Personally, My Answer to the Link is “No”
A Links entry from Saturday, March 15, 2008Personally, My Answer to the Link is “No”
To the Editor:
Harold Ickes, a senior adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton, claims, “Obama’s supporters are going to support whoever is leading our ticket.”
I disagree.
If Barack Obama goes into the convention with more delegates and more of the popular vote and doesn’t come out as the nominee, you cannot expect his supporters — many of whom are first-time voters — to simply “get over” a system that does not acknowledge their vote.
Tim Rehwaldt, Kerhonkson, N.Y., March 12, 2008
Even though I think Obama’s too conservative on many issues, I agree with the sentiment of Mr. Rehwaldt, and… drumroll… will be voting for Nader if Hillary is the candidate! Take that disgusting campaign tactics. You’ll have one less left-elitist college student to push around.
Let’s face it, if I’m voting for Nader I’m basically voting for McCain. Even if I decide not to throw away my vote, this list would still be relevant if Hillary was the candidate…
- I would not be engaged with the election in any radical way.
- I like Jon McCain as a person more than Hillary.
- I don’t see a big difference between Hillary and McCain politically.
- How many elections has Jon McCain won using race baiting?
- There’s always this strategy.
Bryan Klausmeyer
Of all of the articles I’ve written thus far, I think the two that I regret the most are my defense of Ron Paul and Nicolas Sarkozy. Those were dark days. If I were a real Stalinist I would’ve had those expunged from Internet history long ago…
Here’s my thing: since Obama is in the lead in states won, pledged delegates and donations, the Hillary campaign has no real claim to legitimacy. Nevertheless, one could easily imagine a situation in which she does get the nomination, largely by appealing to the so-called super-delegates, whose super powers are the usurpation of the “will of the people.”
My gamble is that if Hillary wins the nominations, many Obama supporters, especially students, will not take this lightly. Let’s put aside the fact that objectively, little separates Hillary from Obama in terms of their political positions. The most powerful aspect behind Obama’s campaign isn’t his status as a great proletarian orator or anything absurd like that, but simply the energy and enthusiasm behind his campaign.
So essentially, I think student supporters of Obama would be more than willing to take to the streets if he isn’t chosen as the Democratic Presidential candidate. And I think the Free Thinkers would support that movement.
If, however, that doesn’t happen, you forget that not voting is always a great option.
Mark Elliot Cullen
markelliotcullen@gmail.com
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