Bill Clinton

Up until recently, I had been relatively noncommittal for my choice for President. If I had to rank them in order by preference, I think it would go something like this:

1) Al Gore (who I really wish had run...)
2) John Edwards (sadly, now pretty much dead)
3) Barack Obama
4) Hillary Clinton

I would have been happy with any of them, and I still will be. But in the last few weeks, I have begun to sour on the Clinton campaign. Bill Clinton had largely kept to the shadows until Iowa. But when Obama took Iowa and had some serious momentum going, Bill engaged. Since then, he has been equally as visible as Hillary -- sometimes even overshadowing her.

Now, I have always liked Bill Clinton. I thought he was a very good president. But he evidently doesn't mind getting himself or Hillary dirty in the name of winning this election. His comments the other day comparing Obama to Jesse Jackson were especially below the belt.
That, coupled with the Clinton's effort to close voting areas in Las Vegas because the Culinary Union endorsed Obama have left a foul taste in my mouth.

For me, this election is about rejecting the Bush administration in its entirety. Bush has been so bad on so many fronts, it's difficult to keep track of them all. There's Iraq, no-bid contracts to GOP-friendly companies, Plame/Libby commutation, FISA/wiretapping, frightening secrecy, Cheney's energy task force, the systematic campaign to politicize every aspect of the federal government, etc., etc., etc... But, included in that litany of misdeeds is the Rovization of politics. To be sure, politics has always been a messy business, and I don't discount that. Democracy is never a pretty process. However, I have always been repulsed by Rove's ploys to divide along racial lines, gay-baiting, and by what he did to John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary.

That's what gets me about the Clinton campaign in these past few weeks. Trying to shut down voting areas? Leave that to the Republicans, guys. And comparing Obama's win in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988? That's offensive. I expect better from the Democrats, especially Bill Clinton.

I will support the Democratic nominee in November, whomever it is, (barring irrefutable evidence that he/she is a neo-nazi sympathizer or something of the like, in which case, I may move to Canada) but I am definitely now pulling for Obama to win the nomination.