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I've been leaning toward Obama for months now, in part because of his clarity on the stupidity of the war of choice we are in in Iraq, and in part because I saw him as more electable than Hillary. But I've been careful to keep some part of my heart open and accepting, should Hillary become the nominee, and this morning I feel that part of myself growing bigger.
I listened to Hillary's communication director Howard Wolfson on the Bill Press Show this morning, and was impressed when he showed the good judgment to refuse to attack Barack Obama on the issue of his former pastor, and simply said he'd let the Obama campaign say whatever needed to be said. A refreshing change of pace from some of Wolfson's previous jabs.
Hillary has run a tough, bruising, at times even ugly campaign, but she has done so because she anticipated a moment like this happening, a moment when the phenomenon of the Obama campaign crashes into the brick wall of political reality. Maybe Barack is such a phenomenon that he can defuse the whole thing. I'll wait and see. But if he can't, I'm so glad the fate of the Democratic party, the fate of the country, and of the world, isn't tied to Obama and his pastor.
If Obama stumbles here -- and let's be honest, he stumbled a long time ago by not choosing his pastor with the discretion and judgment that someone who aspires to be the president should -- there are going to be millions of people in our nation who are depending on Hillary to help them with health care, millions of people who have family or friends at war overseas who ought to come home. If Obama stumbles and falls here, I'm relieved that his mistakes don't damn us to 4 or 8 years of a President McCain, who has already promised us there would be "more wars", hundreds of years of war, and who has no plan for health care at all.
These have been emotionally rough primaries, but there's a reason we have them: so the *strongest* candidate against the Republicans can emerge. I've been inspired by Barack, but if he turns out not to be the strongest candidate anymore, then the primaries will have done their job, and I'll be overjoyed that we've got someone as tough and tenacious as Hillary to take the torch.
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