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Being a Hillary supporter is like being the person in the dorm who yells at her partying neighbors to shut up, because she's studying for a final exam. You know you have a good reason, but you’re a little annoyed at yourself for being such a pill. At the same time, I get very indignant about Obama’s snow job on the Democratic electorate. The Will.i.am "Yes I Can" video? When I worked for John Kerry last election cycle, Will's band the Black Eyed Peas were BFF with DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe (who is more Establishment?) and performed for many Kerry functions. I bet they would've made a video too if we'd had YouTube. My Dad said to me yesterday, "I don’t understand. There was this article in the New York Times about the emergence of Obama and the death of the establishment but I don’t understand how he emerged from nowhere without the aid of the establishment."
Obama is aided by the establishment. This is his strength (it's why he's not been marginalized) but it's also important to remember when we get swept up in his change-y exuberance. He spent more money on TV ads than Clinton. His campaign manager and senior team are DC veterans. A cursory glance at the FEC year end report by spending purpose says Obama spent almost twice as much as Hillary in the category “polling” (of course, who knows, since there are many other line items that absorb pollsters and related consultants).
Take four big issues: there is little difference between Obama and Hillary and when there is, I choose Hillary’s position:
Energy and Environment: “In terms of climate/energy policy proposals, there's not a whole lot of distance between Obama and Clinton. On this issue as on so many others, they both followed Edwards' early lead and ended up with strong, ambitious plans. Both would substantially cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost clean energy; both pitch sustainability as an issue of shared sacrifice and economic opportunity; both have an impressive grasp of the policy details.”
Iraq: Obama wins because he never voted for the War, but he never had to. And like most of the other Democrats, he has voted since to continue funding for fear of being labeled "against the troops." As Jim Hoagland writes, “Obama's effort to impeach Clinton's credibility through a backward-looking debate on Iraq —pitting her 2002 vote vs. his 2002 speech — has not been decisive because he has yet to show that the difference will lead to an authentically different approach to getting U.S. combat troops out of Iraq...Yes, Obama has promised to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months. Clinton promises to begin withdrawals within 60 days of her inauguration. Most significantly, each has promised a hedge: to keep unspecified numbers of soldiers behind to fight terrorists or train Iraqis and, in Clinton's case, to protect the Kurds and deter Iranian aggression.”
For a detailed voting record (pitted against Joe Liberman for contrast), click here.Health Care: Depending on who you ask, not that big a deal. I’m with Paul Krugman. I think mandates matter- Massachusetts is proving that they do and enrollment in its newly mandated health insurance program is higher than expected. But former Labor Secretary Robert Reich doesn’t and he is about 1,000,000,000 more knowledgeable than I am so read his account.
Education Policy: This was a surprise to me. I don’t know much about Ed. Policy, so I asked an expert, a friend from the Kennedy School. She supports Clinton’s education policy, and invited me to check out Obama’s Education advisor, Linda Darling Hammond, who has been called a “wolf-in-sheeps-clothing ed advisor.” A critic of both charter schools and alternative programs such as Teach for America, will Darling lead an Obama education effort that is anti-reform? Then again, both candidates have to pander so much to teacher’s unions, they can’t talk very much about school reform.
None of this is reason not to vote for Obama. It’s just that perception and reality are so different here. But then again, I spoke to a bunch of students the other day and they all said their Facebook pages were blinged out with Obama stuff, and all their friends had the Obama ringtone- but the thing is, a few said to me, “they don’t really know what his positions are.” I said, well, what’s his message and the entire room of 50 people yelled, “change.” Positions
