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Hillary over Obama

I support Hillary over Obama. Why?
  • Both have a level of idealism, but Clinton mixes in a healthy dose of pragmatism. I watched Obama speak a couple times and was inspired. I saw him speak a couple more times and thought "enough with the pretty-talk." Although he follows Frank Luntz' rules of communication really well, the debates expose Hillary's dominance when it comes down to brass tacks in policy. I am longing for a president that educates the American people on the complexity of issues, rather than sticking to simplistic populist themes.
  • Hillary proved, in Congress, that she could reach across party lines and work professionally even with people who had worked to demonize her. That's really what we're looking for. Obama is not the first campaigner to say "I'm a uniter, not a divider." It's easy to say, but very hard to do.
  • Obama is putting himself farther to the left on Iraq than reality will allow if he becomes president. He's doing that for political gain, and I respect Hillary more for telling the truth even though it has a cost in delegates. Don't think for a minute that Obama or anyone else will continue pulling out troops when Iran cranks up their operations in Iraq, there is a humanitarian crisis, and oil suppies are threatened. We are not the only ones capable of a surge, given the right strategic opportunity. Obama's brand of idealism is nice--to a point--and that point is reached when he's the one making decisions. Over a long presidential campaign against a tough Republican candidate, people will start to realize that "let's get outta there" is not an overall security or foreign policy strategy. George W. Bush is another guy who believed he was "right on day one", and look where it got us.

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