Made My Decision

A friend of mine sent me an article written by Noam Cohen in The New York Times on Hillary and Obama:

On one thing, the experts seem to agree. The differences between hillaryclinton.com and barackobama.com can be summed up this way: Barack Obama is a Mac, and Hillary Clinton is a PC.

As a longtime Mac user now I want to vote for Obama, but wait, I better keep reading:

While Mr. Santa Maria praised barackobama.com for having “this welcoming quality,” he added that it was “ethereal, vaporous and someone could construe it as nebulous.” He said there was a bit of the “Lifetime channel effect, you know, vasoline on the lens” to create a softer effect on the viewer.

Then it hit me; that is actually a good description of Obama and his campaign and one of the things that bugs me. He is indeed nebulous, pushing feel good generalities without giving too many hard facts or details. I don't like that, gives him wriggle room down the road.

The “hectic” site that the Clinton campaign is offering could actually be quite strategic, exactly in step with her branding. After all, Mrs. Clinton repeatedly emphasizes how hard she will work for the average American “starting on Day 1.” If she comes across as energetic online, that may simply be her intention. If she shouts a bit more, typographically speaking, that may be the better to be heard.

That is much more of what I want in a president. I don't want nebulous, I want hectic energy; I don't want compromise that looks just like failure, I want a feisty fighter.

I also think that Obama is more nebulous because he doesn't actually know what he's going to do when he's in the White House, just vague ideas about what he wants but no definite plan. While Hillary knows exactly what she is going to do and can get it done. It's the difference between experience and the lack of it.

So I'm voting for Hillary. Yes, I'm disappointed in her, she's far too conservative for me, but I'm not sure that Obama is any more liberal. That seems to be a tag the media put on him and it has no substance. The guy who was liberal enough, John Edwards, isn't in the race any more and isn't a choice so I have to settle for what is left.

With any luck Hillary will pick Edwards as her VP, although there is a certain symmetry in Obama being the VP. Perhaps in 8 years he'll have the experience necessary for the top job.