2/15/09
I dreamt about a senator who left office. He was a republican, and he wasn’t leaving willingly, or at the end of his term. Though I’m not sure of the circumstances of his departure, I can recall the one who was taking his seat in his stead. She was an older woman, a Democrat, who was the next in succession behind the Republican Senator. I recall that she wasn’t well, and that the moment after she was sworn in, she died. (more…)
Yes we did.
President Ellect Obama has a difficult road ahead of him, but he walks it with the unprecidented support of so many of his fellow Americans. He walks it with the support of our foreign allies, and with the hopes of the world. He has the great potential to carry not merely our nation, but our whole world into a bright future.
He may falter, but I believe firmly that he will not fail us. If we are to fall, it will be at our own hands. I have more hope today than I have ever experienced in my life, but I also carry with me a profound fear, a fear a dare not speak. We stand at a difficult road, but we will walk down it, hand in hand, and if we fail, we will have no one to blame but ourselves. I hope we are worthy of the future we’ve dared to dream for ourselves.
- Baalak Nalzar-aung.
America is one large step closer to a new future today. Yesterday was Super Tuesday, and I voted in the Democratic primary. To me, the answer had been clear for months. I voted for Barack Obama, because I’m tired of where we’ve been, and I’m hopeful that where we’re going will be great. I know that he’s the only candidate who can pull us out of the mire the present administration has left us in, and restore American prosperity, dignity, and international respect.
Many people in the Democratic party have voted for Hillary Clinton, and while I respect them, I disagree with their choice vehemently. Hillary Clinton is the establishment candidate, with all the experience she’ll being to the job. Her experience is in digging her heels in and preventing the opposition from gaining ground, something she hasn’t been particularly successful with, but I’ll give her the benefit of that doubt. She has the issues of the last generation embossed into her soul, and can’t seem to even imagine a world where those issues aren’t on the table. I don’t want the establishment candidate, I don’t want the establishment, I want to see fundamental change in the way America sees itself and sees the world.
Barack Obama is a visionary leader who wants to heal the rift in the American people. He is the only candidate who will not only listen to what all sides are saying, but will take their opinions to heart. He is compromising enough to be a great diplomat in international issues, and could even be what it takes to diffuse some of the tension in the middle east. He wants to set up the tools necessary to make our government transparent to our people, and thus more accountable and less corrupt. He has the integrity to do the right thing, and the humility to admit when he makes a mistake - something Hillary has shown she won’t do.
Senator Clinton’s husband was a great President. I look back at his administration with fond memories. Impeached over simple perjury, and after he came out and apologized and admitted his mistake no less. How young and innocent the country seemed then. How unlike that we have become, where a President can lie to the people, not about extra-marital affairs but about matters of national security , and get away with it. No, the Clinton era is over, and what they can bring to the table America no longer needs.
My greatest fear for America is that the next President will build on the gross misappropriation of power that Bush has committed and the precedent he’s set, and will move us closer to a fascist dictatorship. The Republican candidates will, there is no question in my mind, and Hillary doesn’t seem the type to concede power back to Congress and the Judiciary, where Barack does. He cares more for the principles this country was founded over than making sure that he can do, and get away with, whatever he’d like. He is the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, who puts the country ahead of himself, and that’s why he has my vote.