OP-ED : Disappointing Behavior

February 22, 2008 on 5:14 am | In Uncategorized |

When I decided to put together a blog about the current race for the Presidency I wanted to try to keep my personal opinions about certain things to a minimum. I wanted to include news about Senator Obama’s campaign and it’s accomplishments, I wanted to include information to interested individuals on grassroot movements, I wanted to include resources so people who were interested in getting involved in this amazing political process could have tools to use in their own rallying efforts - I didn’t want to address negative items.

I still don’t.

But I do feel moved to express a few opinions.

Before the primary season really started, before many of the candidates had decided to come forward and declare their desire for the Presidency, I was a ready and willing supporter of Hillary Clinton. I had joke about wanting a Clinton yardsign in my front yard the last time George W. Bush won. I was hungry for a change, and ready for an opportunity to help put someone in the White House who could put our country back on a true course.

Then the candidates began to step forward, centering on Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and Senator Edwards. Their ideas were all founded on basic principles of helping those who need help, in creating legislation that could provide much needed lines of support to the struggling masses of American’s who can barely pay their bills or afford to put food on their tables.

Slowly, I began to become a supporter of Senator Obama. We all know he’s an inspirational speaker. He energizes the air around him with an almost palpable sense of hope, he makes it seem so real you’d think you could reach out and just grab a big heaping handful of it from the sky. He makes you believe that the dream of our country is an attainable one.

After I started listening to him speak, I did everything I could to find out more about him as far as his legislative experience was concerned. What I found impressed me. What I read in Senator Obama’s “Blueprint for Change” impressed me. Senator Obama’s passion for change and hope impressed me.

As the field has begun to narrow, I have begun volunteering for the campaign in anyway I can find the time for. It is the first presidental campaign I have ever given money to in my life. And I make a monthly contribution now, sometimes more if I can afford it. I will happily sacrifice a dinner out if it means I can help the candidate I believe in.

What I have become more and more unimpressed with…is the rapidly devolving moral character of the Clinton camp.

From the beginning of this race, I (like many, many Obama supporters) have always said that whoever got the nomination would get my vote. We are all able to recognize that the Democratic candidates (whoever they are) offer the most hope of setting our country back on a course and saving us from the horrible years of the Bush misadministration.

But I’ve been seeing negative attack, after negative attack from the Clinton camp. I’ve been seeing twisted words and misleading information in their mailers, and marginalizing of specific racial groups. We won’t even discuss what Bill Clinton said about South Carolina.

As a lifelong resident of Texas, I find it increasingly more offensive that the Clinton campaign is focussing primarily on the Latino population. I’ve grown-up with Latino friends and family and appreciate and love them all. I just find it so offensive that the Clinton camp is considering them as “Hispanic” as opposed to just considering them as “Americans”.

And as Senator Obama’s numbers have continued to rise in the polls and his pledged delegates have increased and he’s taken now 11 straight wins in a row, it seems as though the Clinton campaign is more and more willing to throw away it’s morality.

The recent argument over reseating delegates from Florida and Michigan for example. All candidates signed paperwork agreeing to the terms set forth by the DNC. And now, with her numbers low, the Clinton team is working to try to reinstate those delegates where she won. She is essentially saying ‘I give you my word’ and then turning immediately around after the numbers come in in her favor and saying ‘I take it back, gimme!’

Talk about flip-flopping.

And I’m seeing attacks on Senator Obama’s experience versus Senator Clinton’s experience.

Someone once said, “You don’t need experience to be a great leader.”

But despite that, Senator Obama does have a great deal of experience. More than that, the “experience” he brings to the table is the experience of working to get legislation passed. In his first year in the US Senate he’s authored more than 100 bills, and co-sponsored more than 400. Change isn’t just something he talks about, it’s something he has clearly been fighting to achieve.

And I could list the various bills and accomplishments, but I’d like to highlight the one massive accomplishment that Senator Obama has achieved over Senator Clinton.

People like you and people like me.

He’s organized a grassroots network across this nation. He’s brought more and more people into a political process that has made them feel shut-out for far too long. He’s mobilized people who, a year ago, would have rather been sitting at home watching television as opposed to sitting by a phone calling potential voters and informing them of their right to vote for change.

And he’s done it all without casting a negative attack. He’s maintained his moral integrity. He’s avoided taking the cheap shots (even though there are PLENTY that could be taken), he’s kept his head held high against overwhelming odds and he’s made us all believe that politics can be something other than the ugly back-and-forth bickering.