D is for Obama
[2007-10-18 12:35]

I am not a registered Democrat. I tend to vote Democrat and prefer to think of myself as a Liberal, but I don't have any brand loyalty to either political party. Instead, I consider myself an Independent.

Unfortunately, if I understand things correctly, this means that I will be unable to affect who Washington State will back for the Democratic nominee for president. In Washington State, the Democratic party ignores the results of the primary elections and uses their party caucuses to determine which candidate they will support, instead (according to The Seattle Times). I think one has to be a registered Dem to participate in these caucuses, which leaves me out.

So, to those of you who are registered D and who are planning to participate in the caucuses, please vote for Barack Obama.

The best way I can explain my position is with an analogy. So, imagine that you have a choice of schools for your child: one school uses traditional teaching methods, another uses progressive teaching methods. Suppose you know that if you enrolled your child in the traditional school, s/he would get a solid B grade in every class. Suppose you also know that if you enrolled your child in the progressive school, your child has a 50-50 chance of getting either an A grade or a C grade, depending on how well s/he responded to the new-fangled teaching methods. Which school would you choose for your child?

In the current political arena, Hillary Clinton is the traditional school and Barack Obama is the progressive one. While Hillary would be a decent president, I think Obama could be much better. He could end up being worse, but I think the potential rewards are worth the risk. In reality, I think the chance that Obama will be a good president is greater than 50-50. But even a bad Obama would be better than the current president (GWB) who rates a dismal D, at best.