Barack Obama

With the holiday season fast upon us and enough stress with personal expectations always attached to that season, not to mention a new year almost here, I want to write only positive things until we are into January, things about the holidays, about beauty, about my own life lessons. This will be one last political post-- unless something huge happens that requires a place to vent and give others likewise.

Fran from Sacred Ordinary asked what I thought regarding Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Barack Obama. Winfrey is one of America's most popular figures and known around the world-- not to mention one of the wealthiest women. The question being asked by many, with no definitive answers, is will that shift the race to give him an advantage over Hillary?

It would not with me as I am one of the few Americans who does not watch Oprah, have not for many many years. I don't care for her program style and don't watch any of that kind of show; so it's not dislike of her personally. I think she is operating in a media where ego gets inflated and anybody who doesn't have that problem would be a saint. From all I have read, she is no saint. But also it seems she does try to use her wealth and platform in positive ways to make the world better. I have no reason to believe that she chose to support Obama for any reason other than having known him from Chicago, where she also lives, and believing he's the best person for the presidency.

I guess some of the critics of Oprah complain, that when she speaks to the voters, coming out to see her with Obama, they are not hearing the sophisticated Ms. Winfrey of her program but rather a woman who sounds like she came from the streets. Well Duh!

If you see Oprah on vacation, it looks to me like she has not forgotten her roots. She was a girl from poverty who grew into a woman of great power and a sophisticated polish that she can use when she needs it. Inside she is still that girl. I understand this as I can turn on the more sophisticated thing, but inside me is a little girl with the glasses who grew up at the end of a country road on a small farm.

So will she impact Obama's hopes for winning the nomination? She won't hurt it in my opinion. She is approaching it as an ordinary citizen. She is not implying she has more power than she does. In the end, he will be the president, not her. She does motivate people to come out and give him a look, listen to him, but she cannot get him the nomination or election.

I think celebrities have every right to be out there speaking for their favorite candidate-- as well as political causes. Whether that is Bo Derek supporting George W. Bush or Barbra Streisand supporting Hillary Clinton, it's a right of every citizen. Celebrities should not have to give that up simply because they are famous.

Citizens likewise need to evaluate who is any person endorsing a candidate. Do they know the issues? Do they have a hidden agenda? Not all celebrity endorsements are a help. They said that Hillary's people had to do polling to decide if it benefited her to have Streisand come out for her, but in the case of Oprah, I find any drawback to be unlikely.

Unless something comes along to change my mind, Barack Obama is my choice for the nomination and it's not because of Oprah. It's not because of all of his political views-- with which some I disagree. I haven't liked some of his religious comments either, but there is nobody there that I find totally is my choice. There never is.

My favoring Obama is because of what I believe is his character. Right now a leader of character is more important to me than exactly agreeing with me on everything. I think that when people ask him questions, you can see him think about it-- not memorized answers snapped out like a machine, but real thought. It's part of why he's not as slick in a debate as others. Debating skills and thirty second sound bites do not automatically translate into leadership skills.

I have gone back and forth between him and John Edwards; but if I vote my heart; and it's what I intend to do, the person who comes closest to what I hope for in a president is Obama. I'd like to see our country have a fresh start, a person in that office that we can feel proud of having elected. He might not have all the experience of others, but many of those who do are so corrupted by the system that, in my mind, they are already on the 'wrong' side whether they are from the right or the left.

If the candidates running with no chance to win would get out of the way, I think Obama (or Edwards) would be leading Hillary by a comfortable margin because she is not the candidate favored by the majority. A lot of people, not just on the right, are tired of the Bushes and the Clintons. Obama represents a change. If, however, it's Hillary at the end of the primaries, she'll have my vote in November. I just think we can do better, and better-- in my mind-- is Barack Obama.

If readers here have other candidates they have decided they support, please feel free to name them and the reasons in the comments-- from either party. It's hard to believe the season where this will be decided once again is almost upon us. On the other hand, it feels like it's been forever since Bush actually got into that office. I can only hope he will not do more damage to the country before he's gone...

[I received an email asking to include this link regarding Obama on education and considered it worthwhile with more information on what an Obama presidency might look like.]