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Why I Voted For Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton
 BY Chukwudi  Nwokoye
Publshed: February 24, 2008

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and
I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show you my faith and my
works….” James 2 verses 17-18

Tuesday, the 12th day of February, 2008, was dubbed the Chesapeake or Potomac Primary Election
Day. It was the day that the State of Maryland, Commonwealth of Virginia and Washington, D.C.,
the nation’s capital voted to nominate a democrat for the general election. It was the day that
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) roundly defeated his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

On that day I voted for the latter against the former. Yes, I voted for Senator Hillary Clinton. I have
no doubt that the two candidates are very good candidates and that democrats have cause to be
proud of them. However, I am convinced that Ms Clinton is a better candidate to win the general
election come November.

The decision to vote for Ms Clinton was by no means an easy one. It was the case of my heart
fighting with my head. Definitely, my heart is with Obama while my head is with Hillary. It took me
a while to make up my mind hoping that I will get a cogent reason to vote for our ‘brother’ Obama.
I was hoping that he would move from his rhetoric to realism. I was hoping that he gets down to
specifics. I wanted to see the ‘beef’ but to no avail. But finally, my head won over my heart.

Finally, I decided that this nomination process as far as Obama is concerned is not much about the
bread and butter issue bordering ordinary people like me. For people supporting him, it is more about
style and oratory. It is more about rhetoric and personality, as contrasted from any serious issue.

This is the most trying period of US history. The country is at war with fundamental religious
fanatics and terrorists. President George W. Bush has basically destroyed this country due to his
incompetence and penchant for cronyism. There are mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices/gasoline
prices, huge budget deficit and monumental debt, environmental degradation, shredding the
constitution and Geneva Convention by a very callous administration of Bush. The country is
virtually under a dictator that trampled on all opposition using scare tactics, intimidation and labeling
all opposition to his policies as aiding terrorist or soft on national security. We have Quantanamo
mess, Abu Ghraib mess, water boarding mess; Firing of US attorney for political reasons, the lists
of incompetence of George Bush are monumental. United States that used to be the bastion of
democracy and rule of law has become a laughing stock to the international community.

So this is a time of grave challenges to this our adopted country. This country needs a person that
has a real experience about governance. Some have argued that Hillary Clinton was only the first
lady of Arkansas for 14 years and first lady of United States for 8 years and not actually a president
during the 1990s and should not claim any credit for the success of the time. At the same time,
critics were eager to lump her with the scandals and controversies of the 90s. We have to make up
our mind whether the successes and scandals of Bill Clinton are mutually exclusive and whether
Hillary contributed behind the scene to those successes.

At the time of Clinton presidency, people were buying housing in record numbers, now people are
losing them, we had budget surplus, now we have deficit, US national debt was being paid; now we
accumulate more. Apart from all that, United States equally saw relative peace, policies of that time
worked for America . However, the country wanted to experiment with George Bush.

At this period of American history, we cannot afford to take chances or experiment with idealism.
Senator Barack Obama, no doubt has ran a very competent and convincing campaign and have
energized and tantalized Americans they way that no other candidate had ever done so since JFK. I
am proud of what Obama has achieved in his short political career. I am happy that just like our kids
born of Africans in foreign lands; they can aspire to be president in the future. But that’s not what
the issue is. The main issue is who can demonstrate to us that in this time of uncertainties; he or she
has the competence or experience to know what to do.

Make no mistake about that, Obama is no JFK. John F. Kennedy was a World War II hero. He
became a war hero even before his more favored big brother, Joseph Kennedy, Jr. JFK was not
only a war hero, but he was also in the United States congress for 14 years. Obama is no JFK. Both
Obama and JFK can move people with their speeches and with their charisma, but JFK has both
style and substance.

After listening to Obama speak, one cannot but be moved by his oratorical skills and his inspirational
touch. To some, his speech has therapeutic effects. Even some people believe that he is the modern
Messiah! In one of his speeches, he said:

“We are the hope of the future…we can remake this world as it should be…a hymn that will heal
this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest”

He has his way with words that tend to uplift people. There is nothing wrong with that, we want
that in our president. But again, speeches and hope for the future without any concrete plans for
governance has left people like me wondering. It has left a lingering doubt as to what Obama’s
presidency will entail. It would amount to voting for him and them hoping that he would be what we
hope that he would be. It would amount to “let’s vote for him now and find out later”. That’s not
how to choose a president.

