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I Am Going To Vote for Someone PDF Print E-mail
Written by Dave Howard   
ImageFor the first time in a long time I am voting for someone for President. Not that I don’t vote,  I haven’t missed a presidential election since 1988 when I cast my vote and volunteered for the Dukakis campaign. I did lose a lot of respect for him when he answered the Bernard Shaw rape question by smiling.

This has led to a long string of voting that I felt kind of half-assed about.

The first time around, I was kinda in to Clinton. I had been living in Europe for the summer and missed most of the campaign. By the time I got back, I was worried about getting a job, had just met a gal and was moving to Los Angeles, In both cases, this was a vote against Bush Sr., who’s lionization of Reagan just rubbed me the wrong way. All that dictatorial gay bashing, Rambo embracing, 1000 points of light, family values crap was just soooo pandering.

By the time Clinton rolled around for the second time, I was on the band wagon. He was doing fine, so I voted for Clinton. It was a no brainer. In 2000, I was a pretty happy guy and really didn’t see that much difference between Gore and Bush. For those of us who were there, Bush was running as a moderate and I really didn’t know that much about him. Neither of them made me feel especially proud.  I voted for Gore and endured the turmoil from a pizza joint on Geary. San Francisco is always fun during an election, the change all the “Bush” street signs to whoever is running against one of them.. That’s when the dot com bubble crashed laying off ten of thousands of people around the city. I remember sitting on my couch without a job and no job to look for in May, watching W. prepping for a month long vacation.

Kerry was definitely a Anti-Bush vote. Again, I was missing the inspiration, charisma and genuine love of people that Clinton had. I saw a PBS special the night before the election that pushed me towards Kerry a bit more but again it was a vote against. I thought that he just made too many 101 type mistakes. 

And now for only the second time in 20 years, I get to vote FOR someone. In 2000, had McCain run against Gore, I would have had a very tough decision to make.

ImageNot this time around. This year I get to vote FOR someone. My first intro, like most people, to Barack Obama was the “One America” speech. It’s still the best speech he has given. Remind yourself, check it out here. 

The next day at work, I just floated into work knowing that he was the kind of leader I was looking for. He was someone who I felt like common with. He seems like the guy who sets you straight when things aren’t so great. He shows you the other side of the coin. He was the guy I wanted to be campaigning for in 1988.

So tomorrow, I get to be a part of something. I get to vote FOR someone. Younger voters, hell, any voters don’t take it for granted. The chance to vote FOR someone only comes along every 10 to 20 years. 

When will this happen again? Who knows? I wonder what it will feel like.

For those who are voting FOR someone, ENJOY IT, CHERISH IT, TAKE PHOTO AND FRAME IT.

Who knows when this will happen again? 

 

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