Glad to be the first to recommend this!

Bless you, Destor23! Gracious, thoughtful, healing. I am sad, too, about how Hillary has betrayed her own great qualities. I hope that a dignified exit will happen, soon, so she can come back and be a great Senate majority leader!

Drank the whole glass of kool aid didn't you

Obama '08. Resistance is Futile.

Well Destor, I gotta tell you, I was pro-Hillary up through late 2006, though I thought more strongly about Edwards if he could move himself forward. I had thought Obama much an anomaly at the time, not having yet read on his positions, and (me being what you call a freethinker - more bluntly - atheist) I was little distressed by a few things he said about religion early in 2007.

Well Hillary started sounding a tad more grandiose and self-entitled than I was comfortable with, and Edwards was really hammering some of the biggest jerks in the country for their outrageous greed-at-all-costs mentality.

Then I heard some real early Obama speeches among small crowds (on CSpan) and thought - man he is trying to convey real policy, but these groups aren't all that charged up. That was the thing - he was wonkish in the early going. I had heard this 'rockstar' crap before then - we are talking a little more than a year ago. Ok - I thought, he's pretty level overall.

But Edwards sounded like he was more willing to slap a few Louisville Sluggers on the appropriate desks around DC to prompt some change.

Also, Edwards and Kucinich offered the strongest plans to move the country towards real Universal Healthcare. And though he did vote for the war, I thought he would be pretty strong on getting out, too.

Meanwhile Hillary just kept acting like she owned the White House. Edwards faltered and I also thought that Obama might excite after election action, too - which was something Edwards likely would not do as easily.

On the other hand, I thought some early callers for the Obama campaign were not as earnest as they needed to be - a few half-truths, 'he's leading in ALL the polls'. I'm like - Fuck you kid - call me when you want to have the full truth, some polls yes - but were not all stupid out here, some polls he is not the leader, sell me with some meat, not some stupid beat.

As Edwards started to fade badly I opted to throw in my lot with Obama. When Hillary started to pull some of the crap - like changing her mind about Michigan and Florida, I became incensed. She's only looked worse and worse since then.

We need to have a leader that represents the best of America, if at all possible. Sure, Obama is still a bit of a crap-shoot. But already we have Hillary parsing words. Even as she tried to make light of the Bosnia thing on Leno she had to mention 'lots of war zones'. Like come on already - just fess up that you over reached, it had nothing to do with sleep deprivation, and if it did - how would you have handled something like the Missile Crisis which took days, was high pressure and we had not the resources for intel that we have today.

She only made herself look sillier. And as some women on here like Deanie Mills has noted - real strong women know better than to whine.

Destor23 Congratulations.

Your post was thoughtfully laid out and well-articulated.

You are correct Americans do not like being mislead.

Instead of being honest Hillary chose not to. But her recent claims are all so easily refutable that it makes me wonder if she is self-destructing on purpose? She is not a stupid person. She knows better or doesn't she?

Sorry, you're full of shit, destor23, and you know it.

Thanks, Gasket, that was very insightful. I know I'm convinced now.

But on topic, nice post Destor. Though I would have to say that it's tpartier's post that most closely describes my own evolution in thinking on this primary. But either which way, I think it's becoming clear to more and more people who the best choice is.

Cheers destor, it takes a lot of guts to post like that.

On to fighting McCain!

FACT: When anyone wants to do anything there is a reason...when they don’t there’s always an excuse, more delusion and/or another lie.

QUESTION: Shouldn’t any governance be built NOT on ethnicity or gender, but...on truth, credibility and judgment...!?!?

Yipee!

Now, spread the good word. You've been there, you've seen it, you know what it looks like from the other side!

Use your powers for good!

I started familiarizing myself with Obama's positions and the trajectory of his career after his convention speech in 2004. (I admit, he piqued my interest there. ". . . and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states!")

But I wasn't decidedly in his corner in this primary until the night Hillary celebrated a "win" in Florida. That exceeded my tolerance for BS and hypocrisy. And she's done nothing but convince me since then that this was the right decision.

