As this primary season winds down, I’m being told from every direction, “Well, you have to vote for Obama now,” and my response is a resounding “No, I don’t” and here’s why. We just suffered through eight horrendous years because of a highly inexperienced president. A man who wanted to be president but had no idea of how to be president and I feel electing Barack Obama would be tantamount to the same.

A man who says he has visited 57 states has no right to be president. It’s time to tell Obama that Guam, Samoa, and Puerto Rico are not states.

A man who thinks that Canada has a president and not a prime minister has no right to be president.

A man who does not know that Arab translators are not needed in Afghanistan because Afghans do not speak Arabic has no right to be president.

A man who claims on Sunday that Iran does not pose a serious threat to us comes back a day later and on Monday states that “I’ve made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave” has no right to be president.

A man who says that he would meet with Ahmadinejad without preconditions then backpedals upon criticism that benchmarks would have to be met before sitting down with him has no right to be president.

A man who says he isn’t familiar with the Hanford nuclear waste clean-up although having voted for a bill that addressed the matter has no right to be president.

So you see, it has nothing to do with the claims of “You’re just mad because he beat Hillary” or “You’re just being racist”

And it definitely has nothing to do with being disloyal to the Democratic Party.

I want an experienced, competent, knowledgeable person in the White House for a change and if I can’t have her, I’m certainly not going to settle for him.

Mark It!

I’m really getting tired of hearing that same refrain that it’s time for Hillary supporters to back Obama for “party unity” or so “we can win in November”

But, my real problem is with our party. I have become so disillusioned with the Democratic Party during this primary. Claiming to be neutral, they were anything but. It has been painfully obvious who their preference was. It’s troubling the direction the party seems to be taking. We are supposed to be the party of values and fair play and having every vote count. Is it fair play to exclude two key swing states of seating their delegates or counting their votes but then award North Carolina 24 extra delegates just for holding their primary in May? What about coming up with such a lopsided system that awards more delegates to a candidate who loses the popular vote in a particular state? It’s assinine.

We are supposed to be different than the Republicans. For years we have complained about the neocons taking their party to the extreme right and how that wasn’t good for the country, yet our party is now doing the same thing in reverse as Obamacrats are determined to move the party to the extreme left. No longer are we inclusive as African-Americans en mass turned their backs on the Clintons, politicians they previously adored until the Obama campaign followed by the media labeled them racist. Nothing that has happened in this primary was more absurd, yet the party sat idly by and said nothing- until Rev. Wright popped up and Barack Obama was given a national stage to deliver a speech on race and all the hot shots came out praising the speech and defending Obama for remaining in the congregation for twenty years.

And don’t get me started on hypocrites like Donna Brazile, the self proclaimed “undeclared superdelegate” Who does she think she’s kidding when she constantly gushes over Obama out of one side of her mouth while slamming “his opponent” out of the other, and who writes on her website “To Obama’s opponents and those carrying the dirty water, it’s all about winning, not governing or leading a diverse, multiethnic and multiculture society. Our strength has always come from our ability to unite people,” and then following the North Carolina and Indiana primaries had the utter gall to say, “We don’t have to just rely on white blue collar voices and Hispanics” Sounds kind of racist and exclusive to me.

Then we have Ted Kennedy who says that Clinton as VP is not possible since Obama needs a VP more “in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people” What the f*ck is that supposed to mean coming from the king of nobility who ran from his culpability in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.

And of course there is Bill Richardson who says Obama is the candidate needed because this nations needs to heal. What?! What kind of healing is he talking about and if it’s true, why is that candidate Barack Obama? Is he some kind of medicine man who is going to spread open his arms, envelope us in a group hug and all will be well?

Finally, my real ire is aimed at the lily livered coward superdelegates who have previously endorsed Senator Clinton and are now abandoning her to endorse her opponent. What cowardice. To support a candidate because you feel they are the most qualified to lead the country, only to abandon them when you feel they can’t win. These are our leaders?

