Today I voted for the first time ever (America & India included) and it felt great! For someone fast approaching 40, this is a startling confession - I admit! I grew up in India and, when I reached voting age, was attending college far away from my voting district. The concept of "absentee ballot" either didn't exist in India back then or I was blissfully unaware. I came to America in '92 and became a US citizen 4 years ago. My wife & I narrowly missed the deadline for voting in the last general elections. Granted - living in California and having strong Democratic leanings means your vote is unlikely to make a difference at a national level but we really wanted to symbolically vote "against" George Bush. Today was the day we were both eagerly waiting for.
I voted for Obama & my wife voted for Hillary (I guess she won this debate too). Several months ago, I was vacillating between Obama & Clinton when one of my close friends said to my face: "Can you imagine how different the world could be with an American president with Hussain as his middle name?"
That proved to be a turning point in my decision. You see - we are not just electing an American president but the World's president. I overheard a snippet on NPR today about this Spanish guy urging "Americans in Spain" to vote Democrat so that the world could be a safer place. You gotta love democracy.
As we fast forward to the November general election, it's becoming increasingly (& surprisingly) certain that McCain will be the Republican candidate. Whether it's Clinton or Obama that wins the Democratic nomination, the face-off against McCain will be very interesting. The Kuruganti family will be in a tizzy then - because we are both admirers of McCain (since his run in '00). How will we decide? What will be the key issues that will define the candidates?
Fortunately, we have Graspr producer WestonEsterhazy who will be guiding us along with a series of biting & humorous commentaries on political topics. Here he is giving a primer on how to pick a political party.
- Vishy