But not just because of the way she's conducted herself during the campaign, although that's definitely been a factor. But also because the contrast drawn between the two more and more reminded me of the web of associations in which the Clintons had entangled themselves during and since Bill's time in office. In fact, to this day my distaste for the way Hillary has run this campaign is tempered by a suspicion that the outlandish desperation and destructive obstinance we're seeing is powered by a force beyond her control, that she has mortgaged herself so severely to the special interests and allegiances behind her campaign that this kamikaze mission is at least somewhat outside her personal control.

And, finally, before Obama vs. Clinton I'd almost forgotten that options existed when it comes to the direction of the Democratic Party, that maybe it wasn't a foregone conclusion that it must remain synonymous with the DLC to be viable, that centrist appeal and progressive politics might not forevermore be mutually exclusive (crossing my fingers), and that the fate of my party and politics maybe didn't have to remain entirely at the mercy of the demographics and voting habits of Florida or Ohio.

Anyway, this looked like it was becoming a conversion-narrative thread!

I wondered if I had just misread your past posts compared to those made more recently.
Even if you didn't support Obama I would be glad that you aren't just acting like the various bullshit she has pulled never happened.

I hope you know this means you are no longer regular people. You sir, no longer count.

As a former Hillary, now Obama supporter too, I salute you for your discernment. Now, what's stopping the superdelegates?

We all live in this world and we all know that racism exist. Maybe you have had the cool black friend or the cool white buddy, that does not hide the fact the racism exist. Obama comes from a world of both and how anyone could tie him into being racist is beyond me. Like so many thousand of biracials he was too black to pass which is why he embrace the black community. Time and time again he tells you his story. His mother was white he father was black, his father left when he was 2, he moved to Indonesia when he was 7, and his grandparents assisted in his child rearing. He went to Columbia in New York graduated and later was offered a job in Chicago to help stabilize the steel workers who had just lost the jobs. Once in Chicago he ran into all types of problems and defeats. A couple of years later he went to law school(Harvard) because he was determined to learn the law so he could better help those in need. He was actually President of Harvard's Law Review(first Black man to hold this position). This meant Obama could do almost anything he wanted to do but he didn't he loaded up and headed back to Chicago thinking he could make a difference. Broke, holes in his shoes, and a car that should have been dead a long time ago but he had a dream. Maybe, he was political driven, but how do you make a change unless in the political world.
Maybe I am to big of a Obama fan to be bias but I tell you that he is the one. He is the one to unite not just the United States but the World.
In 2000, I work for the census, the Hispanic had a choice to be Black or White because there was no box for Hispanic about 98% choose White. Several years ago, I would talk to the Iranians in the store in the community and several told me they felt that Blacks were hated in America worse than they were. Something is wrong when nobody wants to be apart of the Black community and it is called racism. Something that is being practice every day. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the list goes on and on but these are popular programs that divide the United States and yet they have sponsors that kept them on the air. What a shame that in 2008 America keeps this feud going. When Reverend Wright says God dam America what is Rush and Sean doing. They are worse, they are sending their sheep on a mission and nothing is being done. The mainstream media is joking about it. People died to have the right to vote, yet these people are making a joke of it. Dan Abrams is the only person who I heard condemn the practice and Keith Olbermann. Yet, everyone condemns what someone says but not what they do. I bet if Rush and Sean were Black men they would have been fired along time ago because every a black person says something he is a racist(what a joke).

Wow. Thanks for the great post! I agree with you that the Clintons should be better than this. But... there you go. For years, many of us have been saying "there should be a MAJOR shift in how the gov't works." It saddens me that so many people, when given a chance at real change, recoil and cling to the familiar anyway.

Here's to change. And growth.

Very brave post. I wish I could convince the last few in my family.

Welcome to the fold, Destor. You now rank up there with DF, in my book.

Destor, I'm new here and I'm probably overstepping my bounds, but I want to warn you that you are just at the beginning of a journey of discovery. It is rather like the process of divorce: years from now, you will still be discovering the flaws in these people, finding out that they were never who you thought they were. You will also find out why it is that so many people dwell on Clinton's faults and flaws, greatly irritating those who still support her. There is a fascination with the now-apparent failures of both Clintons because it is a part of how we examine our own failures of judgment, a necessary step for each of us to counter and overturn our earlier perspectives.

