i sent the note out a couple of days ago to a bunch of my friends. i am too fired up, as you can tell, about obama to keep my mouth shut. the responses have been great. many of my friends agree with me, but many others don't. and what is so awesome, is that the people writing me back are respectful. even when we are seeing things completely different, it is not rancorous or harsh. hopefully times are changing. maybe soon the contention on news stations will be replaced with respectful policy conversations. it is happening amongst the populace, and if this democracy stands and if the free market is actually consumer sovereign, these changes should ripple all over the place.
it is exciting. and it is hopeful. and in the year of hope, it is wonderful to be surrounded by so much to be hopeful for. this video epitomizes how i feel about it all...please watch it. and please, tell me what you feel afterwards.
below is the email. if you haven't read it, please do and feel free to comment. and those of you have received this in your inboxes and commented, please feel free to share those comments here.
greetings all,
i want to say hi to everyone, and for some it has been WAY too long since we caught up. please respond to this so i can hear what is going on in your world....this is a bit of a rant, but please bare with me.
i usually keep this kind of stuff limitied to my blog (for those of you who want to stay up on my random life check out: http://teabelly.blogspot.com. i keep it so that i don't have to send mass emails and bug people's inboxes. but this time i can't help myself. i have been in many conversations with my friend holly about this election and i am going to steal some of her words, because i feel like they say exactly what i want to say...
with "Super Tuesday" only days away, i feel a desperate need to do what i can to influence the debate about the democratic presidential nominees. so, to that end, and in the spirit of democracy, please read this, think about it, and send it on to your friends. i know many of you won't be able to vote in a democratic primary because you are registered independent or republican. i still think you deserve to hear this argument so that you can persuade those who can vote to do so.
for those of you who may find yourselves undecided about whether to vote for hillary or obama in your state's primary...or, worse, if you are undecided about WHETHER to vote in the primary...i am first pleading with you to vote in your primary, especially if you are in a super tuesday state...and PLEASE VOTE FOR OBAMA.
(Super Tuesday states are: Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (Dem only),Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana (Rep only), New Jersey, New Mexico (Dem only), New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia (Rep only). To find out about your state's primary and how much money has been raised by each candidate in your state and other stuff go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives )./campaign08/primaries/
i sent this to all of you because i am worried AND hopeful about this country. i'm really worried about where our recent past has brought us - and not just the past 7 years, though they have been truly trying in all their anti-intellectual, war waging, neglect of the poor, fear inducing and fear based horror. but I think the W years are in a way a product of a number of complex forces that have combined to reach this unfortunate culmination, among them, unchecked debt and consumerism, lack of savings and thus a lack of real thought of the future, the devotion showed to the evangelical political bloc, severe partisan polarization, and a resurgent cultural isolationism and xenophobia.
there are deep divisions in which our system and culture have become entrenched, and a president, like hillary clinton, who is extraordinarily adept at maneuvering within these parameters can do NOTHING to bring us out of them.
we must have a president who will transcend this status quo.
i have hope that many, many people share my same worries and disappointments about where we find ourselves, and will resist the not inconsiderable allure of voting for the first woman ever.
i have a hope that many, many people know we need a president who will help restore our international relationships, bridge the divides between parties, races, and classes in our nation, and incite us to do as he has done: act on our noble desires for a vibrant and moral homeland.
i hope that many, many people understand that the oft-heard yearning for the halcyon clinton days is mostly borne out of the past seven years of agony rather than a true desire for a return to a clinton administration - an administration that brought us NAFTA, moderate economic policies that did nothing to curb our greed, questionable honesty, and a foreign policy that intervened late in the balkans and not at all in rwanda.
i hope that many, many people understand that living in the White House does not give a person executive experience, and that being married to a surgeon doesn't make you one.
i hope that many, many people find Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush, Clinton (what would be 24 years of the same 2 families ruling) completely unacceptable for our democracy.
mostly, i just hope that many, many people are sick and tired, like me, of being embarrassed of or making excuses for the president. and even if they wouldn't hate president hillary clinton or president billary as the case may be, i hope that many, many people cannot bear to live under another administration that would be hated by so many. so many, in fact, that it's extraordinarily unlikely that she can win against john mccain. (see frank rich in the ny times, who makes some of my key points, including electibility, trustworthiness, and ability to move america out of the morass of bitterness, partisan rancor and disappointment in which we currently find ourselves: ).
this is meant in love for you and our country,
your favorite teabelly,
kimberly
P.S.
some of you may be more torn between obama and mccain, not hillary. i give you the same argument just not so intensely... he's not as hated, but he can also do little to move us out of the morass we are in. no one can embody the cry for change with sincerity like obama.
to those of you who are not considering a democrat, i apologize for a rant that has nothing to do with you
...and i urge you to vote for romney. see my "oped" on my blog http://teabelly.blogspot.com/2008/01/mitt-mormons-and-gop .html
a couple more links
this essay by andrew sullivan is incredibly interesting. basically that a vote for clinton is a vote for a president who would be great for the 90s but not for the 2010s... worth the read: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama
and if youre attention span is more like mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qggO5yY7RAo
--
kimberly
a resident of dc and taxed without representation.
2 comments:
you're a good woman, kim. thanks.
Hey Kim. It is GOOD that everyone seems to be more interested in this year's pres election. We are hoping to vote for Romney on the ballot!
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