A Different Kind of Obama Voter

Many of you know that I've boycotted the Democratic and Republican parties because I feel that there should be more than two parties in this country, and that the repressive nature of the current two-party system leads to uninspiring (at best) or whore-to-party (at worst) candidates. This has led to a series of elections only interesting for their closeness; the candidates themselves have always seemed so unimportant or ultimately indistinguishable.
In the last NY gubernatorial election, I voted for a member of The Rent Is Too Damn High Party. I did this without fear of consequence.(1) In 2006 I spread my various votes around the spectrum of Third Parties: one for the Socialists, one for the Greens, one for the Libertarians, one for the Constitutionists. It felt good to make a choice for something other than the status quo. It felt good to support other voices, even if the candidates themselves were not truly qualified for the task with which my vote would charge. Unfortunately, none of the third parties ever had any chance to win and so my votes were merely symbolic, and therefore not as irresponsible as they might otherwise be.
So now I found myself today with what seemed like a more serious choice for president, though not really serious for the normal reasons. Last night, I was doing my final familiarizations with the third party candidates appearing on the ballot(2): Roger Calero (Socialist Worker's), Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation), Cynthia McKinney (Green), Bob Barr (Libertarian), and Ralph Nader (Independent).
At this time, I found myself eliminating candidates(3) and was left with only Nader as a realistic choice. Now, it's not like I have anything against Nader, but I had to stop and consider what I was debating in my head: Nader over Obama. What was I doing? On the one hand we have an actual independent with a strong record, and on the other we have a Democrat, and a pretty classic one at that. But while Obama is still in my mind "just a Democrat," he's also something more than that. He's something we haven't seen in presidential elections in many years. He's someone that people really truly connect to and respond to, not just a product of partisan hype and enthusiasm, or so it seems to me. I am truly interested and excited to see what he might do as President, how he might lead. He seems to transcend the simple politics of at least the last 40+ years, and for that reason alone it's exciting to see how the country will react to him.
I've got nothing really against John McCain. He's a largely inoffensive candidate. Reminds me a lot of John Kerry actually, and GWBush in 2000, and any number of candidates before him. He's someone I'd never vote for. In a race with two of him, I'd surely have gone with Nader. But there aren't two of him. There's a guy who seems just different enough to me, so my vote this morning went outside of my tendencies and to him.(4) Godspeed sir.


1. No, Eliot Spitzer resigning in the wake of a sex scandal does not count as a consequence. Not even close.
2. I've never seriously considered casting a write-in vote, for a couple of reasons. First, I've never felt so strongly about a person to so definitively cast a vote "for" that person. Second, my votes have been more about dissenting from the current system than specifically identifying with a marginal sector of it.
3. Calero--not even born in the US. Come on, people.
La Riva--interestng, but not my cup of tea.
McKinney--kindof a joke, almost certainly in it only for the exposure. In other words, no better than Ds or Rs.
Barr--I don't mind Libertarians but this is not the right guy. He led the impeachment effort of Clinton. No, that wasn't at all partisan. Also, it was because he banged someone and lied. I'm what you'd call a cultural liberal, like a crazy-far-left kind, so indignation at Clinton's action is confusing to me.
The guy who I might have considered had he been on the ballot was Ron Paul but even there we miss on several of the issues. Of course he's also just a Republican, but I respect the defiantly outsider stance.
4. Just for the record, I didn't officially vote for a Democrat. In New York state, third parties are allowed to nominate candidates from the two major parties and still get their party's name on the ballot. This year, McCain was nominated by the Conservative and Independence Parties, as well as the Republicans. Obama was nominated by the Working Families Party in addition to the Democrats. I checked Obama's name in the Working Familes column. So there.