<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"I have a dirty little political secret. I hate to admit it, because it makes me feel unfeminist and silly and a little bit irrational. But it&amp;#x27;s true and I have to get it off my chest. I&amp;#x27;m not backing Hillary Clinton&amp;amp;#8212;and that&amp;#x27;s at least in part because she reminds me of being scolded by my mother. Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong&amp;amp;#8212;I love my mom. But sometimes, when she&amp;#x27;s feeling that all her hard work is unseen and unappreciated, she can be&amp;amp;#8212;as we all can&amp;amp;#8212;a little bitter. And I keep hearing that same quality in Hillary&amp;amp;#8212;a tired, burned out parent with a never-ending to-do list. I feel myself regressing to a teenage-era eye roll during the debates when she starts reminding us that the country&amp;#x27;s problems are intractable and require lots of strategic negotiation, compromise, and all-nighters. Thanks, mom. I know I should rise above the mom-effect. If Rush Limbaugh said that Hillary reminds me of a nagging mother, I&amp;#x27;d hunt him down with my fiercest feminist slings and arrows. Rationally, I know it&amp;#x27;s wrong not to vote for Hillary because she brings out the rebellious teenager in me. I should be looking at her policies, not focusing on my feeeeelings. But let&amp;#x27;s face it&amp;amp;#8212;politics, especially around election time, are largely about emotions. An Emory University study found that, as much as we like to talk loftily about the economy and healthcare, ultimately we are all heavily influenced by our emotional reaction to candidates when we walk into that booth. I wish I were a more rational being, sure. I wish that I had the patience to wade through all the healthcare jargon so I could pick my president like a shrewd scientist. But I think we all have to admit the role emotions are playing in this election. We vote our values, our dreams, our outrage, and all of this is rooted in the heart, not the head. If Hillary wins the nomination, she will have my vote. But for now my heart&amp;amp;#8212;and my vote&amp;amp;#8212;are with Obama. Sorry, Mom. Are you an emotional voter? Are people who say they aren\uFFFD??t just kidding themselves? &amp;amp;#8212;Courtney Guest blogger Courtney E. Martin is a widely-read journalist and blogger, and the author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, a call to action for young women to stop settling for self hate and start changing the world. Her work on young people and politics has been published widely and featured on the Today Show, The O&amp;#x27;Reilly Factor, MSNBC, and radio programs throughout the nation. She lives in Brooklyn with her kitten, Kima, and an absurd amount of books. Read more about her work at www.courtneyemartin.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/glamocracy/2008/04/the-emotional-voter>