Electability

Closing in on the '08 presidential primaries, I don't think there is a word in the English language that i currently hate more than electability. So often I hear people say, oh I like so and so a lot, but he just isn't electable. And i cringe. Not because I don't think electability matters, because it does. But it should never be your only criterion for picking a candidate for everything. because you know what? electable candidates are boring. They are your John Kerrys and your Phil Angelides's. They don't inspire people, or make people give up weeks of their life to get them elected, unsolicited. What the Democratic party needs is not some generic democrat spouting slightly left of center views, but someone who will ignite and inspire the base. The progressives who are sick and tired of being promised change, the college students who used to be optimistic but hate beltway politics, the abortion rights activists who can only ever be tepidly hopeful for the future of Roe v. Wade.

Who is that candidate? i don't know. for me, its Barack Obama. for my father, its Hilary Clinton. for my mom - well shes not sure yet. All i know, is that i believe this primary season should be about who inspires you. who makes you want to be a better person and a better citizen of the united states of america - not about who you think could beat a nameless republican. (i believe this should be the case on the republican side too) this race should be a race about passions, about leadership, and courage, and who we can trust, as a country, to make the right decisions at the right time. not who is best positioned to beat the other side. that will lead us right into a bitter partisan fight that i don't believe this country can withstand or deserves, to be frank. November 2008 is about change, plain and simple.