Top 10 Reasons I'm Voting for Obama

I'm proud to say it is never an easy decision. I abhor labels, and while I am a registered Democrat, that is only so I can vote in our politico-machine controlled New York primaries. I am not a liberal or a conservative, I'd rather be a "thinker".

No political affiliation owns my patriotism. I assume that all people who have opinions and vote, are patriotic. I make my decision based on what I perceive as best for this country.

I try not to look back, but it's impossible to avoid. Looking back.....I thought Gore would have made a fine President, but the country wanted a change after Clinton, and Bush's handlers made that message work. I thought W proved himself inept in his first term, and although I voted for Kerry, clearly he was a flawed candidate.

History will not be kind to W. In my view he will go down as one of the worst Presidents ever.
On election day 2008, the country will collectively say "WHAT WERE WE THINKING????"

Which brings us to Obama v McCain......
During the Republican primaries, I wrote positively about McCain http://nylaw2law.blogspot.com/2008/01/reconsidering-mccain.html
I especially admired his efforts in sponsoring the compromise immigration bill, which his Republican mates destroyed, and then used to attack him in the primaries. He outsmarted them though, because not only was he right about immigration, he needed to distance himself from the knuckle walkers, and he did. He was smart enough to stake out the middle ground, figuring he would still hold the right. It was enough to beat Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani for the nomination. But it will not be enough to take the big one.

But I digress.....here are the Top 10 Reasons I am Voting for Obama:

10. He already defeated the strongest opponent.

9. I apply a "Law of Beholdency". I ask "Who will this candidate be beholden to?" If you ask this about W, you see a big part of the problem. I am sick of his beholdencies. Obama is not a typical African-American candidate because he is not beholden to that community. If he were, he would be un-electable. No, he has realized from the start that he did not have to espouse a "black agenda", he would have community support without doing that. Instead, he garnered support from a cross-section of Democrats, and his "beholdencies" are THERE, in a cross section of Americans. Kinda different, kinda nice.

8. He has inspired a lot of people to work for him, raised a ton of money from a huge number of contributors, and convinced people who the "experts" said could not be convinced. There is a perfect word to describe this.....LEADERSHIP.

7. He has already shown superb judgment under enormous pressure. The primaries and this election have been going on a long time. It has taken turns and thrown him curveballs. The "Pastor Wright scandal" would have stopped a lesser candidate. He has handled everything without a bobble. Strikes me as WAY harder than "being a Senator" or "governor of A-lass-ka".

6. McCain displayed an enormous, unforgiveable error in judgment in selecting Sarah Palin.

5. There is something to be said for a real "family man" in the White House. Obama seems like the real deal in that regard.

4. I give a lot of weight to who I want nominating the next few Supreme Court Justices. I want Obama's choices sitting there.....not the Neanderthals McCain has pandered to.

3. I know it may be a character flaw to "care what other people think", but frankly, I am embarrassed by what the rest of the world must think of us Americans, after electing W twice. It feels better thinking of how we'll appear as a country when we elect Obama.

2. Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review, and a constitutional law professor at University of Chicago Law School. There is no question he got these on merit. As a lawyer, lemme tell you what those two accomplishments say about him......He is REALLY, REALLY SMART. We need that.

1. I want a President who will be open minded, strong, and exercise good judgment. Someone who will seek out top advisors and be able not only to listen to them, but sometimes not listen to them. I want a President who will be decisive, but also flexible. Someone who will lead by example. Someone who has the energy and intelligence to lead our great Country. Barack Obama is that person.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Quick Funny Story (Police at My Door)

Wow - I haven't blogged in awhile. That's mostly from being very busy at work. It's also because SO much is happening in the world, and I want to comment on it, but I either don't feel up to the challenge, or new things happen and make my half-composed new posting seem dated. Trust me....I want to write about the financial crisis, the election, and the second annual demise of the Mets, and I will. So, to break the ice, a quick funny (true) story...



Last Thursday night (Friday morning) at 3:15 AM, I was awakened by loud knocking at my door. Actually, the knocking did not wake me, Dovie barking like a lunatic got me up, and then I heard the loud, continuous knocking. I should have realized WHO knocks like this, but I had to ask...."Who is it?" Of course, the answer was...

"POLICE!!"

My first thought was....."ditch the drugs", which only proves what I have said for years "If you woke me up suddenly and screamed in my face 'how old are you?', the answer would be '17'". I then realized that I would not need to ditch my blood pressure pills, so I said "Let me put some pants on.".....which is what people always say on "COPS".



When I opened the door there were two uniformed officers from our modern NYCPD, a chubby Jewish guy and an African-American woman. I would have preferred Officers Reed and Molloy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrdbgYYBnvI .



I wanted to say something witty, but chickened out with "What's the problem officers?"

"We need you to move your car.", said Officer Chubby.

"I thought that spot was legal, but wouldn't a ticket have been sufficient?"

"No, no, there's a gas leak, and the fire department needs your car moved so they can check it out." said Officer Chubby's partner.

So, I took a one block ride in the back of the police car, and got to see their big computer screen with MY name and address on it. How cool is that?

When we arrived at my car there were three fire engines in the vicinity, with their lights flashing. There were 15 bored looking firemen sitting near my car. One of them said, "You have to move your car.", prompting me to say,

"Is it dangerous?"

The friendly fireman then said....."Yeah, it's about to blow, that's why we're all sitting here."

I think Officer Chubby's partner realized that although this was kinda funny, it wasn't very com-mu-ni-ty friendly, and that if I turned and walked home they'd have to arrest me (and do all kinds of paperwork), so she said,

"I'll move the car, give me the keys."

I let the firemen sit near the undangerous gas leak, and moved across the street so my car could be moved.

The Officers thanked me, and I then had to look for another parking spot. My car STUNK of gas. Question, if I had lit up a cigarette and exploded myself, would the City be liable?

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