I'm voting for Hillary

This Tuesday, Super Tuesday, I am most likely to cast a vote for Hillary Clinton. I don't really like her as a person, and think she is an opportunistic politician, but I trust her to do what is right, and good for America, if she were to get into the Presidential office. I think she knows what is what, and with the aid of a good cabinet from the Democratic mainstream (and her husband's advice and experience in the seat), America would do well. Obama, on the other hand, is much more personable and perhaps more sincere, but sincere idealism combined with lack of experience can get us into hot water, given the current state of the world. Update: After composing this, someone sent me this article from the Jewish Press, which notes that

[S]ome Israeli security officials quietly expressed "concern" about an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama who has advocated negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group.

What is good for Israel is by no means the only criterion for choosing a presidential candidate, despite the fact that they are the major democratic and Western ally in the region. But I worry that this is an example of such idealism, which will play out in many other situations. Case in point is his call for great nuclear disarmament for the US in order to lower the threat of nuclear terrorism:

Senator Barack Obama will propose on Tuesday setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, saying the United States should greatly reduce its stockpiles to lower the threat of nuclear terrorism, aides say.

And we will all dance around naked in the streets, singing kumbaya, as North Korea sells nuclear weapons to Al Qaida, which they use to blow up a US city, and then force all Americans to convert to Islam. To be fair, "His speech was to come one day after an announcement by the Bush administration that it had tripled the rate of dismantling nuclear weapons over the last year[.]" But still.

In his speech, according to a campaign briefing paper, Mr. Obama also will call for using a combination of diplomacy and pressure to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs. Aides did not say what Mr. Obama intended to do if diplomacy and sanctions failed.

Whatever campaign rhetoric, I think that Hillary Clinton will act responsibly in the White House if elected, but I am not so confident that Barack Obama will do so, at least initially.

I am not entirely sure who I would vote for in the general election. It depends on who is running. But I would see a Clinton vs. McCain as a nice race.

For comparison, some of my previous votes:

1. For Gore over Bush. And I think that Gore would have been OK in office, and not gone off the deep end, had he been elected.
2. For Bush over Kerry.
3. For Lazio over Clinton, because I dislike Hillary and saw this as a stepping stone towards the presidency.