A voter's quest to find a candidate

Following Barack Obama’s successful win in Iowa and Hillary Clinton’s teary-eyed talk and unexpected win in New Hampshire, it seems the media – and myself – can’t get enough of the current race to the White House.

Personally, the two candidates my opinions coincide with most are Obama and Clinton (actually, I took an online test and found I was most similar in mindset to Chris Dodd, but seeing as how he is out of the race.). As the California primary creeps closer, I am in a struggle to decide who should get my vote.

Though I have been poring over CNN’s glitzy political tracker online, reading handfuls of opinion pieces and even going so far as to call the candidates themselves (no volunteer on the other end of the phone could answer my questions on environmental policy), I have been unable to make a decision on who I will vote for Feb. 5.

From what I have read and understood, my two leading candidates are fairly close in their stances on the issues. They mirror opinions on energy and the environment, the war in Iraq, gay marriage, abortions, etc. The only major topics in which I have seen a clear difference are healthcare and the economy.

In my inability to choose solely on the issues, I have reverted to another method: choosing my candidate based on his or her basic characteristics. Obama is black. Clinton is a woman.

Although we all want to believe that we see the candidates as just candidates, it is very difficult to not recognize that Clinton is, in fact, a woman and Obama is black. Even if we wanted to, eliminating those factors in the decision process is a complicated feat.

Many American women, including myself, are drawn to the possibility of the first woman president. The appointment would be monumental. According to Time Magazine, the United States currently ranks 22nd on a list of countries with gender equality. Twenty-second! Clinton is smart, has the experience and is prepared. Her presidency would make strides in a fight that, though difficult to trace, is still present and hiding in the shadows.

In America, there is some unspoken rule arguing that just because a woman has polished nails, she shouldn’t be shaking hands with the prime minister of Israel.

Likewise, it would be equally as significant for a black man to take the seat of president. Obama, though less experienced, has the amicable qualities and smarts to make a change for the United States. I am sure that as president, he too could do many of the things he has promised and indirectly break down barriers that still exist today.

But thinking this way seems illegal, in the voting sense of the word. Does a voter have the right to make a decision based on race and gender? I’m still trying to wrestle with that myself. On the surface it seems uneducated and ill-thought out, but the more I consider the option, the more I think that basing my decisions off the potential changes the physical characteristics of a president could incur, the more I am open to the idea.

I know many people disagree with me, claiming it is a lack of research and consideration of the potential president’s actual agenda. “Pure laziness,” as I heard one person call it. But for someone like me, who is straddling the Democratic fence between two highly capable candidates, it seems like the only remaining option.

The Dec. 3 issue of Newsweek reports 90 percent of the population is ready for a female president, but of that population, one-third claim that they know at least one person who will not be voting for Clinton because they are unable to look beyond her gender. Tsk, tsk.

On the other side of the debate, 54 percent of Americans are ready for a black president, according to National Public Radio. Forty-two percent said no.

Looking at those statistics, I find it easy to condemn those who refuse to vote because of the candidates’ race and gender. Therein lies my problem.

If I am able to criticize those who refuse to vote for a candidate because she just so happens to be a woman, or because he is a black man, then I must criticize myself as well. I have done the same, but in the opposite manner. It is through my predisposition to vote for Clinton because of her gender that I fall into the same box as those that would vote against her. It must go both ways.

So here I am at square one again, standing in between two potential presidents, both whom I like, and both whom happen to be minorities. I guess the best way to vote then, and the candidates would probably agree, is through education on the issues, and leaving my tendency to draw conclusions based on those basic characteristics outside the voting booth.

Taylor Moore is a journalism senior and a Mustang Daily columnist.