February 17, 2008 by Heidi
This column is only about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and is written for those trying to decide between these two candidates. If you have read any of my previous articles, you know that I favor Clinton as our next President, but I also have no dislike for Obama and would not be upset or angry if he wins the role. In my opinion, Clinton is a better, more competent choice. Obama sounds great, but we can’t be sure as a country what kinds of decisions he will make and how many mistakes will slow down his hopes and dreams for a better America.
There are hundreds of metaphors that come to mind about these candidates. Keeping in mind that I favor Clinton (but still like Obama), I will be describing my own visualizations that have come to mind with regard to these candidates, and in doing so I’ve tried to narrow them down to just a few that are very pertinent to the future of our country. And of course, I fully believe that this is a very crucial election, and we cannot afford mistakes at this point that will cost lives and limbs in war and could cost Americans their homes and jobs.
A Tale of Two Surgeons
Imagine that a loved one, a family member, has a serious head injury and needs precision treatment. You interview two doctors. One is a neurosurgeon who has a somewhat standoffish bedside manner, but who knows exactly where to cut and where to go to get the job done, and who has a great team to help out — including a spouse who is also a skilled doctor. The other doctor is fresh out of med school and so far has not made any mistakes, who has all the latest knowledge and information from books and observations, but who has not yet performed surgery of this magnitude. This second doctor is excited and inspiring, and will even throw in some plastic surgery free of charge.
Which of these two doctors would you choose, for your son or daughter, for your husband or wife, for your parents? One is experienced with many competent resources, and the other is optimistic and hopeful but without the experience of having had patients die in the past and learning from previous mistakes along the way.
An Example of Practicality
Last year the Democratic candidates were invited to a debate by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, a group dedicated to rights and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. One of the topics discussed was the Clinton Administration’s military policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” When asked about the impact of this policy on the gay community, Hillary Clinton responded that this was the correct policy for that moment in history, and it is now time to be updated so that gays can serve openly. But she could see at that time in the 90s, when her husband Bill was President, that a bridge was needed between the negative social stigma against gays and the goal of equality for and acceptance of gays in America and the U.S. military. Without that “don’t ask, don’t tell” bridge, it was likely that our GLBT community would have fallen into the chasm that would have been a major setback for equality. (Please watch Hillary’s video on the link I provided above, as this also goes beyond the GLBT community and reaches into issues affecting a majority of Americans.)
With both candidates it’s about change, but more importantly it’s about change done the right way, with knowing which tools to use and when to use them being the key to make that change actually happen safely and with the biggest advancements toward the actual goals.
Let me ask you, what would Obama have done in the 90s with the goal of wanting gays to serve openly in the military, assuming that were his goal? Would he have charged ahead full-steam with that goal in mind, not concerned with the means to achieve that goal? Would he have made his policy go from no gays in the military straight to serving openly, without thinking of the ramifications of the public not accepting this yet? Assuming this is a common goal of the candidates (I don’t personally know if this is the case), which of them has made the mistakes necessary to reach success more quickly, without repeating the same mistakes?
Ask any successful businessperson or inventor, and they will tell you that the road to success is paved with bricks of failures. The more failures you have, the closer you are to achieving the best success. Success without mistakes along the way means you have learned less and your achievements won’t be as strong or lasting. While it can be argued that Hillary Clinton has never held any real political leadership title other than Senator, she has walked that road with a governor and with a president, and has as such shared both the successes and the mistakes in a very personal way, which is a thousand times more than Obama has done. Where are his mistakes? Where are his failures? How will he react when he hits a major bump in the road as president, or if America is attacked again? How will he react when his right-wing opponents viciously attack him, and his family, and his upbringing, and his religion, and everything else that is undoubtedly coming his way through the elections process? I think we already know how Clinton will handle these things, since she has been through all of them already.
These are the questions I am asking, and that I hope others are asking as well. I’d personally like to see Obama run a few more laps and see him fall down and get up and see how he refines his running techniques. No one can be “right the first time” every time.
