The Democrat for The White House

The competition between the Democratic candidates for the White House has been ugly. Ugly to the point that it is beginning to have a nauseating effect on the public. Like many, I have my own opinions and would like to share them, but before I do, I have to be clear: I do not vote.

The question that I would begin with is: why Obama? And my answer to myself is:

• If an African-American becomes president, the race struggle in its classical form (black versus white) would be declared over and a new more inclusive struggle would begin, the struggle of the classes. The class struggle would resonate with similar struggles in other western nations and third world one that have dealt with it as their main social problem.
• If an African-American becomes president, the African-American youth will have a new role model to follow. Not the gangsters in the block, not the hip-hop artist with his bling-bling life and disgusting lyrics, but the president of the United States.
• An African-American president will hopefully ease the mistrust many African-Americans have for Washington politics and the White House.
• If the son of an immigrant makes it to the White House, all immigrant communities will cheer and hopefully cooperate in developing legislation to improve their lives and promote their issues. Such a president will boost the moral of immigrant communities that were alienated in the past 8 years despite all the talk about immigration reform.

Such reactions to Obama have nothing to do with experience or white papers or proposals. These reactions result from who the candidate is, and this "is" is very personal.

The second question is: why not Clinton? Well, she is just that "same old story" all over again. In the general election, it is actually her weakness and not her strength that she was the First Lady for 8 years and a senator for 7 years. If these are her qualifications, she will lose against McCain. If one votes for the "same old story", McCain's story is a longer one. If one votes for positions on issues, McCain, and I am not advocating him, has worked with many Democrats on many issues, he advocated finance reform, gun control, immigration reform, has opposed tax cuts, and was honest when he called waterboarding torture.

So, what is the best Democratic duet to run for the White House? I think it is Obama with Edwards for VP. And if they win, it would be a revolution, a democratic electoral revolution.