Lend me a hand!

I wanted to thank all of my supporters in the United Jewish Communities' Jewish Community Heroes contest! I'm so appreciative! I wanted to offer a couple reminders. You can submit a vote for me EVERY SINGLE DAY through October 8th (every 12 hours to be exact). This isn't just a one time vote AND you can vote for as many other nominees as you want. Voting for me does not mean you can't vote for your other friends who are nominated. A ton of other incredible peeps are my fellow nominees so I encourage you to check them all out and vote for those who inspire you! If you haven't yet today, you can click here to vote for me.

Also, I'm trying to mobilize some friends and blog readers to help get the word out about me. I'd be so grateful if you'd email your friends/family, dedicate your Facebook status for a short time, or even tweet about my nomination. Anything you can do to help would be hugely appreciated.

Sample text: Vote for my friend Susanne who is trying to raise money for her worthy community projects. Just click here: http://budurl.com/Vote4Susqhb

Thank you!

Susanne

Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse | Jewish Community Heroes

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Who I'm Voting For

On April 26, 2007 I wrote my first of many candidate analyses. I ranked the order of the potential candidates in order of who I'd vote for and why. Senator Barack Obama was #7. The order is as follows.

1) Al Gore (D)

2) Hillary Clinton (D)

3) Bill Richardson (D)

4) John Edwards (D)

5) John McCain (R)

6) Mitt Romney (R)

7) Barack Obama (D)

8) Rudy Giuliani (R)

My defense for Senator Obama's low rating was as follows: Obama Who? Where did this guy come from? I'd never heard of him until last year. He is a first term, junior Senator from Illinois. Sure hes a wonderful orator, hes good looking, and very well educated. But what kind of experience does he have that he should be the leader of the free world? I'm 100% in favor of a President who is not a white, middle aged, male. Thats why I have Hillary (female) and Bill Richardson (Hispanic) near the top of my list. Obama, leave this race right now and run again in 8 years. You will have my vote. I promise. But first you need to put on public record where you stand on the issues. And convince me that you are passionate about Israel a little bit more.

When I was on the Fox News Channel's panel for undecided voters I said I considered myself undecided because if my Democratic choice (Senator Clinton) was not the nominee I'd consider voting for the Republican candidate. After all, McCain was two spots ahead of Obama on my list.

I had liked John McCain for a long time. I always thought he was a Moderate Republican. Didn't blindly vote party lines. Instead he voted what he believed was best for America. That was until he chose Sarah Palin. Governor Palin as a running mate is the antithesis of what all moderate voters saw in John McCain. She is just not what I would want to see in a potential running mate. Was Joe Biden ever pranked by a Canadian radio show using a ridiculously fake French President Nicolas Sarkozy accent? And if he was, would he have fallen for it? No. The woman who did fall for the prank, the woman running under a 72-year-old man with a history of health problems, is not ready to be President and frankly never will be. She is unable to make her own decisions without being schooled by instructors. She does not have the intellect to comprehend the complexity of world issues. She does not have my back when it comes to women's rights. She does not have my vote and therefore, neither does the man at the top of the ticket.

Tomorrow, I am voting for the lesser of two evils. I am afraid to vote for the Republican ticket because I am scared of empowering Sarah Palin. I am disappointed in Senator Obama for not choosing Senator Clinton as his running mate. Together the Democrats could have sailed to the Presidency. Now we are looking at a potential 2000, one party winning the Popular vote while the other wins the Electoral count. Its far fetched but its possible. It could happen again. There are other Hillary supporters out there that are hoping for an Obama upset to open a 2012 Hillary run. I want the Dems to win today! Not in four years! I'm not going to be like McCain, picking someone who my advisors decide on. I will choose the man who is best for America. And that my friends is Senator Barack Obama. I hope you all (especially those in the swing states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, listen up, I'm talking to you) agree.

Why I'm Voting Hillary

I know there'll be no time in my schedule to write this tomorrow. Crazy day with many many things to take care of before the NJOP dinner. But in about 7 hours I will be walking down to the Holy Rood Church on 179th street and pulling the level of freedom. Tomorrow, I will be voting in person for the first time in 10 years. Since I've been 18 I moved to New York for college and regrettably haven't moved back. I retained my California voting eligibility and have voted absentee ever since. Why you may ask? Well, my Congressman in the 46th district of California is in my eyes a pretty huge anti-semite, so I like to stick it to him every two years when he's up for re-election. You know those Israel bills in Congress that are voted in favor of by 430 members of the House, and against by 5. Yeah, hes one of the 5. But this year, someone I am very passionate about is running for President and I wanted to physically walk into my neighborhood polling station and give her a shout out. I'm of course talking about Hillary Clinton.

