Question of the Day

What are the biggest selling points for you on Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama?

Let's keep this thread positive. A lot of us are disappointed about Edwards dropping out of the race, but we are now faced with the prospect of a historic campaign, in which the Democratic Party will nominate either a man of color or a woman to top their ticket, which is pretty cool, and, despite their flaws, there are lots of good things about Hillary and Barack to discuss, too. So let's go there, and let's stay there for this thread. I'll start...

Barack Obama: I admire Senator Obama for his involvement in community organizing, which is so important in urban communities (which I am not using as a euphemism for "black communities," but as a literal description of city neighborhoods, in which neighborliness and community involvement often requires some facilitation). I dig his quick wit and his tenacity. And his story is extremely compelling: Every time I think about how he would be the first Illinois legislator in the White House since Abraham Lincoln, and let that particular historical juxtaposition wash over me, it makes me feel more than a wee bit blubby.

Hillary Clinton: I like that she's got the most ethnically diverse campaign staff and the most women among both her paid campaign staff and senior staff of any Democrat in the race. I also really like Senator Clinton as a person. I've never gotten the whole Ice Queen thing; she's actually always struck me as warm and caring and clever and funny, but what do I know?—I hear an infectious laugh where others hear a cackle. She's tough and unbreakable, which I deeply respect. And, as I've said before, irrespective of how women feel about her, we all owe her an enormous and unknowable debt for going first, for bearing the burden of having to weather at every turn messages that you're intrinsically less than, despite being patently qualified to run a global superpower.