Dear Hillary,
It’s over between us. I’m with Barack now.
Let’s face it, we knew this day was inevitable. I love you, I really do. I think you’d make a fantastic president, and I appreciate everything you and Bill have done for both the disability community and for all middle-class and working-class Americans. But Barack is special. And I don’t mean special in that icky way, as in special bus, special ed, or very special needs. I mean he shines.
It’s not just that he promises a reformed health care system, since you do, too. Or that he backs legislation that’s important to me, like the Community Choice Act, since you supported it from practically day one. It’s not even his stand on the war since you both promise to pull us out of Bush’s folly (although I suspect no one can unshatter that situation). And it’s not about my wish to see balanced justices on federal courts and the Supreme Court who will stop dismantling civil rights laws such as the ADA, since you both will do well in that area — although I like Barack’s experience in constitutional law very, very much. It’s beyond immigration reform, since both of you will do something to bring some justice to people lured across the border by false promises and pipe dreams.
What it comes down to for me more than anything else is I trust the guy. Maybe it’s because we both were community organizers in our 20s, and I know the great love for humanity it takes to be with people at the hardest points in their lives and help them to imagine a better way of living. That kind of faith stays with you, and informs everything you do.
Speaking of organizing, I’m no stranger to his campaign office here in Lancaster, Pa., and I have to tell you it’s the most tightly-organized campaign I’ve ever seen, and I’ve done grunt-work on political campaigns since I’ve been old enough to vote. I trust a guy who can build such a group from the ground up — the polls all say he can’t even win in this state, and yet he brought his A-game to town. And you … well. Look, it’s nothing personal. But you shed campaign advisors quicker and less gracefully than a cat sheds its winter coat in April. What’s up with that?
And then there’s the Bill factor. Yes, your husband did a wonderful job. But I’m not looking forward to being privy to anymore of his escapades. He made a laughingstock of all of us who believed in him — and of you, too, Hillary. I’d love a woman president, and yet … I don’t know if I’m up for all that drama again.
Now, now, don’t cry. And hey, let’s be honest, if our party’s elite decides to toss out our votes and appoint you as our candidate, I’ll be very angry and hurt. But I’ll get over it by November. I promise.
Sincerely,
Josie