So don’t blame Senator Clinton or her supporters for splitting the party, and please don’t refer to me as stupid or stubborn because I won’t get on the Obama express. Isn’t it ironic that the one player in this whole primary season who was villified, lied about and disparaged more than anyone else is also the one to have handled everything with style, class and grace? It’s just a tragedy that once again, the most qualified person to lead this nation has been passed over for less prepared candidates.

Mark It!

Watching Tom Brokow this morning, on the Chris Matthews Show, almost made me lose my breakfast. He told the viewers to close their eyes and picture Barack and Michelle Obama in the White House and what that would mean for the country.

Then Chris finally got to what I think is the crux of so many people being fascinated with Obama. He said that from elementary school through grad school, he never had a black person in his class.

Growing up in a racially and ethnically mixed neighborhood, the fact that Obama is African-American doesn’t really have any effect on me, personally. But, I am concerned that many caucasian Americans, who never got any closer to blacks than watching Bill Cosby on TV; think that by electing an African American president, all will be right with the country and they can feel vindicated and forgiven for the ’sins of the past’.

These people are living in LaLa Land. The media is inferring that electing Obama will go a great way in healing racial wounds in this country. That remains to be seen, but we are being fed this premise as if it were fact.

I think caucasians need to take a moment out to close their eyes and envision Barack Obama as a caucasian person. Then they might make their choice without negative or positive racial bias.

Mark It!

As another week comes to a close, I feel the need to vent a little over the routine media and political treatment Senator Clinton continues to face on a daily basis.

The week started off with the horrendous Bosnia misstep, but we can take the heat for legitimate things we should be taking the heat for. The bottom line is that it was a blunder for the campaign. With the media pounding, on a scale of 1-10, my blood pressure started out the week at maybe a 2.

Then Hillary announced she was going to give a major speech on the economy. CNN aired maybe five minutes of the speech before cutting away, but at least that was five minutes more than MSNBC of FOX showed, which was nil. After weeks of pundits saying that voters wanted to hear about the issues and not all of the excess stuff, surprise, surprise, they chose not to show the speech. Blood pressure rises a notch to 3.

Next we have Chris Matthews continually beating the drum about how undemocratic it is for the superdelegates or the “party elite” as he calls them, to go against the will of the people in choosing a nominee. Just hearing that man’s voice and seeing his face with spittle running down his chin makes the blood pressure rise at least two more points. Now it’s at 5!

But wait, the week isn’t over yet. Word comes that Speaker Pelosi(I cringe at writing those words) was sent a letter from bigwig Democratic donors who are backing Hillary, asking Pelosi to retract what she has said about superdelegates going against pledged delegates. What angered me about this were the posts on DailyKos and MoveOn.org. MoveOn.org issued a statement saying, “The Democratic nomination should be decided by the voters- not by superdelegates or party highrollers. We’ve given money and time to progressive candidates and causes.” Is this the same money given to the organization from Hillary Clinton supporters who were summarily duped and dumped when they decided to endorse Obama? What hypocricy. Blood pressure: 7.

Finally today, Senator Patrick Leahy suggested that Clinton should withdraw and back Obama saying there is no way that Clinton is going to win enough pledged delegates to get the nomination- What the fuck! Hello, Senator Leahy, Barack Obama is not going to get enough pledged delegates to win the nomination either. Leahy said there is not a very good reason for drawing this out. Let’s see, is the fact that the race is virtually tied now good enough reason, or that Clinton has the support of actual registered democrats reason enough? They all complain how Clinton always tries to change the rules, so if they want to play by the rules then they have to let the superdelegates have their say. Who knows, maybe they will swing Obama’s way but let it play out for pity’s sake. And who the hell is Patrick Leahy to say anything about the Democratic primary, he’s not even a democrat! Blood pressure: 10! Why did you hear nothing but stories of Obama’s momentum when he strung together a bunch of primary and caucus wins, but Clinton takes crucial states like Ohio and Texas and is leading by nearly 20 points in Pennsylvania polls and there’s no talk of Clinton momentum, only calls for her to drop out of the race.

My blood pressure is off the charts this week. Thanks guys for letting me vent.

Mark It!