume they are OK on issues. And since neither is a repeat president we can't judge on previous performance. So it is hardly unnatural or irrational to simply say A is OK but B has X as a negative, so I choose A.

Congratualtions you have joined the progressive campaign that thinks it's cool to call women F*cking Wh*res if you do not like them.

You've got nothing to prove to anyone, d23. Your comments have been well-reasoned throughout the primary.

I'm proudly sticking with Hillary. She's tough, she's progressive, she's experienced, and she will make us proud.

She only has this one tiny little problem. She has already lost the nomination. She lost it not because of her negatives, but because of Sen Obama's apeal. He is a leader who has built a campaign organization that boasts 1.3 million doners and a host of well organized volunteers who have propelled him to victory in 2 out of every three contests so far. If you listen to the people who support him. You will learn that they are motivated by an enthusiasm for him rather than a hatred for her.

Hillary hatred will get you a few votes, but it will not earn you the legion of followers and donors that Sen Obama has organized into the winning campeign against the party insider. I hated Regan and Bush II but it did not motivate me to donate or help with the campaign of their oponents. I turned out to vote against them but that was all. Sen Obama has earned my donation of more than I can afford and my time canvasing for him. I even spent my vacation working for him for our primary and will do the same this fall. I am so glad to have a candidate to vote for this season rather than having to choose the lesser of two evils. Most primary seasons their has been a candidate that I really liked but they never got the nomination. This year my candidate is going to the show! I cannot wait to work for him in the fall!

Hillary's career options? A better Senate Majority Leader would be Wisconsin's own Russ Feingold. He's been steadfastly against the war. He was the lone Senate vote against passage of the Patriot Act, demanding more time to work on the Act's sections that trample constitutional rights. He's called for censure of Bush as a means of creating a historical footnote that Bush's unbridled actions were indeed opposed. Feingold has also shown the ability to work cross-aisle, and we'll need this ability to make President Obama's first term a success.

Hillary as VP? No one seems to mention the 800-pound gorBilla in the room. Why would Obama want an ex-president, one who is still quite popular, in the picture at all times with comparisons to come around every corner? Who for a second believes that Bill could shut his mouth and stay in the background when the press is putting microphones in his face?

Let Hillary be a good Senator. Let her use her penchance for the details to serve her in passing good legislation.

Nice to hear your reasons for supporting Obama. I enjoyed your posts in defense of Clinton, and I am equally happy to hear your rationale for switching to Obama. I hope other post-Clinton supporters can be as reasonable.