Mr… Mrs. President?
There is something that has been bothering me, which I think that I should share with you all.
Recently I have been hearing phrases such us: “I want to be a part of history” or “We want to make history!” or “This is a chance to be a part of history!”
Most of these statements have been made in reference of voting for Barack Obama. Therein lies my problem. I keep hearing everybody say that they want to vote for Obama because they want to influence history. They want to be able to say that they voted for the first Black President (African American to be politically correct). Now, I ask myself wouldn’t voting for Hillary Clinton have the same effect? Wouldn’t voting for a WOMAN to be in the White House be making history just as much as voting for a black man?
Now, I have also met a select group of women that are upset with Oprah for supporting Obama. That this was her chance to represent herself and support a strong woman in excelling in a “man’s world.” Although I am a supporter of Clinton, I find this statement to be ignorant.
Which brings me to the real problem that scares me the most. If people are just voting for Obama only to make history, or people are doing the same for Clinton… then I think that we are very wrong in the way that we select the leader of our country. We should not be voting for someone just because they are black or just because they are female or Chinese or maybe just because he/she is blonde. We should be selecting our next president based on their experience and the issues that they support or have plans for. I would not support a woman just because I too am a woman. I will support her if I think that she is strong and if I think that she is capable of doing what she claims she can do.
Making history is important, but it should not be based on the colour of a person’s skin or their ethnicity. If you want to make history, you need to scrutinize the candidates and choose someone that can really influence history by making changes or improving things for the better.
I have not heard anybody talking about this issue and I would love to know other people’s opinions on this, so drop a comment.
Filed under: Entertainment | 4 Comments
Tags: 2008 election, barack obama, black, candidates, hillary clinton, john mccain, president, usa, voting, woman
About
Romina Espinosa is an artist who lives in Los Angeles, California. She popped out on January 13, 1988 at 3:14 AM. Her greatest passion is films. She happens to be a writer and is developing her acting career.Blogroll
My Links
I think your point is very valid and also very well made. In fact I could not agree more that something as important as voting for a the leader of the most influential (for good or for bad) nation in the world should not be made based on skin color or gender, let alone the rather selfish desire to simply be part of history..
I support Obama, rather than Clinton. However, I would support either in the general election. I also think that this could truly be a historic presidency, but not for reasons such as race or gender (see my blog on this issue here http://puntiglio.com/blog/?p=107).
Anyway, great post, I could not agree more.
Hey Romy,
What I see in all of this is a continuation of the norm. This isn’t just a democrat problem either. People have and unfortunately will in the future continue to vote for candidates in a very shallow way. This election has just added new options for people to vote this way. I wish all Americans would vote only with extensive research and knowledge but most Americans don’t make time or effort to do so. The media hasn’t help in this department either. In my opinion they have made it worse. (but that is a whole other rathole) I think, well I hope that the group that votes in this way isn’t in a majority among us.
This probably will be an unpopular opinion and I hope to be proven wrong with time, but I think “history” will be made this election but true history for America will not be made in 2009-12 with any of the so called “front runners” that get in office. The federal machine for the most part will continue working as normal. Americans are still asleep.
On a different topic: I noticed that if you are on a post page, there isn’t a link to get back to your homepage. Usually your title “Romina’s Blog” or pics would link you back there. Just an observation.
Just heard this quote (which is more of a paraphrase since I’m working from memory) on the radio this morning and thought of your blog post:
“I feel bad for Senator Clinton, its like she is on a job interview while Senator Obama is on a date”.