Is This History

Saw Sen. Hillary Clinton speak Thursday night. 

She was great! First thing I noticed was how powerful she seemed, something I wasn't expecting. She addressed many subjects pertinent to the US today, she sited her ideas to change the problems, of which I felt were grounded, plausable ideas (like an organized way to pay back college loans by doing public service work in your field, called the public service corps). She was funny when she took jabs at the current administration and seemed to be confident and eloquent, not skipping a single beat. After her 45 minute speech I left with an amazing sense of confidence in her I didn't have before, and didn't think I would get. 

Yesterday, I went to see Sen. Obama.

Unfortunatly the venue filled up fast and I didn't get in(I was 2 hrs early!), so I went across the street to a bar, had some bloody marys, read the paper and watched it on TV.  In contrast this was already starting off better then the Clinton rally where I stood for about 3 hrs in a stuffy packed room after walking at least a mile in a 35 degree windstorm late at night. When Obama finally came on I was nicely nestled in a booth with one Mary down. He started off  with a good half hour of talking, not about things pertinent to the US today, but about how we need to change, how we aren't getting what we the people need from our government. Then the big insult, I cringed and wondered how many others did the same. Now, a big supporter of his campaign is the SEIU union of nurses, many of which were in attendance, he proceeded to say how undervalued their job is and they are the ones in there "cleaning the bed pans". He single handedly reduced nursing down to its most degrading task. What about "caring for people in a vulnerable time of need"? I think he lost a few votes on that one. Finally he started addressing actual issues, he addressed the same things as Sen. Clinton, but with little or nothing to say for ideas about changing policy. The times he did express a strategy he stumbled on his words and moved on to the next subject. After 45 min he was finished, I sat there in my booth stunned at how this could have happened. I felt so much less confident, not a feeling I thought would happen, I expected a great speaker with inspiring words, ideas, something. Surprisingly I got that in Sen. Clinton. It was unfair of me to see her first, everything in Obamas speech I compared to hers, which greatly paled in comparison. Even now I remain shocked.

 So today at 1pm I caucus. After (almost) seeing both in less then 24hrs I have my mind made up. I've not caucused before so I'm a little nervous but I'm excited to have the experience.