In the Aftermath of the IA/NH Primaries

So Huckabee and Obama took Iowa, while Clinton and McCain won New Hampshire.

First off, I'm very glad Clinton's tearing up didn't tank her chances, as some pundits were claiming it would. It's certainly a rotten double standard she's caught in - she displays ambition and drive (stereotypically masculine virtues), and is called a hyena and a ballbuster for it. However, when she displays emotion (crying about how much she loves the country), she's called weak and overly emotional and unstable. She just can't win. Fortunately, it seems characteristic Clinton Family to come out of really unstable situations on top.

Conventional wisdom states that one of those four individuals will be the next President. I certainly don't support Huckabee - he's a Bible-thumping psycho. I only hope he wins the general primary because he'll be so deliciously easy to trounce in the national election. Huckabee would only continue to destroy the freedoms of this nation and turn us into a theocracy.

I don't really appreciate McCain's waffling. He flipped on some pretty serious issues, and I can't imagine a PoW really condoning the torture of 'detainees'. He also supports the overturning of Roe v Wade and participated in an attempt to drive Navajo off their land. There goes that!

So, as usual, my choices are between the two Democrats, Obama and Clinton.

Clinton has drive and passion. She was a woman completing law school in the 60's. Don't tell me she didn't have to face some pretty severe sexism and discrimination as a result. I think that armed her with the determination and ambition she's so well known for. She's a divisive and controversial candidate, but I would be comfortable with her at the helm. Unfortunately, she also supports MFN status for China, which makes her position on human rights as a whole suspect. She also supports parental notification of teen pregnancy - I wrote a friend a long e-mail on this very issue today, and that's another issue I can't get behind.

Obama is a new Kennedy - young and inexperienced, he nevertheless represents hope. If he wins the primary, his best move for survival would be to nominate Clinton as his VP. Just like no one wants to assassinate Bush because Cheney is worse, no one who would want to kill our first (half) black president would be willing to let a woman step up and take control. Obama also recognizes the wage gap and wants to work to close it. However, aside from promoting responsible fatherhood, I've had problems finding where he stands on abortion and gay rights. Historically, though, civil rights, human rights and feminism have marched hand-in-hand together, so I can't imagine he'll deviate incredibly far from the liberal platorm.

Why are these so important, you ask? Why do I evaluate each candidated based on those two domestic issues? Because they're wider and more far-reaching than that. It has to do with granting people sovereignty over their own lives and bodies. You recognize that an individual has the basic right to make the necessary choices to attain their own happiness - even if they're not choices you would make, yourself. It's possible to believe that abortion is a moral wrong you would never choose for yourself; and yet exted that right to other people, recognizing that not everyone believes as you or is in the same situation as you. It has to do with extending basic dignity and human rights to everyone.

And it's that I want above all in my President - an ability to see everyone, even the people who disagree with you and choose a life very different from yours and don't even look like you, as human beings.