How Colin Powell Broke My Liberal Heart

and Hillary Clinton won my conservative heart.

(Bumped-up. New comments.)

I started blogging shortly after Katrina, mostly as a reaction to the horrible work done by the Bush goof squad in response to the Gulf Coast disaster. My outrage about his incompetence was not passed through a racial filter. I titled this blog “Mad In The Middle” because politically I feel I’m in the middle of the spectrum, though I’m so far left on some issues I completely circle the spectrum and end-up agreeing with wingnuts—which disturbs me greatly. I was all about getting rid of the incompetence drowning our Republic. Race did not and still does not enter into this equation.

I had high hopes that the new Congress would demonstrate, if not leadership, at least competence. What they have demonstrated is spines of Jell-o—a willingness to find any reason to capitulate to the Bush Mafia. Most of the leadership needs to be replaced by people who are willing to take these criminals on and put them away.

To that end, I looked at the early presidential contenders and picked a candidate that I felt was most likely to achieve that goal. My candidate was John Edwards. To me, he represented the best choice among compassion, competence, and concern.

In the end, all political choice is about whittling down options. When Edwards suspended his campaign, I looked for the next most likely person to fulfill my agenda. That led me to Hillary Clinton. I leaned her direction because, based on past performance, I knew beyond a shadow of any doubt, that she could stand-up to any Republican challenge. After all, she has already endured decades of the GOP slime machine.

Race did not enter the equation, nor did gender. Guilt did not enter into my calculations either. No one today has been a slave and the “Sins of my father” meme is definitely not something I ascribe to, despite various groups seeking redress for grievances from hundreds of years ago. I know something of this since my own ethnic group has multitudes of grievances with the Feds over stolen land and the public at large for our continued marginalization. Yet, that is the past and this campaign was supposed , supposed, to be all about the future.

My support for Sen. Clinton has hardened to the point that if I cannot vote for her I will not vote. That has occurred almost entirely because of Sen. Obama’s fanatics—note that I did not say supporters for those fanatics go far beyond the pale when profaning Sen. Clinton. He has not helped himself with his church problems either.

I attended a church for many years until one Sunday when I said I will no longer listen to sermons telling me how I should vote. I sat through one of those anti-abortion, anti-woman rants; I did not sit through the second one when it started. I was offended by Wright’s damning of America but I thought the “riding dirty” element was even worse.

My liberal heart has always wanted a minority, especially a Native American, to be elected President so when Colin Powell rose to prominence, I saw a potential President. I even overlooked his involvement in My Lai and his later backstabbing of President Clinton ( who should’ve pulled a Harry Truman and fired him for his back door attacks on Gays In The Military) so strong did my liberal heart beat for a minority to become president. My moderate and conservative hearts also became all a-flutter with Powell. He had it all. He could have become President of the United States in heartbeat.

Then he fell in with George Bush, the man who has become the kiss of death for so many careers. In short, my hopes were left shattered on the floor of the United Nations and I could only think back to those heady days when Shirley Chisholm was receiving my vote for president.

So, in the end, my liberal heart will not beat for Sen. Obama because he is much more a conservative Republican than either of the other two candidates. I have a progressive agenda that includes among other things such radical ideas as legalizing marijuana. I have a moderate agenda that includes such things as allowing everyone’s vote to count (I am not just griping about Florida and Michigan but undemocratic procedures such as caucuses. ) My conservative agenda includes items like gun control, the draft, military service, etc. My conservative heart beats for candidates who really do love and appreciate this wonderful, if flawed, paradise we call America. So which candidate comes closest to all my hearts—there’s only one choice: Hillary Clinton.

Original post date: 4/1/08

Guest post at Taylor Marsh 4/10/08