Qualm about this election

Let me start by saying how much the political junkie in me is loving this primary season so far. It feels like one of those mystery movies or some really warped episode of Law & Order. Just when you think you have the crime solved.... BAM... back to square one.

Anyway, my major issue with this primary season so far is with the Democratic Party and more specifically with Barack Obama and some of his supporters. I'll begin by saying that in the beginning i was a fledgling supporter of Hillary Clinton. As time wore on, and the issues I am about to discuss were raised, I became firmly planted in the Clinton camp.

Going to a liberal college, I find myself in the minority by not supporting Obama. I don't mind the position. What i do mind is the sort of attack that is being leveled against supporters of Hillary Clinton by many of Obama's supporters. I feel like Obama's campaign and many of his supporters throw out this subconscious guilt trip on any liberal democrat who refuses to support him. There is somehow this notion that because I am not supporting the first very viable African American candidate that I really dont care about racial equality. When in reality, it was the way that the Obama campaigned has attempted to play race as a trump card that turned me off from him in the first place.

For example, in New Hampshire when Clinton pulled out a surprise victory, the first thing the Obama campaign jumped to was the so called "Bradley Effect." For those of you unfamiliar with this terminology ( I admit I had to look it up to clarify the meaning), it refers to the campaign that Tom Bradley ran for the governorship of California back in 1982. At that time he was polling ahead of his opponent but then on election day he narrowly lost. Closer studies showed that many of the white people who overtly said they would support his candidacy did not in the voting booth. These people wanted to seem like they were open to an African-American candidate but when it came down to it, in the privacy of the voting booth, they really were not. Back to point, the day after her victory, the Obama campaign kept wrongly hurling this out there as an explanation for his loss. In reality, an upsurge of undecided women all went Clinton's way (possibly due to her tearful moment the day before), which gave her the narrow victory she pulled out.

Shortly after this happened, Clinton said this, "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act," Clinton said. "It took a president to get it done."
While Obama overtly feigned apathy at this comment, his campaign jumped all over it repeatedly implying that both the Clintons were racists. I shouldn't even have to defend this one. Bill Clinton.....racist?....really? There are a lot of things you can call Bill Clinton but I hardly think racist is one of them.
And lets be real here. Everyone knows the Clintons are both great politicians. Noone really argues this fact. They are calculating, and they will do what they need to in order to win. You have no argument from me on this fact. Tell me why then, would these intelligent, calculating, individuals throw out the race card at such a pivotal moment in the campaign. They had NOTHING to gain from it. Throwing out the race card would only upset African Americans and those lovely "limousine liberals" we have been hearing so much about. It makes no sense for them to try that approach in the Democratic Party of 2008. It might have worked in 1958, but not now. If I can figure this out so easily, I am fairly sure that Hillary Clinton can as well.

Lastly, I read this article http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/sorry_to_say_race_is_still_a_f.html
It personifies EVERYTHING I hate about some of these Obama supporters.
Case in point: "Moreover, exit polls in Ohio showed that fully 20 percent of primary voters acknowledged that "the race of the candidate" was "important" in deciding their vote. And Clinton won this group by a big margin -- 59 percent to 39 percent.
Clearly, this represents white prejudice against Obama because he is an African-American and not the racial solidarity that regularly wins him 90 percent of the African-American vote."

I am hardly on this end of this debate but I have to say that this offends me. I have read Cornel West and Dubois. I have taken many racial theory and racial politics classes. I know I can never comprehend what it is like to be a minority in this country. We still have a VERY far way to go before that issue is ever fully dealt with. That being said, that quote above definitely upsets me. Why is it that when white people vote for Clinton it is "racist," yet when NINETY PERCENT of African Americans vote for Obama it is just showing "racial solidarity?" That is the total personification of implied racism that I have been trying to convey. How often can you get 90% of any group to do ANYTHING? And you know, I really have no issue with the fact that 90% of African Americans voted for Obama. I understand why. What I do have a problem with, is this lovely little spin put on it that intends to make me feel guilty for not doing so.

I'm, tired of this continued implication that because I support Hillary, I'm supporting Hitler in a pantsuit or somehow voting against hope. Are experience and hope really mutually exclusive? Do you have to be a junior senator from Illinois to be hopeful?

Ok I'm done with my rant.

-Kyle

Have to catch an early train
Gotta be to work at 9
If i had an airplane
I still couldnt make it on time
Cuz it takes me so long just to figure out what im gonna wear
Blame it on the train but the bus is already there

Its just another manic monday
Wish it was sunday
Thats my fun day
My I dont have to run day
Its just another manic monday.

- Yeah I feel you


Do we, as human beings, ever stop struggling with identity? At first, its a struggle to identify ourselves with something. Then it becomes a struggle to identify ourselves by what we don't identify ourselves with. As a kid, I used to think at some magic adult age I would begin to understand the complexities of humanity. I thought that understanding was something inherent to adults, but I am beginning to think I was wrong. I'm not sure why I always thought that by the time I turned 21, the mysteries of life would suddenly be revealed to me. I guess that is one of those big let downs that we have to come to terms with as we get older. I certainly didn't have any epiphany explaining to me why life is the way it is . In some ways, my experiences and the knowledge I have gained sinced I was a child has actually hindered the way in which I understand the world.
... strange

Random facts that startled me:
Infant mortality rate: United States ranked 42nd
Life Expectancy: 45th
GDP per capita: 10th
Overall Health: 72nd
Freedom of the Press: 44th
Literacy: 55th

What the hell happened?
When is this country going to get it together?