Right now, you still believe it is the Clintons who have changed. You still cling to the belief they were superior beings, only recently seduced by the lure of power. Trust me, eventually you will realize that the faith you placed in them was never warranted. They created a public relations myth and so many of us bought into it. But think back, what was the basis of this faith other than their own word? Clinton caved on important issues as soon as he became president, and continued compromising principles and letting us down throughout his presidency. Are these two people really so far above normal intelligence, enough so that each partner should have the opportunity, the destiny to lead this country? I almost bought that, until the first time I saw one of them in a non-pr event (and all presidential appearances are pr events), watching Hillary at a Senate hearing soon after she was elected and realizing that she was as mundane as any other politician and that she did. not. know. what she was talking about. Does Hillary really care about healthcare issues and child welfare, or is that just her hook? It sure seems to me that her vaunted healthcare plan does quite a lot to underwrite private industry, rather than providing a path to a real national system.

It's taken me years, but I'm finally asking myself, "Who are they really? What do I know about them that wasn't 'sold' to me?" I'm embarrassed by what now seems the obvious answer. Clinton's presidency was a relatively successful period; it wasn't a golden age. But even when I was willing to believe his wife was equally qualified, I never embraced the concept of having a royal family. They were over and done with for me before Hillary's campaign began.

I can accept and even expect that Obama will let us down in many ways, both as a candidate and as president. For now, I'm impressed by his intelligence, glad that he seems to be willing to recognize his own faults, probably foolishly hopeful in thinking his advisors are a better quality than those selected by Hillary. I know there will be disappointments, and I will be criticizing him too; I can live with that. Who knows, he might not let me down - I still like Jimmy Carter. And I can always take solace in knowing that no matter how duped I have been by a former hero, I will never have to feel the level of shame and (ir)responsibility felt by those who supported our current president.

Destor as long as it had rum in it who could complain? Go forth and multiply.

Destor,
I don't think it's fair to say that you were previously wrong. I was a fence sitter before I decided to support Obama, in part because I thought there was a lot to admire in Hillary Clinton. When she ran for senator and campaigned in every county in New York State, I thought that showed respect for the people of NY, and a conviction that everyone in the state mattered, not just the wealthy urbanites.

Unfortunately, Hillary has shown herself to be unworthy of that admiration. I can cite her insistence that numerous states "don't matter" (unless of course it turns out that they do matter), her utter lack of integrity with respect to matters of truth, and numerous other failings, but I only have one lifetime, and don't want to spend all of it talking about Hillary.

What I do think is noteworthy is that had Hillary not been up against an incredible candidate like Barack Obama, many of us would never have known what she was really like until (perhaps) the general election. I'm certainly not claiming that Obama is perfect, but I do believe that he's our best chance in our quest to reclaim our country.

Welcome to the light side!

Plenty of room on the bandwagon. You know you're thinkin' about it L'Ville! Come on, all the cool kids are doing it...

Supporting Obama? Good choice.
But an Obamanoid?

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.

Welcome to the club. Toyota will be dropping off a brand new Prius this afternoon.

"Like Sting after he left The Police and started singing about Desert Roses, Hillary is somebody who once inspired me and who once spoke to me, but who doesn't make sense to me any more"

As someone who was a huge Police fan in high school, then heard Sting's adult contemporary stuff the moment I graduated, this resonates strongly with me.

Welcome to the club. And we know you're not joining because all the cool kids are doing it, you're joining because you realize that Clinton is as cool as Sting.

Destor,

Again you are wise indeed to look at the facts with a critical eye. I am wondering just how Clinton supporters can fall for the "I want the all the votes counted" line, then hear her stance on pledged delegates. It boggles the mind. Hillary treats her supporters as morons who won't notice.

Please, Hillary supporters, explain this one to me: From Hillary's own lips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xiiwWQSy8Q