Disappointment

I was disappointed last week when the president said there would be continued and escalated US military action in Afghanistan. I was disgusted when this week he used the platform of the Nobel Peace Prize to talk about "Just War." You have to do what you have to do when you're president, but that was gross. I had to turn off the radio. I trusted that guy to make his moves so that he wouldn't have to justify them with something that is fundamentally wrong. I would probably never be able to listen to a John McCain speech all the way through, but at least his wouldn't have been from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

Disappointed

The news about John Edwards' affair bums me out. When things falter with Obama, I could just reassure myself that he was not my first choice. Man, I believed in that guy. I thought he was honest and genuine, but if a person can't keep a promise to just one person when they're suffering from a potentially fatal disease, how can that person keep promises to millions of citizens. Even more, if a person lies about his or her personal life to the public, how is the public supposed to trust him or her to tell the truth about public matters? I feel let down, and I'm not even married to him.

Barack my state!

Looks like Obama is going to win in Oregon. Turns out that party switch at the last minute wasn't all that important, but I wonder how many Oregonians did the same. 2%? 3%?

Now, how about this delegate/ super-delegate business? Would a party really nominate someone based on important people in the party than the popular vote? Sounds kind of like the electoral college to me, which some people think is outdated. This politics stuff is too complicated to me. I just want to make a positive difference in the world.

I did it

I registered with the Democratic Party. Am I a sellout? Maybe. I just know that I want a stake in who will be the next president, and the Oregon primary is actually going to matter this year. I'm going back to being unaffiliated as soon as the primary is done. Oregon's so silly. They actually have an Independent Party, which is only a few years old, and it's different from being unaffiliated. I guess it gives a foundation to run for people who aren't Democrat or Republican, so I support what it's trying to do. Do any other states have an Independent Party?

Ba-rock my world

On Friday evening, I stood in line for more than 3 hours to see Barack Obama speak at the University of Oregon. There were so many people that my friends and I didn't get in, so we were diverted to the turf field behind Mac Court. The Senator came out onto the field to speak to us for about 5 minutes before he went into the arena, at which point my friends and I bolted back to my old co-op to watch the speech on TV. They were going to have the audio from the speech played out on the field, but the system was set up so poorly that we could hardly hear the Senator when he was out there.

But now I can say that I've seen a presidential candidate speak. I hope that I can say I saw a future president speak. The back of his head, at least. I don't regret all that time that I spent just waiting, but I probably would have regretted it if I hadn't gone. It didn't change my mind much just to see the back of his head, because I already support his message and would vote for him if he were the Democratic nominee (my first choice was John Edwards, but alas and alack!).

Which brings me to a dilemma of principles. Should I register for the Democratic Party so that I can vote in the primary or stay non-affiliated? (For effect, I wore a sweatshirt that said "Independent" to the Obama speech) When I registered to vote at 18, I sought advice from my teachers. One, a fellow Christian with a son in the National Guard, said that I was a Republican. The school librarian, a non-religious woman who I respect very much said that I was a Democrat. I researched each party carefully, even scouring the Pacific Green website and the Socialist Party USA website. The conclusion that I came to was that I didn't align with either party, so I registered non-affliated. I've taken a lot of pride in not being beholden to a political party, but I'm not sure that it's worth it. I don't plan on being a career Democrat, because I want to make sure that I'm not tempted to put too much energy into campaigning for individuals (policies, maybe). But Oregon is one of those "blue states" and Clinton family love runs strong here. Would being able to vote for Barack Obama be worth compromising my independent principles? Of what value are those principles anyway if I don't do everything in my power to change the state of the nation?