So, there's this primary election

[redbird]

As many of you know, there's a presidential primary on Tuesday in a number of states, including New York. I'm a registered Democrat. Right now, in New York, that means my choices are Clinton and Obama (in this state, you can only vote in the primary of the party you're registered in--I had a teacher in high school who always voted Republican but was a registered Democrat, because the Republicans seldom had primaries).

I was going to vote for Edwards, but he has withdrawn from the race. Neither Clinton nor Obama strikes me as absolutely wonderful (or I would have been supporting that one already). I'm open to suggestions about who I should vote for. Preferably based on policy (voting records and/or consistent statements by the candidates, not "this guy who supports $candidate said X once" or "s/he looks like s/he would do thus-and-such"). Don't bother telling me that other people have endorsed someone--if you're someone I know and like, your endorsement means more to me than that of a Kennedy, or your state legislator, or your favorite newspaper, even if all you have is a hunch.

Comments

[barberio.livejournal.com]

Obama seems to be a positive candidate. He wants to roll back some of the disastrous parts of 'the war on drugs' that are making the problem worse. He's also a big proponent of campaign reform. Obama's health care plan is probably the most likely to get passed through congress. He has a sane understanding of economics. However, he has been a little flipflopish on the Guantanamo issue, with his voting record not quite matching his speech positions.

From the standpoint of someone outside the US... Clinton's support of the war puts her as a disadvantage in credibility in any future negotiations with the rest of the world. The rest of the world isn't willing to trust Clinton. She favors continuing the Cuban embargo, which is just political sillyness to appear moderate. Obama's on record as saying he'd be willing to sit down and talk, something Clinton's campaign attacked him for. Clinton's views on video game violence are a little dubious.

While Obama's not the perfect president, in the choice between him and Clinton, I'd chose Obama.