WHY I SUPPORT
BARACK OBAMA
My first remembrance of hearing Barack Obama was when he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. After his speech my husband and I looked at each other and exclaimed, "Why isn't HE running? He's the candidate we could wholeheartedly support!" He inspired us like no one has since JFK. My husband and I then read his book, "The Audacity of Hope" and again felt a surge of what I can only explain as an inner knowing that this man could open the door to a "bright promise" of what is possible for our country and for the world. When it became clear that he was going to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008 I was thrilled to support him. I went to see him when he appeared in San Francisco at a "Women for Obama" event and felt my spirits rise. Like no other candidate in recent memory, he makes me want to be involved in what I feel is a political and social movement that will bring with it a sense of renewal and help to create positive change on many levels -- in our country and in our world. I've listened to those who have said, "Yeah, but... he's too young, too inexperienced..." I say to them, "Maybe that's JUST what we need! Someone who isn't tied to the "old ways" of doing things. Someone with vision who can bring a new perspective to a world in which we face deep challenges. Someone who can actually bring our country together after years of polarization. Someone who can help heal the racial wounds our country continues to carry. Someone of integrity and transparency who we can trust to tell the truth, even when it may not be what we want to hear. Someone who is intelligent, a deep thinker, and who knows he doesn't know all the answers and is willing to be upfront about that and ask for advice. Someone who is invested in the future and in making the world a safer, saner place for the upcoming generations. Someone who respects and wants to engage the American people in ways we haven't been engaged since JFK. People who know me and my work with women's empowerment are surprised that I am supporting Barack instead of Hillary. After all, this is our first REAL chance to have a woman serving in the top position of our country. "Why would you pass up the opportunity to get behind that possibility?" There is no one, I believe, who wants to see the United States elect a woman president more than I do! However, I don't want to see just "any" woman get elected just because she happens to have made it to the national arena. There are many reasons why I am not supporting Hillary. Some I can address specifically and others are more of a gut feeling that are somewhat difficult to explain but just as powerful an influence on my decision. Hillary is definitely intelligent and persuasive and articulate and a good debater. However, she won't admit when she's made a mistake, she is part of the "old guard" politicians, she has refused to say she will not accept money from lobbyists, she is married to a powerful former president and it's really unclear what role he will have in the decision-making should she be elected. In my gut, I don't feel I can trust what she is saying is the truth as illustrated in the video below: I don't feel she operates completely in integrity. I feel she is more interested in HER accomplishments and in being acknowledged for them (whether or not she remembers them correctly) than in engaging Americans in rising up together to meet the challenges we all face as a nation and as a planet. She has shown time and again throughout this campaign that she still operates under the old political paradigm that I feel will not lead this country in a new direction but keep us mired down in "politics as usual." Lastly, I feel it's time for us as a nation to break the chain of sea-saw politics Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton. I have watched Barack Obama throughout this campaign and have seen how comfortable he is around powerful women. I personally feel he may do more to uplift the status of women politically and otherwise in this country than Hillary would be able to do. At the Women for Obama event I attended in San Francisco, I witnessed his respect for women and experienced first-hand his ability to inspire the several thousand women who were in attendance. Recently as my husband and I listened to Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy endorse him, and to his acceptance of those endorsements, we were both actually moved to tears. It is my sincere belief that Barack Obama is who we need to elect to move this country into a new age of inspired leadership! Listen to what other women have to say about their support of Obama. Click here for a comparison of Obama - Hillary Public
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