today's thoughts on the candidates

Now that we've got two states' contests under our country's belt, and I've officially gone on record saying that I have not made up my mind yet, I figured I'd disclose where my head is at so far on this. This is a comment I left over at The Breaking Point.

the problem for me is that even though i understand that many folks can't help it, it seems that for other folks this is really way too much about the "female" thing and the "black" thing. honestly, i wanted obama to win last night [in NH, where he came in second to hillary], but with the hopes that hillary would remain a formidable candidate in the race so that i'd still have some time to check them both out - i want a real race, something that should show us what both are like when tested, and i didn't want obama to just walk away with this so he could have the chance to get lazy with it. i got half of what i wanted. two notes on this: i DON'T appreciate at all how the media has been calling him cocky since his iowa win, and i think that will unfairly taint folks' perception of him, especially since he is black, and to me that smacks of jim crow era "uppity" descriptions. also, i am glad obama won in iowa, otherwise hillary would be cakewalking this thing, which would keep folks from seriously considering obama, which was what she wanted going into this and i'm glad she didn't get it so easy.

i won't lie, i'm excited about a strong black candidate, much more than i am excited about a strong female candidate. but i'm not so nuts that i'm going to pick by choosing between those characteristics. unfortunately, looking at the policy points alone, their pros and cons come about even for me based on what i've found. it's going to come down to who i trust to do the job based on how they carry themselves during the race.

so far, hillary's not looking good to me with the almost-crying to get old lady votes and the claiming people double team her 'cause she's the girl (duh, it's because she was the frontrunner/biggest threat to the frontrunner, not 'cause she was a girl). i don't like that at all. (but i do think the media handled her crying thing differently than they would have if a man got quiet and had a catch in his voice). to balance this, my caveat about obama is concern for whether he can backup what he says - but then, i'm also concerned about whether hillary can do the same - for example, i think his health care plan is more doable than hers. but i wonder if her couple more years of senate experience will help her more in washington?

hey, i still need time. but please notice that i'm not thinking, do i want to go with my gender or my race? do i want to pick the more "electable" candidate? (i think they're both electable.) for me, it comes down to who i think can do the damn thing, and being both black and female, i know i can't judge competency or probability of success by either characteristic - it's too simple an analysis.