...which accounted for over half Bernie’s margin in our precinct! But our precinct still went 2-2 in its delegates.
Before my long tale, a bad word or two to the state Dem party and its insistence on caucuses. Why do we have to be perhaps the only state, where yesterday I’m treated to hearing on the local NPR station, the state GOP chair saying caucuses are voter suppression, and invoking single moms(!) — and I agree with her!!! — then hear the Dem party chair trying to sell BS about “conducting party business” yada yada.
Yes. It is voter suppression. We were close to losing a couple of our votes. Our 19-year-old cancelled at the last moment, a driving test scheduled for 10:30; he was ridiculously optimistic about how long this caucus thingie would take. I and our 17-year-old son, who’s eligible to caucus because he’ll be 18 in October, had to leave mid-caucus to make it to his climbing competition at the last moment. Well at least our votes counted, we think.
So many people we spoke with, had issues with making it to the caucuses, issues not covered under the very narrow exemption clauses granted by the party. So they weren’t there. It is reported that a relatively large number of people still claimed to qualify for the exemption, and sent in the equivalent of an absentee ballot. You had to do it 8 days in advance. I think if the local Dem party doesn’t grow up, that’s what we’ll do next time.
Oh, and what’s the story with total strangers seeing your full name, full address, date of birth, email, phone number — on the same page together with whom you vote for in the primaries?!?!? Really, WTF? Anyone who supports this shit, I don’t want to ever again hear you complain about the NSA snooping into your privacy online.
And the speeches and “convincing” part… yet another chance for the loud-mouthed to intimidate the timid via peer pressure. There’s a reason why over the centuries, democracies have learned that the best type of vote should be private, individual, and protected from in-your-face solicitation. Oh well.
That said... of course it was a festive atmosphere this morning at Olympic View Elementary in Northeast Seattle. Especially festive as it was sunny and not cold. We also learned that the State Attorney General lives right in our neighborhood! Now I know where to go if I’m in trouble :)
About our family’s choices, below.
My wife and I were both undecided until the bitter end. I know I’ve had spats on this site mostly with Bernie supporters, many of whom have erroneously (or downright disrespectfully) concluded that I support Hillary. Not. I’ve never been an outright Hillary supporter. I just have very little patience for reality-denying shit, and even less patience for hate-driven distortion and for circular firing squads. I called those out when I saw them, and on this site they’ve been coming overwhelmingly from the Bernie camp against Hillary.
But as to my own vote, I’ve ben torn. My basic quandary has been: my views, like most Kossacks AFAIK, are far closer to Bernie’s on most issues. But I objectively think Hillary will make a better President overall.
I’m disappointed we didn’t have more than these two as viable choices. I’m concerned about Hillary’s foreign policy hawkishess and strong Establishment allegiances. But I don’t fault her for everything her husband did. I’ve seen how she’s singled out for actions and votes which other Dem politicians were not crucified over. And the eye-popping, moving diary about misogyny by Leo Sagittarius a few days ago gave me serious pause. This depth of depravity, at the heart of American academia in 2004! I will probably never really understand the amount of hoops and minefields a woman has to go through, en route to being the first woman at anything. And even after that.
I applaud Sanders’ contribution to this race. He’s an amazing campaigner, and has helped instill some fear of God, a.k.a., the progressive base, in Hillary. Perhaps allowed her to be closer in her positions to her past self. But I fear that his age and his lack of experience for this particular job, are a handicap.
Anyway… last night I made my decision. As I wrote here before, for me Israel-Palestine is a deal-breaker of sorts. Besides having strong personal connections, it is the one issue still stuck at the back of the American political bus. Bernie has made a relatively brave stand, openly acknowledging Palestinian suffering and their rights. To be realistic, his opinions are not far removed from Obama’s, and we’ve seen how much Obama managed to achieve on this front (almost nothing). But Hillary’s inability to even acknowledge Palestinians’ basic humanity in clear terms, neither on her official platform nor in her AIPAC speech (which was not much different, there were no surprises or disappointments for me there) — this stings. She *can* and *should* afford to be more fair, honest and realistic on this issue.
To be fair to her, she’s the only Secretary of State this generation, to fly to Israel in the middle of a war and get its leaders to stop a war right away. Powell, Rice, Kerry, all had similar attempts, and came back empty-handed and often with eggs on their face, meaning hundreds and even thousands of additional deaths. Clinton did her job: the one war on her watch ended after 7 days. I think Clinton, generally, knows how to do her job and separate rhetoric from policy. Much like Obama.
But for me, especially now that Sanders’ realistic chance of a full comeback is in the single-digit territory, this was a chance to contribute to what is likely to be his biggest net single-state delegate haul of the entire race, and to make sure that the issues and values he represents have a very strong presence at the Convention.
Quickly about the rest of the family. Our 17-year-old is the classic Bernie fan, glued to the latest online campaign news. He waited 4 hours in the rain last weekend to see Bernie at Key Arena. The issue wasn’t, btw, lack of arena capacity, but slow security inspections by the Secret Service. He made it into the arena some 20-30 minutes to the end, which was good enough for him.
Our 19-year-old who loves to poke fun at his 17-year-old BernieBro, actually turns out to be even farther left. He organizes for Palestinian rights on campus, and goes to some socialist organization meetings. For them, Bernie is barely passable. Many of them are third-party folks at heart. But don’t worry, we’ll make sure he votes Hillary in the general election (as long as Hillary doesn’t spoil her end of the bargain too badly till November). Seriously, my wife was ready to smack him upside the head when he expressed doubts about voting in the General, and she’s almost a foot shorter than him. Not on our watch, it won’t happen.
Lastly, to my wife…. who ended up the most undecided of undecideds. She actually turned in a Hillary caucus form this morning. Then after those impassioned 3-minute speeches, as the secretary asks “anyone changes their minds, I’m going to ask 3 times...”, after the second ask my wife pipes up and decides to re-caucus for Bernie. After her a few more people woke up of their stupor, and either committed (being uncommitted initially) or changed votes. The initial tally was 33-28 Sanders with 6 uncommitted/blank, the final one so I heard, 35-28. Since we had 4 delegates allotted, it was still 2-2 either way. But before the final tally, my 17-year-old and I had to scramble home, to drive him to his climbing competition. We arrived at the last moment, and this is where I’m sitting and writing this story.
Good luck to everyone, mostly good luck to Democratic candidates everywhere come November. And may the people of Washington find a way to kick some sense into the brains of our state Dem party organizers, so that they kick their caucus habit for good.