I am a waffler myself between the two candidates, have campaign fatigue, and we're not even to the general election yet. I've been told by some of my professors that I'm not supposed to have or express a political opinion. Some journalists don't vote.

This will never be me. However, I do restrict my comments about what candidate I'm supporting on blogs and Twitter, etc., partially because I don't have the strong views that other people do so it's silly to try to engage on that level, and partially because my energies are so scattered right now that I can't be consistent. So I'd prefer to just shut up and go about my business, listening a lot and pitching in when I have a thought worth expressing. I've had some really 

I appreciate (with few exceptions) the people who go all out with vocal support for a candidate, as long as there is respect for rational, opposing views. And I think that it's not necessary - or even advisable all the time - to have strong views one way or another to cover politics effectively on a blog or in print. But that's just my opinion. ;)

Laurie

LaurieWrites 

Hi Morra. Great post. I'm a "Just Say No to McCain" supporter. Secretly...I really liked Edwards, and I did vote for him in FL (if you can call it voting in FL). Anyway, at that point I was feeling more critical of Hillary and her campaign, but when I looked at the Obama campaign, I wasn't lovin the "movement" aspect of it.

I just don't "buy" the idea that Obama isn't politics as usual...He's been the Democrat "golden boy" since his convention speech...And it was all part of an orchestrated attempt to mold him into a presidential candidate, and it's been successful.

I also don't think his main talking point (that Hillary voted for the war, while he was always opposed to it) is really viable. It's apples and oranges, because at that time she had to vote...but he did not. Saying what he "would have" done, really isn't the same...and he gets a lot of millage out of that alone.

I also don't like the fact that if I choose to write a post supporting Hillary, I most likely will be bombarded by hate from "so called" Obama supporters. It seems odd to me that Obama prides himself on running a kinder, gentler campaign, but many of his supporters (at least online) can be total bullies.

So that's what I think. But I will vote for the Democratic nominee regardless of who that person is. I am 100% a non-supporter of McCain.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election Blog

I don't have nearly your level of prominence, Morra, so that may be why I haven't seen what you've experienced. I have had people make presumptuous and insulting suggestions about me when I have written critically on other issues, so I can identify to some degree with what you're describing.

I also have had people lecture me about why, as a black person, i should be wary of Obama. Or that I should be crying right now because Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most recent media appearances may well have destroyed Obama's chances.  

I've stopped watching CNN and MSNBC's analysis of the election, because I find it increasingly trivial. I respect people's right to support whoever they want. I think my job as a blogger and a citizen to question all of them, study their positions, and do the best job I can of presenting the best available version of the truth.

I think there are serious questions about each of the candidates, and questions we have to ask ourselves as well. Can Obama be the bridge-builder he wants to be, or would he be the second coming of Jimmy Carter? Does Hillary Clinton have the management skills and judgment to run the White House, given the well-documented problems with her campaign and some of her Senate votes? Do we really want a President McCain who regularly demonstrates his ignorance on economic issues, and whose reputation as a hothead even scares some of his Republican colleagues? 

By the way, I just want to respond to Catherine's point about Obama as a media "golden boy." I agree that early coverage of him fit the archetypal hero narrative, but that narrative doesn't always benefit a candidate. There are lots of variants of the hero narrative - fallen hero (JFK, et.al.), tragic hero (LBJ), flawed hero (Mark McGwire, Pete Rose), antihero (Kurt Cobain). So I wouldn't assume that the early framing of his story benefits him in the end, even if it is sustained. Jack Lule of Lehigh University published a great book on archetypal narratives in journalism, Daily News, Eternal Stories, that I find very instructive on this point.

Finally, when it comes to potential criticism for what I write, I am increasingly looking to that great philosopher Mary J. Blige:

So I like what I see when I'm looking at me

When I'm walking past the mirror,

Can't worry about you and what you're gonna do

I'm a lady so I must stay classy

Gotta keep it hot, keep it together if I want to get better

See I wouldn't change my life, my life's just fine...  

Stay strong.

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

...Citing a university scholar and the queen of hip hop in a single comment: priceless!

 LOL

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

and I know the feeling.

On the pol board I co-host, the stuff coming from the left - left in this case being mostly right of me, because most everyone on the left is right of me (or at least that is what Denise would say. Have to maintain my image for the home crowd.) 

There was thread after thread eviscerating Hillary, and if I had the audacity to suggest doing this is counterproductive... stand back.

I've backed away some from politics because of this particular campaign season, but did venture into offering up some thoughts on this last night - sort of in the same ball park as your posting.  

nelle

I wonder why you put the initial question the way you did? Do you really think that anyone who hasn't had your experience is an "apologist" for Obama, or were you just being provocative? 

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

Just today I was having a conversation with a very dedicated Clinton supporter (I am in that neither team category, imo though I did vote for Clinton) and we both were outraged that anyone would ever be pushed to the point where he or she felt that they had to speak out as Obama has on the person who married them and baptized his or her kids. There is just something horribly wrong with us that we think that that is necessary or important or i don't know what. I'm not saying that Obama doesn't own that feeling, of wanting to denounce, but why isn't this private?

I apologize for not being able to be 100% articulate on just how much this upsets me - the reason - I can't really pinpoint it. But I feel it - it just is not proper.

I don't know - does anyone else feel that way? And frankly it's part of what keeps me from being able to commit to either candidate at this stage. I really am unhappy about feeling that way. But I take responsibility for it. I've learned a lot this year - and no doubt have a hell of lot more to learn.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Back when the Democractic race was still contested, I had no interest in supporting either Obama nor Clinton, but nor was I a McCain supporter.  I saw each candidate as the "same old same old," and literally did not care which Democrat won the nomination.  I guess I'm jaded, but to me, whoever wins, it will just be politics as  usual.