Kristyne McDaniel Opinion Blog

I’m grateful for the election last week on November 4th. I hope that the Universally Available health care America has been talking about but not providing since the days Richard Nixon waved a card he said was to be the national health care system, which was to be based on the achievements begun with Social Security and Medicare.

We may not all know this, but Harry Truman spoke of universal health care for all Americans more than 50 years ago.

It is well past time that we Americans valued each other enough to commit to having each and every one of us pay into a system that guarantees everyone is covered — no matter what.

An article about a family who was forced to sell their home and leave the country in order to get health care is at the www.GuaranteedHealthCare.com. Click here for a link to the article.

The Obama acceptance speech was arguably the best speech I’ve ever heard - political or otherwise. He came off as strong, resolute, decisive, forward-looking, and pragmatic. As a Hillary supporter, I was pleased that my second choice selection for president was doing so well. It is becoming easier to support him for president as time goes by and events unfold. Read the text of Obama’s acceptance speech on MSNBC.com.

Memorable portions of Obama’s speech which I enjoyed most were:

Senator Barack Obama

• “America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.
• “We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.
• “Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. … But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. … I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.
• “Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans. … It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.
• “We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.
• “That’s the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.
• “I’ll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars.
• “We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country.
• “I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. … I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease.
• “I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. … if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters.
• “America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future.”

I was so pleased with Obama’s speech that I listened to it once on the radio in the car coming home from an outing, watched it on our DVR once I got home, and then looked up and read the transcript on MSNBC.com. And then, of course, here I am blogging about it. I am proud of him, and pleased with the promise of positive changes that he represents.

As I had said earlier, one of the things that I disliked about Obama’s primary win over Hillary is that it reminded me once again of being a woman overlooked in favor of younger, less experienced men. Joe Biden’s selection for the Vice Presidency in the Obama campaign is a great olive branch for people like me. Yes, Joe is not a woman. That is a strike against him in a small way. But the bigger pluses in knowing that the Obama folks do indeed respect age and wisdom and experience work very well on me.

Joe Biden

I had already made my decision to support Obama. But I didn’t send my first donation until today. The donation was very small, but it was in fact a donation from a brand new contributor so it does count as being a bit special. Many Hillary supporters have not yet donated any money at all to Obama.

I do like McCain’s experience. I don’t like where that experience has been taking him. It seems like all those years in the Navy have him blustering too much. I think he could be very harmful to our nation because making the wrong decision is the wrong decision whether you are experienced or not.

Biden wasn’t picked to make the Republicans quake in their boots.

I think he is an excellent choice to assist Obama with the connections and experience to cause the changes Obama talks about to actually happen.

I was worried about Obama’s lack of deep connections. But now Biden can play an LBJ role and get stuff through congress in the same way LBJ did it for Kennedy.

Biden is a great choice for being able to actually govern.

The Amtrak is a great connection between ordinary folks and Biden. I have been on a train commuting home from work so I could be with my spouse just like Biden. I am pleased that it was important enough to him to be home with his family that he did not create a residence in Washington. I looked up trains from Washington, CD to Wilmington, DE and discovered that Joe Biden has been commuting between the WIL station in Delaware and the WAS station in Washington’s union station — a commute requiring 3 hours on the train each day round trip. He also had to get to the train station on each side of the trip twice a day. Apparently, his children also felt the tremendous impact that the train ride had on them each day as well. One of Biden’s sons is an executive for Amtrak in Delaware!

Trains are a great way to commute. You get on the train and you have an uninterrupted portion of time that you can use for reading, making calls, and making notes. It creates some of the most productive time a person can have a reality, and saves fuel at the same time.

Even with the bonus of the commuting time being freed up by not having to drive, most people would probably at least rent an apartment in Washington so they wouldn’t have to spend so much time commuting. I know first hand, though, that being gone all week and only seeing your spouse and children on weekends is an unhappy way to live. I’m pleased to see Joe Biden shares my values, and keeps his family ties close. He illustrates with that one action that he realizes his responsibility to his family is important even though he must be in Washington so much.

What a good message to convey to the families all over America — that putting family first still matters.

I’ve been nervous about the idea of electing a president that does not have a lot of experience. At this point, though, having done more homework, I’ve decided that I do believe the experience issue is not going to be the deal-breaker I thought it was.

Sen. Barack Obama

Obama’s history is showing him to be a determined individual that does his homework so he can come up to speed on issues that are likely to impact us. I like knowing that he realized at one point that he was frittering away his life, that he lived an austere life at Columbia so that he could finally get a decent education, and that his early employers saw a young man that applied himself.

I’m so sick of good time party boys running the government that I can’t even describe my level of disgust.

As a 51 year old woman that is bothered by having her experience discounted in favor of youthful dreamers, I can see that I was wrong about Obama the Dreamer. Yes, he is inexperienced and is promoting ‘change’ without a lot of details. However, I do like the details I’ve seen so far. Now that I have confidence in his ability to hit the ground running I’m ready to sign on to the Obama ticket.

So what about the other guy? Well, McCain has not been impressing me lately. I had thought that because of his deeper resume that he might be a better pick even though I don’t like a lot of his politics. However, I believe now that I cannot overlook his politics. He does not appear to have the carefully cultivated superior judgment I am looking for in a president. He appears to be relying more on a shoot from the hip approach and gut feelings rather than on good research. We have lived through nearly 8 years of a president that “decides” without researching, and prior to that we lived through 8 years of a president that did in fact research issues.

I think we did a lot better with Clinton and his wonkish personality that is prone to well-researched decision making than we have done under the non-wonkish folks that rely on machismo and ‘gut’ decision making.

I’m ready to put my trust in a young man of promise over an old man of experience, and I’m surprised at myself for coming to that conclusion.

Honestly, I am still not convinced about whether Barack Obama is the right choice for me. I’ve been an avid Hillary supporter since she appeared on the scene with Bill Clinton nearly 20 years ago. She was a good fit for me in many ways. On the one hand she married Bill while she was still young, and on the other hand she never entirely took a back seat in the marriage. For many years, she facilitated Bill’s dream of being the Governor of Arkansas by earning the majority of the family’s money.

I could relate to the way that Hillary supported Bill financially while Bill took the center stage in politics. That felt to me like an excellent partnership-style marriage. Nobody was subservient, and each was supportive of the other. That, to me is the way that marriages were meant to be.

There are actually some of the same things going on with the Obama’s that I liked so much about the Clintons. Both Obamas are very intelligent, with superior educations. I would have like to see more experience under Barack’s belt before running for president. However, even though his experience level is not what I’d like to see, his intellect is right up there with the best of our former presidents. He does not simply pop off with one or two word snappy answers, and instead is a thoughtful decider. Few events happen in the world without at least a few hours of warning, so there are seldom any occasions where a snap judgement is required from our leaders. Barack is well equipped to provide thoughtful responses to the problems our next president will face.

At this moment, I still can’t say whether it is certain that I will vote for Obama. I do think I am leaning in that direction, however. I’ll keep watching both of the major candidates before making a final decision.