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Barack Obama = Bill Bradley?

I remember the 2000 primaries.  Al Gore was battling Bill Bradley.  I don’t remember all of the details, but specifically, I remember feeling guilty after the election.  I thought, Bill Bradley would have been a better candidate.

Right now, I am having deja vu.  Is Barack Obama the new Bill Bradley?  Will I feel remorse after the fall and think, “Ahh, Obama would have been a better candidate?”  Of course, he is no Biden, but that this point it is a three way race.    I still will vote for Biden if his name is on the ballot, but if it isn’t then I was thinking, “Who is best?”

On the one hand, I think about the big picture, long term view.  Will Barack Obama be better for African Americans than Hillary Clinton would be for women?  Both are oppressed groups.   On the other hand, I think about the short term election.  Winning is not a sure thing at all.  Iraq is looking a little better.  Who knows where we will bee in a year?  Which candidate has a better chance of winning?  Based on my first law of presidential elections (“Charisma wins”) then I would have to say that Obama has more charisma than Clinton or Edwards.

Well, on the bright side, at least California will not have a winner predetermined. Our vote counts for something.

Comments

7 responses to “Barack Obama = Bill Bradley?”

  1. Claude Avatar
    Claude

    I agree with you that blacks and women are oppressed groups, just not in the U.S. Remember you’re not voting in the presidential primaries of Afghanistan or Darfur.

    Reply
  2. Glen Lipka Avatar
    Glen Lipka

    All things in perspective. In this country, women and minorities are not treated as equals with white males. Whether this is worse in Dafur is not the issue. It doesn’t make it ok here, even on a lesser scale.

    You know, every once in a while, a commenter becomes “contrary” and says the opposite of everything I say. I wonder if they are like this to everyone in their lives or just to certain people. It’s fascinating to watch a true contrarian in action. Like Dian Fossey.

    Reply
  3. Claude Avatar
    Claude

    It’s not about always holding the contrarian position at all. Do you really expect no response to a statement as dumb as that one? To say that America is generally sexist and racist is completely ridiculous.

    As a “brown” American (and an immigrant) I can tell you it is not true, trust me.

    Reply
  4. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    There are national statistics on the discrepancies between the races, but I have two years collecting data on Westchester County (a large county, about 1,000,000 people just north of NYC). The fact is that blacks and Hispanics in this county are lagging behind white people in almost every single social indicator (graduation rates, family income, personal income, job security, and dozens of the others). And I want to note that I am not using the word “minority” to describe these populations because is many areas of Westchester, it is the white population that is the mathematical minority. Whether this is the result of conscious racism or not, it still negatively affects huge portions of the population. Furthermore, government does not make proportional efforts to improve the living status of Black and Hispanic communities (basically, there is a significant need for long-term community building and government only allocated very limited resources). This is not a subjective judgment, these are facts. And this is in one of the most liberal areas of the country. There are still state capitols that fly the confederate flag. The US is one of the most heterogeneous developed countries in the world and face obstacles that many other, more homogeneous countries do not face; however, that is no excuse for letting entire segments of the population have to overcome higher barriers in order to succeed. And although this is problem, it does not come close to the inequalities in countries like Afghanistan or Darfur. The atrocities in those counties and almost matched by the atrocity of the world standing by as they happen. And one last thing, you are pretty naive if you think that voting for the President of the US isn’t also voting for the President of many other countries. The current administration has directly installed the leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq. And this isn’t something new, just think about Ferdinand Marcos and the Shah of Iran, among others (as well as failed attempts in Cuba, Chile, etc.). I would bet there is already formal CIA plans to install new governments in Iran, Venezuela, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.

    Reply
  5. lux Avatar
    lux

    How sweet, Glen, you have your very own pet troll! That’s a sure sign that you’ve “arrived” on the Net. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Troll? I knew that means something and thus I looked it up. “An Internet troll is someone who posts controversial messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response.” Is that bad? It sounds fun. Does that make me bad? Although I do prefer and intellectual response to an emotional one. Anyway, glen has clearly “arrived”, his ideas with transcend current human culture, leading the way towards a future of harmony, nanobots, and immortality. I feel that my participation on this blog is part of this revolution and that one day glen will make me part of his online family, or even better I could become part of his real family, almost like a brother.

    Reply
  7. lux Avatar
    lux

    I was talking about Claude, not you, Dan.

    Reply

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