I was overjoyed that finally a black man has a chance to be president, but this is not about filling the
black quota. It is about making sure that after he wins that all of us blacks will beat our chests and
say, “he is one of us, see what blacks can do”. I don’t want him to end up like Clarence Thomas,
the only black Supreme Court Justice. We cannot just vote for him for no other reason than that he
is a black man and we owe it to ourselves to vote for him. Or that we are voting for him just to
make history. Obama could still win the nomination and could still win the presidency and go ahead
to make an outstanding president, but I find it difficult to see how he can do it with no specifics.

I have been waiting to get concrete details as to how Obama would solve kitchen table issues
affecting common people, but I cannot lay my hands on any. Some of my enthusiastic and over-
zealous Nigerians supporting Obama were sad that I did not join the bandwagon of what is known
as “Obamagerians”. But I told them that I have to know what I can predict from his Presidency. All
the people asking me to join them has not been able to answer a single question about what Obama
will do to end the war in Iraq, and all the problems enumerated above. They were left speechless
whenever I ask them to convince me of what Obama’s record is that make them think that he is
qualified to be president. I was met with blank stare when a question of what his records are. I will
only get “well, if you go to his website you will find out”

After all the oratory and inspirational speeches, if I still find it difficult to pay my mortgage or to be
able to provide quality health care, education, jobs etc, then am afraid, there is nothing to hope for. I
am full of hope that tomorrow would be better than today. But hope can only be built on solid
foundation to make it hopeful. We cannot be blinded by oratory and charisma. We cannot be
satisfied by empty rhetoric short of specifics. As
James Wolcott, “Idealistic zeal divorced from any particular policy or cause is a chariot driven by
pure euphoria”

According Charles Krauthammer in his op-ed in the Washington Post on February 14, 2008 ,
“Obama has astonishingly empty paper trail. He is going around issuing promissory notes on the
future that he can’t possibly redeem. Promises to fund his list of promises by rapid withdrawal from
the unpopular war…..”

My question is what happens after the camera is gone, in the moment of truth, can he deliver? This
is not a game or who can deliver a powerful speech or who is the most glamorous. This is about the
life of millions of people including the rest of the world. What happens when he has exhausted his
oratory? What happens when people get tired of his powerful lines or when his lines become
repetitious and monotonous to the ear, what else can we hang on to? I have noticed that his speech
has become a repetition of previous speeches. That will spell disaster when push comes to shove.
He was accused of borrowing lines from Governor Devall Patrick, the first black governor of the
state of Massachussetts. His speech is beginning to get monotonous as was also observed by E. J.
Dionne, a political analyst, when he said:

“Obama is inspirational, but in a particular way: his message has been constant since his November
10 speech at Iowa Democratic Dinner. He is less specific about policies than he is in describing the
frustrations voters feel-with Bush, with Washington , with divisiveness, with partisanship. His
consistent promise is not to pass a detailed program but to change the mood and style of politics….”

That to me is the sign that he is running out of his oratory in February when the general election is
in November. If he wins the nomination against Hillary and go to face the republican attack machine
of Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly and the rest of the Fox News attack dogs;
what happens when the republicans start to poke hole at his record or lack of it? They have already
started collecting a dossier on Obama. The other time, Ann Coulter referred to him as B. Hussien
Obama, trying to remind people that “Hussein” is a Moslem name and that in this time of American
history, it is an abomination to have a Moslem as a president. They stress that name “Hussein”
reminding people of the brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein. They have started to link his last name,
Obama, with “Osama Bin Laden” which equals terrorism. Some intentionally mispronounce his
name, pretending to mistake him for “Osama”.

All these are not by accident. It is well-designed by the conservatives to discredit him and tier him
apart methodically. Remember what happened to John Kerry, Al Gore, John Mccain, Mark Cleland
etc. Dirty politics still works! The conservations know that they cannot try that with Hillary Clinton.
That is why you hear people call themselves “Obama republican”. They want to vote for Obama to
win the nomination and they return to their true colors. The Hillary Clinton is not afraid of the
republicans, she have beaten them before. They know that she is a tough customer.

What happened in 2000 between Al Gore and George Bush is about to repeat itself in Hillary Vs
Obama. During the 2000 Election, even though former Vice-President Al Gore was a better
candidate, people said that then Governor Bush is more warm and fuzzy and is someone you can
chill out and have a bottle of beer or cup of coffee with. People said that Al Gore was stiff and
always serious and wanted a president that they have a personal connection with. They took for
granted the peace and prosperity of Clinton/Gore presidency. They thought that it was an accident
of history that 1990s has lots of economic milestone for America . Now we have seen what Bush
has to offer.

