Voting With Your Heart vs. Voting With Your Mind: My struggle between two Great Candidates

MadBadger

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Mon Dec-17-07 01:15 PM
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Voting With Your Heart vs. Voting With Your Mind: My struggle between two Great Candidates

I am currently experiences a massive dilemma with who I should be supporting for President in this current primary. I am at war with the man I have supported since early in the summer, and a man I rallied behind in the spring of 2006.

As you can probably see from my avatar to the left, I am currently supporting Senator Barack Obama for President. But for the longest time, I didn’t really know why. The only thing I knew was who I didn’t support and why I didn’t support them. Hillary Clinton to me is a too calculating of a politician. I think that is exactly what she is. She isn’t as genuine as I would like in fact because she is truly a politician. Secondly, she shares a trait with another Senator that I have issues with, and that is John Edwards. I generally do not trust either candidate. I understand that sometimes candidates evolve, and that is what they have done on the war in Iraq. I don’t quite trust their evolutions, more so to Senator Clinton, though Edwards did co-sponsor the IWR. In a general I can forgive and forget, but in a primary, I want somebody that can best match up to my ideals, and to my visions for this country. Then, late last spring into early summer, I saw this video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sXzmXy226po

I hear all these people talk about lack of experience and I do agree that Barack’s greatest strength is not his experience. But there is something that he has been running on that I agree with. It’s not as much about experience as it is about judgment. In this video, one can clearly see that he knows what he is talking about. Obama predicted what would happen in Iraq, before the war started with even less intelligence than many of the Senators who voted for the war. One of the reasons he says he wouldn’t have voted for the IWR is because he feels to the administration it would make them feel as if they had the approval to go to war and do what they want. Obama knows what he is talking about and has known for awhile. So finally after viewing this video, I felt like maybe I had my guy. So then I started doing research and I found that I agreed with most if not all of what Obama was saying. Then, he sealed the deal when he came to Madison in October. As cliché as it sounds, Barack Obama truly does inspire me. He inspires me in the corniest ways possible. He inspires me to believe in our political system and in government, that in the right hands we can unite America and get things done. He genuinely moved me that day and ever since then I have been a firm supporter of his campaign.

But for my formal introduction to 2008 presidential politics, one would have to go back about a year before that in the month of April, I witnessed a man do something that I had never really seen before. He went on a late night television show, and inspired me.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rgOy_m5dKvI

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YWY9cyKoQ5k&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pz2ZbV7qsio&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=roNqZQXEV_U&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tEqdjj5VOuk&feature=related

That night on Real Time with Bill Maher was my first introduction to Senator Joseph Biden from Delaware. This man I saw truly spoke the truth. Here, he is speaking about the President and his use of prayer, specifically right after he made the decision to invade Iraq.

“I think he makes these decisions based on his instincts, and then prays he’s right”

Joe Biden is and has always been the most genuine candidate running. He says what he means, and means what he says. He has the guts to talk the talk and then walk the walk. And Joe can do this because he has what it takes to be President. I hear Senator Clinton talk about all the experience she has to be President, but with all due respect, Joe Biden has the argument when it comes to experience. The man has served for 34 years in the Senate. He has been the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and is currently the Chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee. And before everybody else, he had a plan. He had a plan for success in Iraq. His plan has been to split up Iraq. Now some including myself may not think that plan is currently feasible, but I trust Joe Biden. That is something that I don’t have for many politicians. But I trust him.

And I trust Senator Obama as well. I’ve heard him go around and say that he isn’t going to tell American what they want to hear, but instead what they need to hear, and I believe him. I know that he went in front of the auto industry and criticized them. He didn’t make any friends there, but chose instead to tell the straight up truth to an industry that needed to hear it.

But there is nobody more genuine that Joe Biden. Seeing him speak, or during debates, or on television shows, you see this guy give it his all and bear all. I’ve been inspired by his words and brought to tears. This man s has experienced it all in his life, from the tragic death of his wife and child to becoming one of the most respected men in Washington. But he is not a real Washington man. Joe commutes everyday from Delaware to Washington and back. Joe Biden isn’t perfect, but he’s as good as it gets.

I remember having a conversation with a friend during the summer of 06’. He asked me who I was supporting for President. I told him Joe Biden. He told me he had no chance because he didn’t have enough money. At that moment, I realized that maybe Joe Biden wasn’t my man. I had always believed in supporting somebody who I thought could win because I wanted my vote to truly count. But Joe knows about the issue of Money, and in true Joe fashion, he lays it straight out why he doesn’t have the money that he needs:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qAnl7ybDwBg

“I’m allegedly one of the most powerful guys in the United States Senate, why can’t I raise the money? Because no interest group can count on me. None, none, not one.”

So here I am, at a crossroads with my political support. Do I vote with my mind and support Senator Obama? Do I vote for the person I think can definitely win? The man who I think has a chance to lead this country and do great things? Or, do I vote with my heart? Joe Biden is the choice from my heart because I know down there that he is the best person to serve this country. You know I can finally understand what DK supporters feel like. For the longest time I would wonder how they can support somebody even though they know he won’t win. Well for me, it feels good to support Joe Biden. Kinda like what it feels like to vote, or even the thought of buying a hybrid car, just doing my part to make society better, even if in the end, it’s not doing enough. I guess it’s great that I have such good choices. Unlike the 2004 Presidential election, when I thought I was choosing between the lesser of two, this year I’m choosing between the greater of two. Unlike the Des Moines Register’s endorsement of Senator Clinton, I can honestly say that Biden and Obama inspire my imagination, as well as my confidence, that they can change and make an impact in this country. Which one should be stronger, your heart or your mind. Well I am here to say that I don’t know, I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that I need to support Joe Biden because that feels good. So along with Obama, Joe Biden, you have my support and I relish the opportunity to join the community of Bidenites. Go Joe Go and GOBAMA! Hey, who knows, maybe that dream ticket, Biden/Obama is still possible after all.

Your Fellow DUer,

hnmnf