I know, I know. You hate her. I'm aware of that. Have you ever met her? Sat down and had a conversation? Well I have. And I can honestly say I haven't been more impressed by someone in my life. I've met other politicians before. But when you are in the room with her, you know she is taking in what you have to say, thinks about it and gives you a solid, honest answer. Theres a story I want to share with you. My buddy Sari was a political machine while in Stern College. She organized a huge Rally to DC. She was my roommate when we did the OU internship in DC. She volunteered for the mayoral campaign (not for Giuliani). She called one night and asked if I wanted to volunteer at an intimate Hillary event. We got to a restaurant on the Upper East Side and helped out at an event for about 100 people. Afterward they asked if one of us could accompany the team to a small after party at a donor's home. Little did I know this was for only about 20 people in a gorgeous UES penthouse (overlooking the park). I went since Sari had plans later that night. Hillary arrived and was introduced to everyone. Including this horrible host lady's servants (who BTW she was incredibly kind to, even while weirded out that this lady had servants in her home). After working the room and spending a great deal of time speaking to everyone individually, including myself, she announced that she had to leave, she was on the red eye to Israel that evening. What you are about to read is possibly the biggest regret of my life. Are you ready? Okay, here goes... Hillary was saying her goodbyes to everyone. I got the idea that I really wanted to give her shliach mitzvah gelt. When someone is travelling, especially to Israel, some people have the custom to give that person some tzedakah, money to give to charity when they arrive, thereby making them a part of my mitzvah and essentially helping ensure a safe trip as your shliach, your messenger to deliver the tzedakah. Whether that is the true definition I don't know, but that is how I view it. I wanted to do this because A) I always try to give someone going to the Holy Land, and B) I knew Hillary would sincerely be touched by my proposition. Although, I was a little scared someone would shout a picture of me slipping money to my Senator. Especially with all the heat in '01 about soft money. But alas, as she worked her way through the room towards me, I became totally starstruck. She remembered my name (from hours earlier) and all I could squeek out was "I really admire you and your daughter". At least thats all I can remember. If I had a list of 10 do-overs in my life, this would be one of them. What a cool story that would be.

I'm not going to tell you to vote for Hillary just because I am. I'm not going to tell you to vote for her because there won't be another viable female candidate for at least another 20 years (when I plan to start running for office). I'm not going to tell you to vote for her because we would get to have my favorite former President again living in the White House. I'm going to tell you to vote for her because she is the right candidate. I am a strong believer in voting for the person with the best experience and the person who can lead this country in the right direction. Those are the two qualities I find most important in a President and shes number one on my list (because Al Gore isn't running, otherwise she might be number 2). We have been going downhill ever since Bush's dad's Supreme Court gave him the White House. We need to take this country back and move it in the right direction. And Hillary's the girl who will get us there. The odds are in favor of Obama taking the nomination but I'm not ready to jump on that bandwagon and throw him my vote. I believe in Hillary Clinton.

Addendum
I just got back from voting. It was really hard. I didn't know what to do. I had to ask the poll watcher for help. I did learn something though. You know how candidates that have already dropped out of the race end up getting 1% of the vote...its cause they are still on the ballot. People probably see that and go, hmmm Bill Richardson, I thought he dropped out, but hey hes still on here so I must be mistaken. Also, WTF are all those other names doing on the ballot? I swear there were like 100 names on there. I thought this was just the presidential primary...there should be like 6 names on the darn board. Do we really have to have the names of everyone who endorsed the various candidates listed on the ballot as well? How confusing. I consider myself a pretty intelligent person, and frankly I was kind of embarrassed at how much trouble I had understanding this process. Plus, I was DYING to get one of those "I VOTED" stickers and they totally weren't giving them out. Sooooo sad!

As I left my polling station I began to tear up. I didn't think this would make me so emotional but it did. This is democracy in action people. Not taking advantage of this incredible gift is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. Rock the Vote people!!! And remember, Friends don't let friends Vote Republican!