This nomination fight between Obama and Hilary is a fight between the two factions in the
Democratic Party: idealism as represented by the Kennedys and realism represented by the Clintons .
I am of the school of thought that realism gets things done. No democrat can successfully rule this
country from the far left. Senator Barack Obama is ranked number one liberal, even before Senator
Ted Kennedy or even Senator John F. Kerry. Hilary Clinton is number 22. No democrat can be
successful from the far left and no republican can be successful from the far right. The republicans
have already started using the “L” word (liberal). We need a blue-dog democrat, (a moderate
democrat). Former President Clinton succeeded because he was moderate.

Obama is phenomenal, but if he continues to dodge giving out specific, his stock will go down as
fast as it rose. If he defeats Hilary Clinton, he would not go far without facing the scrutiny of the
press. Obama is getting a free press before but now he is the front-runner, let him not think that the
honeymoon will continue. The republicans don’t play by the rules; they would go after him in a way
that no one has gone after him before. They will use all kinds of racist code words as they used
against Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee . Now, that Obama is the front-runner, the target is at his back!

On the 5th day of February, 2008, about a week prior to the Potomac Primary Election Day of
which Obama swept Hillary, as I was playing with my wife and two little daughters, Chiamaka and
Chioma; I asked them: “girls who are you going to vote for, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton”?
Chiamaka is 5 years old and her little sister, Chioma, is 3 years old. Chiamaka, the older daughter
said “Barack Obama”! I said “great”. Then turning to the younger one, Chioma, I said: “And how
about you, Chomy, who are you going to vote for? She said, “Bayak Ubama”. Finally, I asked my
wife, “Honey, who are you rooting for”? She said, “Hilary is my girl, how about you?” I said, “I am
also for Hilary” Then I told the girls: “You see, the game is tied, 50-50. But guess what girls? Both
of you cannot vote! So Team Hilary has won” My elder daughter said, “You are so funny, daddy,
but Obama will win, my teacher said so”

After the interchange with my girls, as I looked into their innocent eyes, I began to wonder what the
future holds for them in this our adopted country. Obviously, they have caught the Obama fever. As
I was pondering all evening, what this country holds for them, I read what Rudolph Ogoo Okonkwo
said in an article on that same day, the 5th day of February, 2008 in Nigeria Village Square titled:
“Why Obama Is My Man”. In that article he said:

“If America takes care of Obama, I can then relax knowing that America will take care of Ijeamaka
and Ogonna.” I agree with Mr. Okonkwo and share his views on why Obama is his man. However,
I agree with him for a different reason. I want an America where my little girls would not only be
able to dream dreams and make them realities, I also want America where my girls will see no more
barriers or glass ceilings. I want America where people will judge them, by the content of their
character; and not by the color of their skins or by their gender. I want my little girls to aspire to the
greatest heights and not be hindered by the fact that they are females. I want them to believe that
with hard work, perseverance and faith in their God, there is nothing on earth that is not achievable
irrespective of where their parents come from or what their names sound like.

I will always train my girls to study hard; I will continue to push them to explore their God-given
potentials and to believe that they can do anything they set their sights on. I want people to first of
all look at my girls as individuals. I want people to look at their competence and not at their gender,
or their names or their color.

I want my kids to know that the fact that they are girls should not discourage them from aspiring to
reach for greater heights and compete with their male counter-parts in any field of human endeavors
including the highest office of the land, here in America!

I dream of days when America will open its eyes to the fact that women are not inferior to men as
regards the highest office in the land. American prides itself and the bastion of democracy and rule
of law but cannot even think of a competent woman occupying the oval office. They shudder at the
thought of a woman calling the shot. Some, even females fear that she would be able to pilot the
affairs of the country especially in a time of war. It makes me wonder why many countries have
been able to produce female presidents that had really touched on the life of their people in a positive
way. Great Britain, Germany, India, Pakistan, and even Liberia have produced a female
presidents/prime ministers.

This election should not be about race or about gender. It should be about competence and about
who is more qualified. I voted for Hillary Clinton, not because she is the prettiest woman on earth or
because she has the best smiles on earth, but because in my view, she is better qualified to turn the
Bush economy around, because she would be able to end the war in Iraq, because she has a better
plan for global warming, on education, on health care, on national security and or immigration.

I am hoping that Hillary Clinton would still pull it out regardless of the fact that she is currently
struggling and seems like the game is over. But people have under-estimated her in the past to their
peril. Ask the republicans.

*Chukwudi Nwokoye, an attorney, is a former United States Marine and a disabled veteran. He
wrote from Upper Malboro, Maryland.