I Suppose I'm Israeli - Political Warning

I suppose there comes a time in every oleh/olah's life where they realize, wow, I'm really not American/Canadian/British/Anywhereelseian anymore. I must be Israeli. And then there is just no going back.
That moment happened this weekend for me, when it hit me that I'm terribly conflicted as to who to vote for in the coming US election. My first instinct is "who is good for the Jews/Israel". On that note, I would definitely have to vote Republican. Israel has had one of its strongest friends in Pres. Bush, and I believe that it would continue to do so in a McCain/Palin administration. In the end, I think that this is the only thing that matters for me.
Except that I'm not a conservative. I never have been. I'm for minority rights, I'm pro-choice, pro-alternate marriage. Ok, I'm an economic conservative, but a social liberal. And I know, I know that you cannot listen to all that you read, but I like to read online magazines, and they are now all filled with all sorts of smut about the candidates that drives me nuts. Particularly the stuff about Palin.
I have to admit that I don't like Palin personally. She may be a great politician (if I liked her politics), but I just don't like the choices that she's made. Perhaps its Mommy Guilt coming over me, but there is just no woman who is a super-woman. You cannot do it all, and do it all well. You just can't have a big and young family and be second-in-command at the same time. I'm sure that her husband is as supportive as can be, and I'd like to think that I'd say this of a man in the same situation. I just feel that being a mom to a disabled child is a full time job (as is being a father!). I feel that a teenage girl whose pregnant needs her mom. And said mom will just not be able to be there for her children as much as she needs to be when she's on the campaign trail, and later serving in Washington. Again, I'd like to think I'd say the same if it was a man - these kids need their father too.
I guess I like my politicians focused on their jobs - keep the family side of it small. Leave the baby-making to people who don't have countrys to run.
But that's just personally. For some reason the McCain/Palin admin seems like it would be even further right than Bush's was. And I'd like to get some stem-cell research jumpstarted.

I'd like to interject here that I almost never ever ever speak politics except with my dearly loved. Whom I often disagree with, but love just the same. I don't feel the need to discuss it with anyone, and in this post it's really just a means to an ends.

Which is, that I don't feel really completely comfortable voting for either Obama or McCain. Because something about them bothers me - Obama's foreign politics and McCain domestic politics. And when I realized that, I realized that I had more in common with average Israelis than I did with average Americans.

Here, abortion is a bit of a non-issue. The workplace is family friendly - take mine for example. I have no problem taking off for a sick kid. None whatsoever. My boss took almost 2 consecutive weeks last year if not more when hers was sick. I work 6:30 -3:30. And none of this is suprising to anyone. Gay rights are a non-issue also, and we've had gay pride parades in our religious capital for a few years straight now. Education sucks, yes. The real estate market sucks, yes. Taxes suck big time. (I do think all of these issues will be moving somewhere...we need patience). And in the last Israeli election I also didn't really have a clear candidate to vote for, although I did have a party that I wanted to vote for. I wanted to vote Kadima, but thought that Olmert was a sleazy scumbag. (Boy was I right!) I would still vote Kadima, although Livni or Mofaz I can't say. I'm happy with Kadima's economic statements. Basically happy with their security statements, if not happy with their proven "successes". Happy in the direction that Kadima might take our country, which is more than I can say for either Republicans or Democrats in the US.

So I guess that a Jew who has no other place to go back to is finally Israeli. Its good to be home.