In 2008 I supported John Edwards....And then Obama. ...What was I thinking?

[Tom Rinaldo]

15. Sometimes I think it is good to reflect on our political journeys

One thing thing that stands out for me is that we all need to chill just a little bit during our primary wars on places like DU. During the heat of them almost anyone who fails to support whoever we each think is the only Democrat who it makes any sense to support gets blasted as if s/he were a traitor to human decency. A year or two later most of us can see some of the advantages that others saw in different Democratic candidates, and the warts in the one we were backing.

That said I always thought that Hillary was the best bet of the Corporate Democrats, and yes I put her in that camp, and yes that camp includes my adversaries far too much of the time. I always preferred Hillary to Bill, and no they are not clones of a single human being. I think she is a corporate Dem less out of wealthy class allegiances than out of her own pragmatic beliefs about what can and can not be accomplished regarding social change in this nation given our political system and the positions that key sectors occupy within it. We, she and I, disagree on that frequently, but I believe she is a born fighter who never underestimates the resolve of her Republican opposition to attempt to thwart her agenda by any and all means possible. Bill has an overdose of "crowd pleaser" genes in him that makes him naturally triangulate whether or not it tactically is necessary. With Hillary I believe she does so more for strategic reasons, though again, I often disagree with her strategy.

Romney made it easy to be enthusiastic for Obama in a binary contest. Obama stands for the right things mostly, just not firmly enough, but ultimately that risks the whole ball game.