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 :)
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I don't think you're wrong but I do think you're being naive to the fact that you are slightly sexist. That said, if you ask yourself, "self, would I vote for Hillary if her name was Henry?" If you would still vote for Clinton if she was a he, then you are not sexist. I also think that the republicans are too narrow minded to elect a black man or a woman.
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