(no subject)

[phamos]

ok, i've been waffling. but i was just watching c-span and i've decided to vote for wes clark. i know by the time it comes to new york it probably won't matter anymore, and i will happily support whoever ends up being the candidate in the general election. but i love clark because he's just so unjaded. the unpolitician-ness about him really speaks to me. when he's confronted with real people with real problems, you can tell he is honestly touched by what each and every one of them have been through, and he's not just parroting slick emotion to win votes. he was at this forum in south carolina, and this native american woman held up a picture of her grandson and said, basically, "my grandson was diagnosed as bipolar 2 years ago. he could not afford his medication and died this past january." and she started crying, and you could just see wes clark's heart break. he talked about health care reform for a little while,a nd i liked what i was hearing. he seems to strike a good balance between public and private coverage, and i can see i agree with him on the negative role of pharmaceutical companies in this debate. i wish he'd talked about mental health parity, but i think he lost that train of thought because he wasn't actually answering a question from the grandmother but from the woman who was there with her. and then he took a few more questions, all of which i agreed with (no more tax incentives for companies that outsource jobs, raising minimum wage). and then when his segment was over, he went back over to the grandmother, clasped his hands and said, quietly, "i'm so sorry about your grandson. i'm so sorry for what you've been through. i promise we'll fix it." then, john edwards came out and you could hear him say "hey, wes, how're ya doin!" in this really cheerful voice and they hugged and everything. i think it's good to see that the two people i like best as people in this race get along so well. (i'm not an edwards supporter, because he's more conservative than i am and i also think he's a lot of talk, but he seems like a nice guy and how can i not love someone who officially announces their candidacy on the daily show?)

so, wes clark isn't going to win. and he seems to promise a whole lot and i'm not sure how the budget will stand all his proposals. but i like where he's coming from and i like how genuine he is. it would be fantastic if kerry chose him as a running mate. i think he'd make a wonderful southern counterpart to the ticket. a kerry-clark ticket is one i think i could get very excited about. kerry's got the government experience, they've both got military experience, clark will help get the south, they're both terribly intelligent and i like what i hear them saying. i just personally like clark a WHOLE lot. i think he's super-duper.