I'm an asshole who is trying to redeem himself

Okay, so a few posts back I wrote that lengthy and sadly misguided piece about why I was supporting Hillary Clinton.

A couple days after, my viewpoint began to change, and today I sit at my desk completely in support of Obama, and terrified that he might not win the nomination, much less the general election. Luckily, the shift has come about in time to influence my hordes of Pennsylvania readers.

But how did it happen?

First, I have to admit that I didn't know all the facts when I pulled the blog-trigger for Hillary. I wasn't aware, for one, that Obama took absolutely no money from lobbies, while she took lots. This leads to a very simple and very obvious conclusion, which is that Obama is more deeply committed to labor and, if elected, will be less indebted to big business and their lobbies.

I call that an obvious conclusion because it's well-known that Bill Clinton has one of the worst labor track records of any democratic president in history, and of course his wife will have the same money connections and the same vested interests.

Jobs, wages, and the prevention of corporate abuse is, to me, the biggest issue on the table. If we're able to resuscitate a dying economy, it will come through forcing big businesses to keep jobs in the country, and to show some financial accountability. It will come from imposing fair taxes on business, too. Hillary won't do that, Obama might.

The other big factor is that I was intensely cynical of his idealism, and his supporters. I wanted someone tried and true, I said. The first and most glaring hole in that argument is that Hillary isn't tried and true. In her time as First Lady, she only proved that she can make enemies. The way she's conducted herself in this campaign, with the litany of cheap shots thrown at Obama, shows that not much has changed. I like her ideas, but not her record. I wildly overestimated her past accomplishments, while wildly underestimating Barack's.

But more importantly, I underestimated the idea of hope. Sure, his campaign is based somewhat on rhetoric and the idea of sweeping change. But why not support that? Why not believe in a guy who, so far, has done everything right? Is it a fear of being hurt, of Obama proving himself insincere and the rest of us feeling tricked? Maybe that's it. But honestly, America is in such dire straits, on the verge of such an ugly future and in the midst of such a decaying present, that it's almost criminal not to throw your support behind the one guy who might have a shot at changing things. I committed that crime with Hillary, who is, at best, a status-quo candidate.

On the subject of fear, here's a great article by Michael Chabon, one of my favorite authors, called "Obama vs. the Phobocracy." Short, editorial, and well worth reading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020302526.html

Long story short, Barack is a politcian who finally seems to believe in something other than himself, and who gives America a chance at recovering from eight awful years. I believe in him, I made a mistake with the Hillary nonsense, and I'm fully on board the Obama train.

I think it would be almost tragic if he didn't win, another stalk of hope cut in its infancy by the scythe of skepticism and fear brandished by media, big business, and the power structure in Washington. We need an idealistic outsider with legitimate belief to right the ship. That's Obama, and nobody else. I'm fired up and ready to go.