ntang (ntang) wrote,

It's over...


Well, technically, not finally - Hillary has refused to concede, which is her right. I wish she would, but she's got to do what she believes is best (for her, if not for the party).

I've been reading a lot of articles and blogs over the past few days, and what struck me was not that people were disappointed that she had lost, but the outright rancor of some of her supporters towards Obama.

Personally, I'd have been really disappointed if Obama lost, and I get that - it's hard to put your hopes on someone you believe in, someone you think could really make a difference for you, for the country, etc. I completely understand that. I understand being bitter, I understand being disappointed, I even understand being a little angry.

What I don't understand - and I realize this is a minority of her supporters (hopefully!) that I'm referring to, but it's large enough to make itself known across the "blogosphere" - is why so many of her supporters are saying they'd rather vote for McCain than Obama now that Obama has "stolen" the nomination. (The fact that he won it, fair and square, is a separate issue but a moot point now so I won't get into it.)

It's shocking to me, honestly. As much as I prefer Obama to Clinton, I'd vote for her in a heartbeat over McCain. Obama and Clinton are maybe 5-10% apart in views and policies; the differences are mostly in tenor and in gender, in a lot of issues. Obama/Hillary and McCain, on other other hand, are dramatically different. Does anyone believe that McCain is going to advance the feminist platform, or do right in Iraq, or push equal rights for everyone, or control the government and get the budget under control, or really do anything other than continue Bush's losing and disastrous policies? (I mean among the Democrats; obviously, people believe that about him, or he wouldn't have won the nomination, except among the patently insane who believe GW was an effective, positive influence on the US and the world.)

Even for the disenchanted who see them both as not good enough, surely, it's still worth voting for the candidate that's the lesser of two evils rather than let the greater evil win, right? If the choice is between having a finger cut off or your whole hand, I'd pick the finger even if it sucked.

I dunno. I'd love to cheer my heart out for Obama - I do genuinely think he's our best shot at turning the tide, here - but I'm a little demoralized by the rampant hatred I see out there. I get it coming from the Republican side - it's what I expect from a lot of them. But even from the Dems and people from progressive groups? It's really disappointing. (Sigh.)

(P.S. Note to friends: this doesn't directly reference anyone I know. I'm referring, quite literally, just to the people I've seen post comments on news articles and on blog posts, and all of them, to date, have been complete strangers. If any of you share in the hatred, well, don't tell me and pretend you never saw this and we'll try to move on. ;) )
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