April 5, 2008
Bill Clinton Supporter Chooses Obama over Former First Lady
Dear friends,
First, I want to give my Clintonite credentials. Before I could vote, I pounded the pavement for Bill Clinton in his first presidential campaign. In 1996, I was part of the state party that won Arizona for a Democrat for the first time since Truman and shook the president’s hand on the campaign trail. Inspired by him, I served with AmeriCorps at an inner city school in Houston. I admire and respect Hillary Clinton, too, and even have an “I am a Villager and I support the First Lady” pin.

This year, the Democrats have presented some lofty goals to the people of America. They are advocating universal health care and a green economy. They want to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, renegotiate NAFTA, and move toward diplomatic foreign policy to position America in a multipolar world.

Over the course of this campaign, Senator Clinton has asserted that accomplishing these goals will require pushing back special interests and limiting “the influence of the wealthy and well-connected.” I agree with her completely. That is why I am supporting Barack Obama on April 22nd and beyond.

Hillary Clinton does not have a record of pushing back special interest or sponsoring government reform legislation. Her legislative record on ethics reform is virtually non-existent and her campaign is relying heavily on the wealthy and well-connected. Her reluctance to release important records shows that she is not committed to transparency.

Barack Obama presents a sharp contrast. As soon as he came to the US Senate, he began working on ethics reform. With Senator Feingold, he passed the toughest reform since Watergate. Senator Obama reached across the aisle and sponsored legislation with Senator Coburn that makes every dime of federal spending viewable to Americans online, increasing transparency in government.

His campaign is owned by more than one million Americans, and the average contribution is a modest $109.

In addition, I examined the senators’ records online at the Library of Congress website. I found that in his first year in the Senate, Obama sponsored and passed five pieces of legislation that addressed major policy issues (as well as more that was less substantive), including The Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act. I found that Obama is a significantly more prolific legislator than Senator McCain and that he is more effective than Senator Clinton at getting his bills passed by the senate. He might be less experienced in Washington, but he is equally capable at pulling the levers on Capitol Hill.

Add to this, Barack Obama is a strong leader, as his community organizing experience and presidential campaign demonstrate. He has the ability to influence and move people, and my reading of presidential biographies tells me that is vitally important in a president. You don’t have to take my word for it, though. You can see it in the words of arguably the greatest president in modern US history, Franklin Roosevelt:

“The presidency is not merely an administrative office. That's the least of it. It is more than an engineering job, efficient or inefficient. It is preeminently a place of moral leadership. All our great presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain historic ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.”

Right now, we have many historic ideas that need to be clarified: the idea that health care is not a privilege, the idea that we need to be a good steward of the earth, and the idea that we need to be a diplomatic member of the world community. We have a tough row to hoe in the coming years, and that’s why I believe we need the proven leadership of Barack Obama.

Thank You, Yvette Yescas, Pittsburgh, PA

 

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Editor's Note: The opinion above is the sole opinion of the reader. It in no way represents the views of the editor and SolancoNews.com. However, that said, we do strongly believe in the right to free speech.


 

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