One of my biggest complaints about Democrats is that they won’t take a stand for what they believe in. The party, I mean. They water it down or equivocate or try to make it as palatable as possible. They try to appeal to everyone, and it doesn’t appeal to anyone. I have never felt wanted as a Democrat. I felt taken for granted beacuse, well, I was NOT going to vote for a Republican. I was resentful of that. I only felt good voting for Barack Obama, and less so the second time than the first. Not beacuse he did anything wrong, but just because it’s impossible to sustain that kind of high.
Every election before that and since, I have dutifully done my duty. I have voted in every election I could, but I have not had any joy in doing so. The only time I ever felt seen was when Barack Obama ran as a candidate the first time because he mentioned Asian people and nonreligious people. Once he was elected, he actually said ‘bisexual’. Out loud! It may seem trivial, but it’s such a big thing when your entire identity is ignored in every other aspect of politics/media.
I have felt taken for granted for most of my life (politically) because I don’t really have a choice. It’s Democrats or nothing, but it’s always feels like the lesser of two evils. In 2008, I went into the primaries equally open to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I was excited to have a female candidate and a black candidate, both of whom were more than qualified to be president.
Over the next month, I listened to and read everything each had to say. Obama won me over; it’s as simple as that. In part, it’s because he’s such a fantastic speaker, but it’s also because his policies were more aligned with my own. Clinton, for better and for worse, was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. She embodied the Democartic Party whereas Obama was the fresh-faced kid who exuded hope and new ideas.
By the way, he’s a moderate. I mean, he’s progressive in ideas, but a moderate in practice because he’s pragmatic (and a black man in the United States). But he spoke with such passion and constantly appealed to people’s better nature. He believed in the best of us (or at least convincingly conveyed that he did), and it was infectious.
