What's Mine Is Yours

Two posts from me in the span of a week. What's the world coming to? I haven't weighed in on politics and/or religion in a while. As I think I mentioned before, I've sort of grown tired of this blogging thing. But tomorrow is Super Tuesday, and today an email arrived from David Rees, creator of the always wonderful Get Your War On. Pretty telling stuff, and just another reason I consider Hillary Clinton to be Bush/Cheney Lite, and why tomorrow I'll be voting for Barack Obama. On a side note, can someone please explain to me why Senator Clinton's eight years of being First Lady makes her "more experienced" than Obama? Would I be a more efficient psychologist because my wife was one first? At any rate, Rees writes: Cluster bombs and landmines are particularly terrifying weapons that wreak havoc on communities trying to recover from war. They are fatal impediments to reconstruction and rehabilitation of agricultural land; they destroy valuable livestock; they disable otherwise productive members of society; they maim or kill children trying to salvage them for scrap metal. Over 150 nations have signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. It pains me that our great nation has not. But in the autumn of 2006, there was a chance to take a step in the right direction: Senate Amendment No. 4882, an amendment to a Pentagon appropriations bill that would have banned the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas. Senator Obama of Illinois voted IN FAVOR of the ban. Senator Clinton of New York voted AGAINST the ban. Analysts say Clinton did want to risk appearing "soft on terror," as it would have harmed her electibility. I'm not a single-issue voter. But as Obama and Clinton share many policy positions, this vote was revelatory for me. After all, Amendment No. 4882 was an easy one to vote against: Who'd want to risk accusation of "tying the hands of the Pentagon" during a never-ending, global War on Terror? As is so often the case, there was no political cost to doing the wrong thing. And there was no political reward for doing the right thing. But Senator Obama did the right thing. Is Senator Obama perfect? Of course not. Nobody who voted for 2005's wack-ass energy bill is perfect. Nobody who voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act is perfect. But of the two remaining Democratic candidates, one decided her vote on Amendment No. 4882 according to a political calculation. The other used a moral calculation. I'm 35 years old, and over the years, I've had two experiences in the voting booth: I've voted for politicians I really respected, who I knew could never win. And I've voted for politicians I didn't really respect, because I knew they could win. Tomorrow, I'm going to vote for a politician I really respect, who I know can win. (DEEP BREATH) I urge you to vote Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States. Thanks, David Rees I can't argue with that.