The Bridge to Somewhere
In my opinion, GWBush has dug our country into an enormous hole, both financially and domestically and with our global reputation. The gap between the past and the future is wider than ever; if we keep going in the same direction that Bush has taken us, we will regress into a country that resembles 14th century Europe — a century, appropriately, marked by the Hundred-Years War, famine, religious dictatorship, and devastating climate change. It is exciting and inspiring to hear Barack Obama talk about our country’s future, where we should go and where we need to be. But he doesn’t talk about how to get there; just that we should get there. It’s great talk, but lacks the necessary substance and planning.
Clinton, on the other hand, has not only laid out the plans, but also has a huge chest of tools and knowhow to bridge that enormous gap. She has built many bridges, and has seen some of them topple for various reasons, and has learned how to make her bridge-building skills much better and stronger. She also knows many, many experts in the field — she has them on speed-dial, knows their names, and knows their professions so she won’t have to make 50 calls to get to the right person when she needs assistance.
Barack Obama has a little bridge building experience, but we don’t know how he’s supposed to undertake such a humongous structure with such a small toolbox and only a few numbers in his rolodex. He could probably get it done at some point, after a few false starts and taking the time to meet the right people and to learn about the tools he will need. And even then, after his bridge is built, he will lead us optimistically over it, but how can we be sure it is structurally sound? How long will it take him to build it, and with untested materials, and how many lives will be lost in the process of trial and error? I have no doubt whatsoever that Obama wants to help this country see better, more glorious days (as does Senator Clinton), and that his heart is in the right place, but where is his head?
The Choice is Ours
I’ve heard it said about voters in the two major parties: “Democrats want to fall in love, and Republicans want to fall in line.” This means that Democrats vote with their hearts for someone inspirational, and Republicans vote for a leader who tells them what to do and how to do it. To me, it seems that Democrats like to work from the bottom up, whereas Republicans prefer to do things from the top down (see Reagan’s Trickle-Down Economics). Both ways work in specific circumstances in different applications, but it seems to me that bridges are best built from the bottom up. In order to get that bridge built, it is critical that there is a competent leader to direct the construction of the bridge. If you go with Obama’s current leadership model, you need to hope that you can leap across the chasm or that you will grow wings before you hit the bottom. If you go with Clinton’s advice, you won’t have as much fun leaping over the edge, but you can be pretty sure that your children and loved ones won’t splatter the bottom of the canyon.
To me, Obama is a definite maybe, but Clinton is a definite absolute. Obama is exciting and could possibly do a good job (I’ve heard that he could go either way — either as beloved and popular as JFK or as disappointing and unpopular as Jimmy Carter). But Clinton has already been through the trenches and she already knows what to do and how to get it done.
Final Statement
My message to Democrats and to my fellow Independents is to vote with your brain. When you choose a husband or wife, there is a lot of heart involved, but the lasting benefits of the marriage are only achieved if you also use your head. The decision we make now is a commitment that we really need to think about, because it is a lifelong commitment with lasting consequences that will affect not only us, but generations to come, just like our last 2 elections have.
Just think about it. Please.
Republican (I wasn’t), but because he was a Republican married to a Kennedy (JFK’s niece), which I thought would bring great balance to the state.
are not with his heart and his intentions, but with the apparent innocence and naïveté he seems to have with respect to the Presidency and the enormous fights he will face there. He is definitely not a “left-wing liberal” as I’ve seen him portrayed by some not very politically aware, but I can already see people boxing him (and his family) in as a socialist, probably the same ignorant people who still think he’s a Muslim and that his middle name has some kind of jihadist significance. I can already see the “Republican base” planning ways to thwart his best intentions, just because he’s from the other side of the aisle, if nothing else. This isn’t news; it happens on both sides, dirty tricks from both Democrats and Republicans, which is why I subscribe to neither.
If you happened to watch the 
encourage ALL of his supporters to move above the gutter and grasp his vision of a better America, starting with bringing supporters of both campaigns together with their common goals for the country. If we do this, we will evolve beyond the disgusting politics of the past and look ahead to a new kind of politics that focuses on common dreams instead of petty differences. That is the audacity of hope.
