Tues. Feb. 4

We knew we were going to put something up on the site about today, about voting. We weren't sure if we were going to go with a quick hit or a long screed. Then we got an e-mail from Salvantonio Clemente, singer and co-leader of the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra troupe. (They had a show up at the Wilbur last fall.) Sal sent this out to some of us on his mailing list and we thought it appropriate for JSink. He called it "Super Tuesday: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The 'Bama."

Some of you know me pretty well.  What you might not know is that I'm a political junkie.  You know, one of those people who can tell you who the first vice presidential candidate was on the Democratic ticket in 1972 Thomas Eagleton, (withdrew after it became known that he had received...electroshock therapy.)Pitiful, truly, but perhaps no more than knowing Willie Stargell's lifetime batting average or who got voted out first on "Dancing With The Stars" (these facts, I don't know.)

I'm also a registered independent.  I don't make up my mind based on a single issue or on what my family's history of voting is, (for the record, mostly Democrats, with some Republicans sprinkled in). When I first moved to Boston in 1987 there was a guy on the radio named Jerry Williams, ostensibly the first "talk radio" guy.  Jerry came way before "Rush" and "Hennity" and "Savage" (Savage, are you kidding, why not Rambo?).  He was a very interesting guy, used to say, "I'm not a conservative or a liberal, I'm a populist, a pragmatist.  I look at each issue independently and decide what I think is best." Jerry used to hammer Dukakis for taxing us to death, and Clinton for being a philandering panderer (that's a mouthful).  Both turned out to be pretty much true.  But I just as often would listen to Jerry slam Bush the First or take Jerry Falwell or Newt Gingrich to task.

Last time I checked that's what the media is supposed to do, keep politicians honestŠ well, as honest as possible.Yeah, I think Bush has been the worst President in memory.  We needn't go down the list, if you've been paying even a tiny bit of attention you know.  But, just so you know where I'm coming from (and my friends can back me up here), I was no Bill Clinton supporter.

Well, hard to believe but true, our votes will actually count in this year's Presidential Primaries.

If you're a die-hard Republican then I strongly recommend John McCain.  He has the best chance of competing against the Democrats in the fall (most polls show him narrowly beating Sen. Clinton and narrowly losing to Sen. Obama).  He's a vet, tortured in Vietnam for five years in a the infamous "Hanoi Hilton," and calls himself a "social conservative."  I guess what that means is he doesn't care about who you're sleeping with and doesn't really want to get involved with what you do with your own body.  Neither does he demonize immigrants (although all the presidential candidates on both sides dance around this one uncomfortably, if they haven't outright put up the "get out" sign.)  However, he's proven himself to be a true conservative in many fundamental ways.  Strangely enough, McCain gives the folks in charge of the Republican Party, as well as the right wing media, fits.  He's a bit too independent for their tastes.  This could serve McCain, (and the country) well.

On to the Democrats - I've chosen to vote in the Democratic primary this year.  It's just pretty damned exciting to think that real history is about to be made.  Either a woman, or an African-American will be the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.You can probably tell from the headline that I'm supporting Barrack Obama.  I'm also showing my age and geek credentials by referencing a famous political film of the sixties.

To be honest, my own personal hang-ups kept me from making this decision for quite some time.  I don't consider myself to have racist tendencies but we all have primal instincts that often manifest themselves subtly no matter how much we try to suppress them, perhaps my reticence was based on intellect, perhaps not, I don't know.

Let's get some simple things out of the way.  Here are some "swift-boat" style attacks that have been leveled at Sen. Obama and will be again if he gets the nomination.Sen. Obama is a Muslim, educated in a Madrassa in Indonesia.
Sen. Obama refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone remembers last election cycle the "swift-boating" of Sen. Kerry, a thrice-decorated Vietnam vet.  BS then and BS now. Don't fall for this garbage.  It's beneath us all.

Why I'm going to vote for Sen. Obama - His name is not Bush, Clinton...or McCain.I just don't want to look at another member of the dynasty (on either side) for the next 4 to 8 years.  More importantly, Sen. Clinton is the one person that will energize the Republicans in the fall.  They hate the Clinton's.  It's irrational, it's stupid, but it's true.

As for John McCain - I like him in a lot of ways but he's married to this damned war in Iraq.  He's on record as saying we'll potentially be there for a hundred years.  His mind set is stuck in the cold war and we need to find a way out of this maze were in, not be the last ones alive in it. I think that showing the world the face of an African-American, as president of the United States would, in the first five minutes, erase the taste of Bush the Second's tainted presidency almost instantly.  Do I truly believe that our country might elect an African-American as our president?  I'm not sure, but I want to believe it.  And I think I'm not alone.

Is he smart enough?  Tough enough?  Ready? Sen. Obama is the only contending candidate who spoke out against invading Iraq before we did it.  Do any of us really believe now that invading Iraq was a good idea?  He was also tough enough to take the heat from speaking out and not fold under the pressure.  Ready?  I don't believe anyone has ever been "ready" to be president.

Some have all the credentials in the world and fail miserably, some wiith little experience rise to the greatness of the office.What I do believe is this - our country will change and it needs to, our world will change, our future will change for the better if we make a choice to change.

Last night before the Super Bowl a dozen or so different men and women read the entire Declaration of Independence, and I had tears rolling down my face.  What an amazing document.  What a radical change those first American's made.  Here were a people unafraid to take a different path, to step into the unknown because they believed that a better possible future was preferable to a certain and static fate.  We must be unafraid to strive for a better possible future.  Don't we all believe that?