I remember watching Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention back in 2004 and writing in my journal that I would vote for him for president some day. And now I have. It's nice when I'm right.
The Indiana primary isn't until May 6, but Obama campaign workers have been hawking this early voting thing and I figured why wait? They set up a temporary clerk's office in the Student Union and today people can go there and cast in-person absentee ballots. It crossed my mind that this would be a very clever scheme for some undercover McCain operatives - get all the Democratic college kids to cast fake ballots before they leave town for the summer, then swoop in for the kill at the actual primary. But this, I think, is fairly unlikely.
There was a long line at the polls this morning, and when I left it had grown longer still. There are also shuttles taking people to other polling places a couple of times a day, every day this week. It's really heartening to see such turnout, and it was also nice to see, as I signed out, the long list of D's on the signout sheet. The Dems are voting early in Indiana; let's hope it's enough.
I read a good piece on Obama recently in Commonweal, in which the author - I forget who it was - pointed out that speaking well is often a sign of thinking well, and that it will be much easier for McCain to dismiss Obama's rhetoric than to match it. Certain people I could name have said that Obama is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, or as Cufflinks put it, that he says nothing at all but he says it really well. Whatever. I'm rereading this speech, and I feel the same way I did back in college when Obama gave me a glimpse of my America. I don't care that it's just talk - every time I see a chalking on the sidewalk that says "Yes We Can" it puts a spring in my step. So they're just words; well, this country was built on words. We're going to take America back. This is going to be great.
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4 comments:
I know what you mean...It is so energizing to have a candidate that gives us hope! Congratulations on voting in your third state! Well done!
I think it is a useful exercise to do what you just did: ask yourself what qualities your America possesses, or should possess, and then look at what candidate seems to speak about thos qualities. It is unnecessarily cynical to dismiss the things a candidate says about anything, but by the same token what a candidate says has to be scrutinized, not merely for sincerity, but also for the actual intellectual rigor of the rhetoric. Obama impresses me with both, as does HRC. The difference between the two, for me, came down to the vote on this horrible war. I'm afraid that voting in favor of authorizing Bush to do whatever he wanted to do was, best case, stupid, wrong, politically calculating, or politically cowardly. Worst case it was all of the above. When you have that kind of example of how someone will behave in a tight spot, it is hard to see beyond it.
Wow, three states! And one is reddish-purple!
go on YouTube and check out the music video of "Yes We Can"!
I wish I were old enough to vote in the next election. What a bummer.
I signed up to be a judge at our polls last year so I could be pretty well trained by this very important year and now I'm working 3 early voting primary days as well as the election in November. It's a big commitment of time but the method for voting here really assures me that there is little chance for skullduggery in my county.
It is odd to find myself at odds with the majority of our family's primary choice for Prez but I am. I am a Hillary girl and, bless his Republican soul, Grandpa is for her, too.
It's true she screwed up the vote on the war but Obama has voted for every subsequent war funding bill since it started and that aint too stand up either. That does not mean I won't vote for him if he is the nominee. I just think she's smarter, tougher and more respected around the world and that's waht we need after these 8 long years under Bush and the Repub.s.
And now Grandpa and I are off to drive for an hour to a rally for Hillary in Wilmington, NC. Never did that before!
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