Go Hillary

I’m sitting down right now listening to Hillary’s national town hall (broadcast on television and on her website)– her closing appeal to supporters and undecided voters before tomorrow’s Super Tuesday primary. While she’s busy reaching out to the thousands of people that are now listening to her, I thought I’d connect with the relatively few voters reading this and put down in words the reason why I’m supporting Hillary in tomorrow’s primary (or today's primary if you're reading this on Tuesday).

Over the last nine months I’ve rallied behind a candidate who has proposed substantive policies to reverse the devastating path that the Bush administration has put our country in the last eight years. Hillary's proposals – most notably her plans for universal health care, reviving and growing the economy, federal immigration, withdrawing from Iraq and rebuilding America’s image abroad - are all real and realistic. They represent the kind of policies we need to bring sweeping reform in our country and that also have the best chance of getting passed by a bipartisan legislature.

Knocking on doors in New Hampshire, organizing debate watch parties, mobilizing volunteers and making a whole lot of phone calls to lists of voters in New Hampshire and New York, I’ve discovered that Hillary has made her tent a big one. I believe Hillary’s administration will continue to build on her history of franchising all Americans by lowering income inequality, getting health insurance to everyone, making education more affordable and promoting a full agenda of civil rights, including repealing the military’s shameful Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

As a young male 20-something living in New York City, many of my peers have chosen to support Barak Obama for the nomination, and I’ve had the opportunity to engage in substantive discussions on both candidates’ merits. I agree that Obama’s powerful oratory is inspiring and the excitement that he, along with Hillary, has injected into the race for the Democratic nomination is awesome and a testament to the incredible caliber of both candidates. If Obama wins the nomination, I’ll wholeheartedly support his path to the White House. Nevertheless, Hillary has won my vote because I’ve watched her in the debates leading up to the primary. I’ve seen her passion for the job, her incredible intellect, her courage in breaking through gender and social barriers, and her eagerness on the campaign trail to engage hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of voters on a personal level through the painstaking process of answering countless questions at each stop along the way. I also believe that Hillary has the greatest chance of winning the White House back for the Democrats in the general election.

These are the reasons I’m voting for Hillary in tomorrow’s election. I’m of course always happy to discuss my reasons more if anybody out there wants to. Above all however, and whether or not you agree with my choice of candidates, it’s most important to me that everyone reading this goes out to vote in tomorrow’s primary. I love seeing democracy at work and tomorrow we have the unique opportunity of participating in an election where every single one of our votes will make a difference in the outcome.

So, get out and vote and, GO HILLARY!

[On a random concluding note, I'm happy to announce that you've all just had the pleasure of reading my 42nd posting on this blog, marking the one year anniversary of Awake at All Hours, since the Blog Came Back the day after last year's Super Bowl!]