Your favorite neocon voted for Hillary Clinton yesterday afternoon, after dabbing a bit of holy water behind my ears just for good measure. The polling place itself at the time was fairly deserted and while there were a few volunteers there, none seemed particularly helpful. The elderly woman in front of me had problems with her ballot and no one seemed comfortable giving her a direct answer as to what she needed to do with it.
Let me reiterate something that I’ve explained on Neocon News for the last few months: I voted for Hillary because I believe her to be the weaker of the two Democrat candidates in the General election. My primary reason for this belief, beyond Hillary’s long public and largely negative background, is the devotion and hype that has surrounded Barack Obama. Unlike some conservatives, I am not quick to write off Obama because he lacks experience. Charismatic leaders of faith-based movements do not require experience or real ability, all they require is a silver tongue and a foundation for their candidacy.
Barack Obama’s foundation seems to be based on his embracing the vague and undeliverable message of “change” that appeals to voters who have no interest in actually understanding the political system or the many intricacies involved with diving into the issues. These voters range from college students, who Obama has so far been able to turn out in primary numbers that would be disquieting for the GOP if they were to show up again in November, to affluent liberals who are eager to jump onto the next ‘new’ thing.
Obama is the compact fluorescent light bulb of the left, and he will keep his already-won voters captivated through glimmers and gimmicks, not policy. This should not be a surprise to anyone on the right who has dealt with liberal ideology before, but apparently it needs to be repeated. This fizzles the hope that some Republicans have about our middle-of-the-road McCain being able to pick off people from the Obama camp. In the minds of someone looking for that new candidate smell, they’re much more likely to favor a young, energetic and engaging speaker such as Barack over a stodgy old war vet like John.
The complete and total endorsement of policies like affirmative action by the left is another, albeit smaller, facet of the ‘new’ bandwagon appeal that Obama exudes. Before liberals trot out the old racist attack against anyone on the right who dares to mention that race might have a slightest bit of a factor in Obama’s campaign, they should be reminded of the many liberals who have either let it slip or openly expressed the role that race is playing in this race. I think these liberals vastly overstate the importance of race, but it isn’t an aspect that shouldn’t be purposefully unmentioned by either side.
That being said, having never taken part in a caucus before, I can safely say that the Texas Democrat Party Caucus system is incredibly stupid. The majority of people who turned out, and they turned out to the tune of over two hundred at my polling place, were middle aged to elderly. All these people were forced to stand in a line outside for over an hour before any of us were permitted into the building to start the caucus process. This was not due to backed up last minute voter lines; it was due to inexperience and a lack of understanding on the part of those in charge of the caucus procedures. This much was admitted by the precinct leader, or whatever lofty title the Democrats have for their one-night bosses.
There was a surprising lack of young voters at the caucus, something that gives me a small flicker of hope about the continued lack of zeal that young people have shown in past elections. I’m guessing that about five to ten percent of those who turned out were under thirty. This is just a rough estimate, but no young faces stuck out at me during the hours I spent in line.
Once we were let inside, lines were formed based on who you supported, but the space was so cramped that the lines often intermingled, so before the actual vote count was revealed two hours later, it wasn’t possible to see a clear winner. The number of volunteers didn’t seem to grow from the afternoon, decreasing if anything, and it was up to four to eight people to manage hundreds of caucus voters.
I encountered a few Republicans who were crossing over to vote (though I’m not sure who they were crossing over to vote for) but I didn’t expose myself as a Republican for fear of being beaten to death by anti-war pacifists. After waiting in line some more after that first hour, I signed the caucus sheet for Hillary and waited for another hour or so for the actual caucus proceedings to begin.
Everyone from our precinct was shuffled into a room and our Caucus head then started reading the official caucus script, but it was obvious that he hadn’t looked it over before, and he had to stop several times to figure out the meaning of what he had just said. He realized that he was supposed to have vote totals by now, which he didn’t, so we waited another fifteen minutes for his co-whatever to finish tallying the votes.
I am proud to report that Hillary carried the caucus with about 57% of the votes cast. Obama supporters immediately started grumbling and what had been a simple ‘let’s get this over with’ procedure turned into a question and answer session about the way the caucus had been conducted so far. This led to another ten or twenty minutes of delay before we were split into formal Obama and Clinton groups to decide on our delegates.
The final delay came when the leader didn’t understand the mathematical formula for dividing up the delegates or the formula that decides how many delegates the precinct had to divvy up. This gave the Obama supporters time to crystallize their complaints, but I honestly was so tired of hearing liberal chit-chat about Bush by that time that I didn’t pay much attention to the new complaining.
Three hours after I went in, and after a night of blissful conservative sleep, I can sum up the experience with a few final observations. No one understands the system in Texas, and it needs to be reformed for the Democrat’s sake. For the Republican’s sake, why not leave it alone? The people who did volunteer meant as well as you possibly could. There were not sufficient numbers of them, nor were they trained, but they did try their best to carry out the duties that they volunteered for. So personal kudos to them despite any criticism of the system or its implementation I might have. Hillary came out on top, and the majority of her supporters at my event seemed to be middle-aged and elderly women who had their husbands in tow to vote as well. Obama’s supporters were predominately African American. The few young voters I encountered were peppered on both sides of the caucus; there didn’t seem to be a clear youth favorite. I personally think the youth favorite was the couch at home. I hope it stays that way for November.
Lastly, I’m glad I went despite the huge delays. It’s always good to see what the other side is doing and thinking. Don’t bother with the hate mail about betraying our side as I wasn’t going to vote for Huckabee, and I didn’t have to cast a vote for McCain yet, so it was a win-win for me.
Other caucus opinion and wrap ups will follow as I find them.
NYT Big wins for Clinton in Texas and Ohio; McCain is it.
Hot Air Ed wonders what comes next for Hillary? Did race win it for Hillary?
JustOneMinute examines some Imus hypocrisy on McCain. Also primary reaction.
Instapundit Did Rush do him in? Or was it those dastardly Canadians? Also Glenn reminds he thought the Obamawave broke this weekend. More Instapundit on the comeback kid & a wrap up from James Joyner. Press pile-on!
Kathryn Jean Lopez wonders if you’re glad that Hillary dodged that stake. More winners and losers. Was it right?
Mudville Gazette congratulates Johnny.
Right Wing News has Hillary’s new theme song. Also some Kos kookiness.
Redstate welcomes the Dems to the rest of their painful primary.
Sierra Faith shouts ‘it’s alive!’
IMAO sees that evil can bring down ‘hope’
QandO wonders who really wins Texas. Also Obama can’t close the deal.
Jawa Report proposes a new drinking game. And encounters with Ron Paul truthers! *shudder*
Alarming News thinks we’ve made a mistake.
California Conservative notes that the kitchen sink strategy might have worked. Kitchen sinks are very heavy.
Atlas Shrugs reminds us what Obama has been selling.
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THANKS for an EXCELLENT article on your experience !