The other day on NPR I heard that 1 out of 5 Clinton supporters say they plan to vote for Senator McCain. If you are one of those people, this blog entry is for you.
I can understand your hurt and disappointment, particularly since Senator Clinton seemed like such a shoe-in back in December 2007. If our positions were reversed, I would share your feelings.
All I ask is that before you make a final choice for Senator McCain, you compare his voting record to Senator Clinton’s. Then compare Senator Clinton’s voting record to Senator Obama’s. Congressional Quarterly Press has a new widget called the Political Bedfellows Widget that makes this dead easy. Use it to confirm what I’ll highlight below.
Overall, John McCain voted against Hillary Clinton 55% during their time in the Senate. They voted the same way 901 times, but voted differently 1,084 times. That’s over a thousand points of disagreement.
By contrast, Barack Obama has voted WITH Hillary Clinton 95% of the time. It’s true they’ve voted differently 50 times, but they have made the same call together on 875 votes. Obama and Clinton are on the same page in terms of policy and their vision for the country. McCain and his 1,084 “No Hillary, I don’t think so” votes are on an entirely different page.
Maybe you want to support McCain because he and Clinton are closer on military matters than her and Obama. According to their voting records, McCain voted opposite from Clinton more than half the time on military issues. Senator Obama is a near perfect match for Senator Clinton on military issues. He voted with her 98% of the time. When it comes to the military and caring for our veterans, it’s Obama and Clinton who are on the same page.
Maybe you see a better match between McCain and Clinton on International Affairs. Once again, Obama and Clinton are on the same page. They voted the same way 94% of the time. On this one issue, Senator McCain is in the ballpark. He voted with Senator Clinton 58% of the time. But Obama is still the better fit in supporting Senator Clinton’s policies and point of view.
To me it seems like the choice is clear. If you support what Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton stands for, you’ll vote for Barack Obama in November. If you want to keep blocking her initiatives from becoming law, then vote for John McCain. It seems reasonable that he will continue to be on the opposite side of the issues that Senator Clinton most cares about. As President, he’ll be in a better position to frustrate her will.
Senator Obama isn’t perfect. But he will work for the things we believe in, no matter who we supported in the primary.
If this is your first visit to my blog, please look over my other reasons to vote Obama this November by visiting http://wordpress.com/tag/whyvoteobama/.
Filed under: WhyVoteObama, politics
I will never vote for Obama. He stood by silently during the entire Democratic primary as his supporters, without any evidence, accused Hillary Clinton of being a racist. Meanwhile, he never made the slightest objection to the constant misogynistic slurs against her by the press and by his own supporters. I am a woman, and I will not vote for a candidate who seems talks constantly about “change” and yet when it is politically expedient will use the black half of his racial heritage to appeal to black pride and to white guilt and naivete while simultaneously using the still prevalent hatred of potentially powerful women by men and even other women to undermine his opponent. I cannot vote for such a candidate. I’ve read both of Obama’s books, and I was sorry to see that candidate Obama is the politician who wrote the second book instead of the man who authored the first. I am a lifelong Democrat/Independent and have never before voted for a Republican for any office. However, I admired John McCain in 2000 as much as I could have any Republican at the time. I feel that since I now intensely dislike and distrust the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, I now will most likely vote for McCain.
If the John McCain of 2000 were running, I would definitely give him serious consideration. But that’s not who we have. We have someone who’s voted with President Bush 100% this year and 90% last year. He also voted against Senator Clinton more than half the time.
Any harm that Senator Obama’s campaign did to Senator Clinton was to Senator Clinton. And she herself has offered forgiveness and will be working to elect Obama. Her job will be more difficult if John McCain is elected President. Their voting records say so and she herself has said so.
I ask you to follow Senator Clinton in supporting someone who supports her views. Failing that, please don’t go out of your way to make her life harder by voting for John McCain. After losing the nomination, that’s not a headache she needs to have.
If you feel like you simply cannot follow Senator Clinton’s path, then I urge you to vote for the Green Party candidate who is at least somewhat in alignment with Senator Clinton’s views.