I read today that Joe Wilson, husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame has endorsed Hillary Clinton. That’s fair enough, it is a free country and people are free to express their opinions and preferences.  What disappointed me, however, especially after vocally supporting him and his wife over the past months, was that in endorsing Hillary he attempted to totally discredit Senator Obama by pointing out, for example that he had not engaged Europe in any  meaningful way.  One wonders with his credentials and his abilities being challenged, how Barack ever got through Harvard Law or even got elected to the senate.  Clearly he had no friends in high society or anyone to “mark his identity” so one would have to believe that he got to where he is now through hard work.  Why then is he being held to such high standards considering the present occupant of the White House, aside from a trip across the border,  had not  traveled outside the United States, embarrassed himself by asking the President of Brazil if his country “had any black people” and has still not gotten his mind wrapped around the correct pronunciation of the word “nuclear.”

Mr. Wilson went on to extol Bill Clinton’s  and by extension Hillary’s foreign policy experience, especially in Africa, without of course once mentioning Rwanda which happened during Bill Clinton’s tenure, or the banana issue in the Caribbean that essentially destroyed the economy of several small states and  in which he was clearly involved.  If Mr. Wilson is going to talk foreign policy experience then everything should be put on the table not just the one’s that compliment the Clintons.

I guess my point is there is no one in this election who hits all the notes exactly the way we would like them to,  so we engage in point and counter point, with an eye towards finally tuning out all the pundits, commentators and highly placed supporters and engaging in  the beauty of this entire process, making  our own  personal choices.

I’ve had the opportunity to see the Senator twice and maybe it is his idealism that has appealed to me, or maybe it’s just the fact that after walking through these long, dark 8 years where we have felt marginalized and powerless, while the henchmen of the present administration have run roughshod over civil liberties, spied on us, played fast and loose with the truth or downright lies; why divisive politics will not do for me because all I really want to do is  exhale and fill my lungs and life with something new and fresh.