Mit, Rudy, Fred and John Don’t Get It

Ok, so here I go to stir the race pot…well, to contribute to the pot that’s been brewing since last night’s PBS debate moderated by Tavis Smiley I have to say I’m in absolute disbelief. I’m not going to really dig into the details of why as you can read it yourself but I will talk about the implications.

I personally cannot support Hillary Clinton, I don’t like her politics nor her willingness to accept money from lobbyists…particularly those representing the healthcare industry. Worst yet, she represents the type of partisan politics that have plagued Congress and this nation…yes I give the lefties half the blame on partisanship. Couple that with the fact that I feel she and Big Bill represent the past I feel there is no way she can win enough of the swing vote to win should she get the democratic nomination.

What that means for me and people like me who are more independent in their views is that if Hillary wins then I’ll be looking for the best Republican candidate I can find. Well, that whole thing just got a lot more complicated because I cannot in good faith vote for Rudy, John, Mit nor Fred because of their decision to punt last night. Combine that with the fact that none of the other republicans in the debate have mustered more than 4% in any polls I’ve seen and you’ve got it all laid out there as easy as it can be.

First, I have to do what I can to ensure a candidate other than Hillary can win the democratic nomination. For the only two candidates with a shot would be Barack Obama and John Edwards…and I have to say minus his pretty-boy tendencies I really like what I’m hearing from Edwards. He’s learned a lot from his run in 2004 and he is now a legitimate contender. Barack’s weaknesses right now are his bumblings on foreign policy and weaker than expected stance on universal healthcare. Needless to say I’ll be making equal contributions to both Obama and Edwards campaigns until I can sort out a clear front runner for myself.

Second, should Hillary still win the democratic nomination I’ll then be forced to seriously consider voting for her which goes against nearly every part of my being right now but given the trend of the conservative front runners not showing up to events important to the racial minority in this country it clearly sends the message that they think they can win with that vote. Fine, so it’s now October of 2007 and since those voters don’t matter to them now…don’t be surprised when in a year you paid the price. This really gets under my skin but I guess it shouldn’t given the current president couldn’t show up to the NAACP convention in 2004 because of “differences with the organization”. When will the republicans learn that minority voters will listen to them and that our tendencies to vote democrat aren’t always foregone conclusions?