The week where everything was super
South williamsburg seems to have a 3 H demographic: Hispanics, Hipsters and Hispanics, with the first group supposedly swawing towards Hillary However, when I entered the Williamsburg Middle School (a mere block from my apartment, who knew?) polling place at 9:45 a.m. the Hasids were MIA and Hispanics were dominent. According to conventional wisdom, which is usually wrong, that means Hillary probably has the advantage. Although , it was may have been too early for many of the "creative types", meaning Obama still has a chance (see http://votingisthenewapathy.com/)
I spent a good portion of yesterday trying to decide who to vote for. This is the first election where my vote has the chance of mattering since I vote for Evanston's alderman sophomore year. And I care, deeply and am also I think unusually well-informed on the policy details. But more in a political wonky way then in a supporting candidate way, since besides for their health care (where I agree w/Hillary) they are the same-enough in policy.
I love that Obama could be superduper-awesome and that he has inspired so many people and even people who would normally vote Republican love him. But part of me just doesn't believe he'll be able to hack it. Where as Hill prob can, but the chances of her being superduper awesome and inspiring are slim. Also, I hate the whole "ready on day one." Umm, I'm sorry Obama never got to live in the White House. Is that a requirement nowadays? I don't fault someone for never being married to a former president, and in fact it's kind of a negative in my book. Plus, it sucks that so many people hate her no matter what and she would always go in with that. Why start off with a president half the country hates, even if they are totally dumb for hating her?
But I truly like her as a person, which I was reminded of when she was interviewed by Tyra (who I was reminded that I don't like).
Way off topic paragraph: I wrote Hillary a letter in second grade telling her I wanted to be president. I still have the form letter she wrote back in my scrapbook from that year. (I also have the picture that Mary-Kate and Ashley sent me after I wrote them asking me to join their fan club. I remember being so offended by this shameless commercialism even at age seven.) But anyway, while I have long since given up aspirations of the presidency, when I told my teacher, who was old and had been teaching for many years, this ambition in second grade, she said I was the first girl student who ever told her she wanted to be president. I imagine that if she was still teaching this wouldn't be the case, and I think Hillary has played a huge part in that. So I applaud her.
So yesterday morning I told myself I was voting for Clinton. Except I realized I'd rather Obama be president. I kind of wanted to vote for her so if I ever met her I could be like, "I voted for you" since of the two she is the one I'd rather sit down and have a beer with (though we'd both probably prefer wine).
But when I think of Obama being president it feels just way more exciting. Something new and different. Like, I don't want a Clinton redux since being president should mean you make longlasting changes, not make things ok for 8 years. And part of it's peer pressure, which feels wrong to say, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I want to be a part of what all the cool kids in my generation are doing (And Obama is totally a cool kid and always has been), and while I'd rather tell Hillary I'm voting for her, I'd rather tell my peers I'm voting for Obama.
So I decided to vote for Obama.
On Sunday I watched the Super Bowl at a bar full of Giants fans. While I had not stake in the game, by the end I was SO EXCITED that the Giants won, that I couldn't imagine ever feeling ambivilent.
And that's sort of how I feel now. As I was walking back from the poll, I swear to G-D, I found myself, without even thinking, singing on the way back from the poll "The times they are a changing..." And then as I was leaving the poll, I saw a man with an Obama sign, and I smiled at him. And he smiled back.GO OBAMA! (unless Hillary wins the nominiation, then I've totally got her back).
I spent a good portion of yesterday trying to decide who to vote for. This is the first election where my vote has the chance of mattering since I vote for Evanston's alderman sophomore year. And I care, deeply and am also I think unusually well-informed on the policy details. But more in a political wonky way then in a supporting candidate way, since besides for their health care (where I agree w/Hillary) they are the same-enough in policy.
I love that Obama could be superduper-awesome and that he has inspired so many people and even people who would normally vote Republican love him. But part of me just doesn't believe he'll be able to hack it. Where as Hill prob can, but the chances of her being superduper awesome and inspiring are slim. Also, I hate the whole "ready on day one." Umm, I'm sorry Obama never got to live in the White House. Is that a requirement nowadays? I don't fault someone for never being married to a former president, and in fact it's kind of a negative in my book. Plus, it sucks that so many people hate her no matter what and she would always go in with that. Why start off with a president half the country hates, even if they are totally dumb for hating her?
But I truly like her as a person, which I was reminded of when she was interviewed by Tyra (who I was reminded that I don't like).
Way off topic paragraph: I wrote Hillary a letter in second grade telling her I wanted to be president. I still have the form letter she wrote back in my scrapbook from that year. (I also have the picture that Mary-Kate and Ashley sent me after I wrote them asking me to join their fan club. I remember being so offended by this shameless commercialism even at age seven.) But anyway, while I have long since given up aspirations of the presidency, when I told my teacher, who was old and had been teaching for many years, this ambition in second grade, she said I was the first girl student who ever told her she wanted to be president. I imagine that if she was still teaching this wouldn't be the case, and I think Hillary has played a huge part in that. So I applaud her.
So yesterday morning I told myself I was voting for Clinton. Except I realized I'd rather Obama be president. I kind of wanted to vote for her so if I ever met her I could be like, "I voted for you" since of the two she is the one I'd rather sit down and have a beer with (though we'd both probably prefer wine).
But when I think of Obama being president it feels just way more exciting. Something new and different. Like, I don't want a Clinton redux since being president should mean you make longlasting changes, not make things ok for 8 years. And part of it's peer pressure, which feels wrong to say, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I want to be a part of what all the cool kids in my generation are doing (And Obama is totally a cool kid and always has been), and while I'd rather tell Hillary I'm voting for her, I'd rather tell my peers I'm voting for Obama.
So I decided to vote for Obama.
On Sunday I watched the Super Bowl at a bar full of Giants fans. While I had not stake in the game, by the end I was SO EXCITED that the Giants won, that I couldn't imagine ever feeling ambivilent.
And that's sort of how I feel now. As I was walking back from the poll, I swear to G-D, I found myself, without even thinking, singing on the way back from the poll "The times they are a changing..." And then as I was leaving the poll, I saw a man with an Obama sign, and I smiled at him. And he smiled back.GO OBAMA! (unless Hillary wins the nominiation, then I've totally got her back).
posted by diana at 8:21 PM
1 Comments:
Glad to see that "superduper awesome" is a key qualification for president, haha.
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