An Endorsement
The all-important Schiavenza endorsement goes to.....(drumroll please).......Barack Obama! Should I get my act together and cast an absentee ballot in California's February 5th Democratic primary election, I'll be punching the hole next to the Illinois Senator's name.
Intellectually, the candidate that most impressed me was Joseph Biden, who seemed to be the only one with a firm grasp of national security issues. He never had a realistic shot at the nomination, alas, and dropped out after finishing a distant fifth in the Iowa caucuses.
Of the three left in the race (Clinton, Obama, and Edwards), only Obama opposed the Iraq War. This is my main criterion. After all, successful presidents exercise good judgment and on what matter was good judgment needed more than on the Iraq war? Given the political winds of the time, opposing the war took a lot of courage. Neither Clinton nor Edwards showed it, and no amount of recanting will make up for it.
I also have serious problems with Clinton's foreign policy posture (especially her yes vote on the idiotic Iran resolution) and with Edwards' tired "two Americas" approach.
In addition, Obama seems like the Democratic candidate with the best hope of securing the independent voters necessary to win the general election. Clinton is too divisive, and Edwards' populist rhetoric alienates socially liberal but fiscally moderate Democrats, an important constituency for the party.
Plus, I simply find Obama the most likable of the three. That should count for something, after all, for we'll have to listen to whomever is elected president for the next four or eight years.
In any event, I would prefer any of the three over all Republicans, even Ron Paul whom I admire. This isn't a party loyalty issue but one simply of belief- none of the Republicans running would make decent presidents in my view.
OK- now back to regularly scheduled China programming...
