Why I can't vote for Hillary

After watching a video taken at a Clinton rally today, I posted a response at HuffingtonPost.com that expresses my decision to vote for Senator Obama. In the interest of not reinventing the wheel, here it is, and make sure you post your own response at HuffPost:

I have prepared myself to vote for Senator Clinton, because I knew I would have to defend that vote, not only because I am a Democrat, but because I am a woman. I would have to convince people I wasn't supporting her "just" because she's a woman, that my vote was based on issues and substance, not blind gender allegiance. But the deeper I look, the less I am able to defend that position.

What I find so terribly sad about Senator Clinton's performance here is that she owes women so much better than this. She is all of us standing up there, and too often, her behavior defeats her purpose.

I would vote for her if she had put forward a presidential campaign worthy of a president, a campaign different from any of the testosterone-laden slug-fests of the past. Instead, she takes more money than any candidate from defense contractors, she denies her own statements about her health insurance plan, she cozies up to big media and resorts to ridiculous allegations of plagiarism, when she knew better. This video is the lowest of the low, a hypocrisy of the worst order. During the last debate, she went on about how "proud" she was to be standing next to Obama, a few days later, we have this, and her shameful performance in complaining about his campaign literature, as though she had not done the exact same thing.

Say what you want, Senator Clinton, but Obama's optimism is truly what this country needs. The fact that Senator Obama also has a meaningful health care plan, a plan for getting us out of Iraq and a plan to rally America around the kinds of ideals we all used to hold dear hasn't changed. He's selling the only thing you can't: Hope. And isn't that ironic?

Red Letter Christians

Tony Campolo published an incredibly insightful and encouraging column in today's Huffington Post. He defines a breed of Christian leaders who are calling themselves "Red Letter Christians," those who pay attention to the words in red in some versions of the Christian Bible - the words of Jesus.

If you're a Christian who's tired of the gay-marriage-fauxlife-hate-liberals attitude that passes for Christianity in some circles, read this.

Fear makes us mean

"Panic sells gas masks, gentlemen." -- Detective John Munch, "Law & Order: SVU"

The theory that fear of terrorism justifies just about anything also applies to comments made by Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia on the subject of torture. Judge Scalia's argument that Constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment don't apply to interrogation seems to hold water. But if we're arguing this point on Constitutional grounds, haven't we completely missed the point?

You know, the point about torture being ineffective and... oh, I don't know... WRONG?

Good Lord Kwame. Or is that Good Lord, Kwame?

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick informed the world today that he's on a mission from G-d. From this frame of mind, he has accused the Detroit Free Press of breaking the law to get text messages that were sent on a pager paid for by the City of Detroit, because they violated his privacy.

But the statement that caught my attention came as he spoke with Charles Pugh, when hizzoner told us that he didn't feel bad for some of the things he'd put Detroit through, because they were necessary to make him a better man.

There aren't words for that level of ego, but it looks to rest somewhere above narcissism.

Pro-life AND pro-Obama?

Frank Schaeffer, son of evangelical Christian author and leader Francis Schaeffer, explains why he supports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Schaeffer's eloquent, passionate call for a new direction in the pro-life movement should be required reading for everyone who thinks all pro-lifers are just anti-abortion.

Some really do get it.

Ann who?

A tall, blond neo-conservative political pundit, invited to speak by a conservative youth group called Young America's Foundation ("The Conservative Movement Starts Here"), today compared presidential candidate John McCain to Adolph Hitler.

These rabid attacks on McCain, who has the support of most Republicans voting in recent primaries and caucuses, reveal the astonishing disconnect between the loudest voices in the conservative movement and the conservative foot-soldiers who still believe in small government, fiscal and moral responsibility, who are ashamed of the Bush years - perhaps not all of them, but certainly the last few.

One would hope their horror would deepen at the incomprehensible attacks on American veterans - McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war, and the more than 200,000 left homeless because of the way we use up soldiers and throw them away. While chiding the peace-loving liberals for deserting the U.S. military, the neo-con talkers see no hypocrisy at all in assassinating the character of any soldier whose political philosophies don't match with their own.

And yet after these scurrilous attacks, most conservatives remain eerily silent. You'd think a preacher would speak up. At least.

Exxon profits

The Associated Press reported today that Exxon Mobil Corp. reported a $40.6 billion profit this quarter, four times the record profit it posted in the last quarter of 2007.

Times like these, I find comfort in the Bible. Specifically, Matthew 19:24.

The church Obama made

A few decades ago, a future American president came before the people to speak not about his controversial faith, but about the country he believed in. For John F. Kennedy, separation of church and state was an absolute; he would neither seek nor accept any edicts from his church, he would work for the day when all Americans and all religions would be considered equal. Most importantly, he told Americans just exactly where he would stand, should his role as President conflict with his conscience:

But if the time should ever come--and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible--when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.

Investor's Business Daily a few weeks ago trotted out the question of Senator Barack Obama's religious past, while repeating and then refuting the rumor that the Senator took his oath of office on the Qur'an. IBD's editors point out that Obama was baptized Christian, but then instantly assert that he might previously have been Muslim. And if he was, these people theorize, radical Muslims might (gasp) try to assassinate him.

As the editors point out - after spending several paragraphs on the subject - the Senator's alleged Muslim faith really isn't the problem. They take issue with his current membership in an "Afro-centric church," which describes itself as "unashamedly black." Once you've read IBD's extrapolation, read David Emery's take at About.com, which includes a quote from Christian Post columnist Martin Marty:

"Being 'unashamedly black' does not mean being 'anti-white.' My wife and I on occasion attend (Trinity United Church of Christ), and, like all other non-blacks, are enthusiastically welcomed."

IBD is apparently disturbed that the church asks members to band together in African solidarity, including support for black-owned businesses. Naturally, they drop the name of Louis Farakahn, because that's what you do when you want to get white folks riled up about black folks. So instead of a reasoned argument for nationalism, including the context in which churches like Trinity United Church of Christ emerged, the writers play shamelessly on white fear.

The bottom line here is, each presidential candidate in this election comes with some sort of baggage. Senator Obama and his church, which champions black-owned businesses, are just the ones Investor's Business Daily chose to pick on.

Gee, I wonder why?