America votes: 2008

I have been giving this a lot of thought lately - by which I mean some - and I am ready to come out and publicly declare that I am on "Team Hillary".

All things being equal, if I could vote, I would vote for Hillary Clinton. And all things are not equal and I think she is the best candidate. I appreciate that she is the "establishment candidate" and I do think, for America, it might be more radical to have a Black man in the white house than a white woman, and I also think that either a woman or a black man would be more electable as a Republican candidate (Colin Powell anyone?), but I would like to see Hillary Clinton win. If she is nominated I am not sure if she can win the election. But I am equally unsure if Obama or Edwards (not that he is even in it anymore) can win.

And I would vote for Hillary because I think she has experience, sound policy ideas, and yes, because she is a woman. If this makes me "sexist" (which it does not) than so be it. People forget how far we have come in just a few generations in terms of women's rights - and I think the idea of a female president is beyond exciting. And yes - it has been done before - successfully and unsuccessfully - by many women in many countries. However - that does not make it any less exciting for me, now, to imagine the US with a female president. I absolutely think we need more women in politics, I fully support switching to another electoral system to bring more women into politics. I support quotas for political parties in terms of fielding female candidates. I absolutely think having more women in politics makes an important difference - not to mention encourage more women to enter politics.

These are just some general points and not a fully thought out nuanced argument - but I think the underlying views are fairly clear. So in conclusion: Team Hillary!!

As a side note: Thank goodness it seems unlikely that Huckabee will take the nomination. Mitt Romney might be okay - but as far as I am concerned John McCain is by far the strongest, most crediable candidate and would make the best Republican president. It is only too bad that he wasn't elected in 2000 - because a) maybe the world would not be as messed up as it is today and b) he will be turning 72 later this year - which definitely makes him an older candidate - which I have to imagine will largely work again him.

P.S. Feel free to tell me why I am wrong :)

International Women's Day

(An Afghan woman holds flowers in Afghanistan during a fair to mark Women's Day at a women's park in Kabul.)

“No one will bring me flowers. My husband won't even bring me a stone. March 8th is for foreigners because they have good lives. I don't know anything about March 8th.” Qamar, an Afghan woman, on the idea of International Women's Day in Afghanistan. Officials estimate at least half of women there are forced into marriage and one out of three has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused.
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