Stupendous Man

Finally. The Democratic primaries have come to an end. After months of relentless crapshots, Barak Obama has finally declared himself the nominee while Hillary Clinton did everything but concede defeat.

I am not really an expert on politics, nor take any real active interest in it, but for some reason I had hoped Hillary Clinton to clinch the nomination. Not because she is a woman, but something about her clicked with me. And something about Obama didn’t. I have listened to a few of his speeches, but his jargon about change change change gets to me. There is a sense of vagueness about him that doesn’t seem right. Sure, he’s a great orator and speaks well, almost reminding me of Martin Luther King, but there’s a small difference. Martin Luther King fought for the people, while Obama is fighting for presidency disguising it as a fight for the people in the name of change. And that bothers me.

Secondly, I am not sure given how conservative some states are and some swing states, whether he can sustain the momentum to carry his good charm forward. Sure, he has almost assured the minority vote for himself, but will that help him through the religious states is another story. Like it or hate it, one can’t deny Clinton’s dent in galvanizing masses, at least amongst less educated people and lower class working people. Which to me is pretty important - almost akin to the fight between educated mass that BJP tried to woo and the common uneducated people that Sonia got for herself by wooing them, and in the end proved to be the difference.

Which leads me to believe, Obama still needs Clinton around if he needs to succeed in his quest for presidency. An Obama-Clinton ticket is a dream ticket, FOR Obama. I still believe that the reverse situation would not have made a difference to electoral results. I.E, Clinton without Obama would still clinch this election on her own. I don’t know why I say this (heck I am not supporting this with any supporting facts), but gut feeling tells me that Clinton would have clinched this election even without Obama by her side.

But Obama without Clinton by her side surely looks like a challenging prospect. I still think democrats will win the election, but it will be interesting to watch how Obama plays it out further and whether his theme resonates till November. I for one am already bored by his change-change-change theme.

Not to mention, the other reason I preferred Clinton over Obama was the India factor. Both Bill and Hillary have had excellent relations with India, and with her around, it would have been a neat little relationship at the top. With Obama its a little quirky.

Anyways, that’s about it for my political ramble for a while. Oh well, 7 years down the line, I am ready for a change myself LOL - I’d like to see some democratic way of running the government.