Groundhog Day

Almost four years ago, I sent a message to friends and family explaining that I was starting this blog because, with the 2004 presidential race heating up, I had "scary little thoughts going on in my head" and "couldn't hold my fire any longer."

Well, after almost a year-long break from Patmix, I'm back.

Over the past few months, I have been agonizing over the choices in the Democratic presidential race.

I've been waking up in the morning, going through my mental checklist, relieved that I'm on top of things, until I suddenly remember that I'm still torn between Hillary and Barack.

Yes, I'm talking about me, the guy, who has a collection of at least a dozen books written by or about Hillary.

Me, the guy who made a Hillary Clinton angel and put it on top of my Christmas tree for several years.

Me, the guy who wore a home-made, rhinestone-studded Hillary for Senate t-shirt when I ran the NYC marathon in 2000 and waved my hands and smiled as strangers cheered me on with shouts of: "Go, Hillary!"

But, here, I am today prepared to not only vote, but to also fundraise and campaign for her opponent.

For me, it's ultimately boiling down to one issue: Iraq.

I know all of the explanations as of to why Hillary voted as she did - the political pressure, "if we knew then, what we knew now", that it was a different political climate, that it really wasn't a vote to go to war.

But the fact is that I knew then what I know now.

So did Barbara Boxer. And Nancy Pelosi. And Barbara Mikulski. And Lynn Woolsey. And more than 150 members of Congress.

So did most of my friends and family who have talked, and agonized, and talked, and organized, and talked, and cried, and talked, and got angrier and angrier about Iraq for almost five years now.

How come we took to the streets the day the war started, but every politician who claims now that it wasn't a vote for a war didn't stand up and say: "Wait a minute! What the hell is going on here? This is not what I voted for."

In order to get beyond George Bush and all the damage he has done, in order to get beyond the poisoned atmosphere in Washington that enabled good people like Hillary to stand by quietly, I've come to believe we need a clean break, a fresh start, and someone not encumbered by that historic vote.

And, in Barack Obama, there could not be a better candidate.

UPDATE:  I don't want to debate how he would have voted if he were in the Senate then (although he was clearly against the war at the time) because we will never know. What we do know is that Hillary was, and, on the single most defining vote of our lifetime, she and hundreds of others blindly followed George Bush. We'll discuss that more later.

But, in the meantime, it's three weeks to Primary Day in New York. I'm gonna work my issues out here on my blog. Stop by when you can. Share your thoughts.Let the debate begin.

Comments

[Cindy]

yea! welcome back!

[gwench]

I can understand your point of view, Patrick, but I need to point out that Barak did not have the opportunity to vote no or yes. So really, you will never know about him...

[Dave]

I know what you mean Pat. It is a tough decision. I worked it out for myself over the summer and I'm fully committed to Barack.

Glad to see the blog return and that you are finally listening to something good.

[gretchen]

Awesome. Greetings from NH, where I like to think I am the first of your readers to have officially voted for Obama. I'll send photos when they're uploaded. And Gwen, he was openly against the war when it began, so even though he couldn't vote on it, he was an ambitious politician willing to express an opinion that was unpopular at the time.

Remeber how depressing things looked four years ago at this time? No matter what the outcome this year, it's gonna be so much better.

[rob]

Welcome back! I've been having this issue: Hillary's obvious pandering about the war versus Bill's ridiculously good economic policies. What got me behind Barack is ultimately the fact that he is self-made whereas we would have never heard of Hillary if she hadn't been married to a great politician. We elected the last guy because of family connections and look how well that turned out. Dynasties are very third world and I'm just not ready to admit that the U.S. has sunk that far yet. Hillary herself has only her record in the Senate to look at and in the biggest vote of her tenure, she got it wrong. I can't give her credit for the good things that Bill did in office. Therefore, Barack it is (unless Mike runs, of course).

[Karen]

We missed you. Hillary is going to be pissed.

[Mom]

Thrilled to be along for an exciting ride.

[Lisa Hiland]

So glad you are back in action on patmix! obvs, it couldn't have come at a better time.

[Lisa]

So glad you are back in action on patmix! obvs, it couldn't have come at a better time.