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
3 comments:
I agree with your position in its entirety. It is exceedingly well written, factually accurate, emotionally moving, and a clearly written piece by "a thinking man." Kudos to the author; may it inspire others to vote for Obama.
Very good......
I had a feeling that you would vote for Obama. I, too, once had an unwavering respect for John McCain. It might be a cliched thing to say, but I really feel as if he sold his soul this time around. He has proven himself a more formidable flip-flopper than John Kerry, and he has truly succumbed to some of the more extreme elements of his party. He set himself up for some damning campaign commercials with his tomb of conflicting statements, and he lost all hope when he chose Sarah Palin.
I did not think that you voted for Kerry in 2004. If I remember correctly, you were pretty sour on him, but of course, you were pretty down on Bush as well. I tend to think that many independents (or at the very least, the "undecided" portion of them at this point) are pretty ill-informed. I'm not blasting independents - I admire that trait in people - but I feel that it's a banner that so many people wave because they truly don't understand what is going on.
Hope all is well, and in a week's time, this may very well be a completely different country.
-Rich "The Kid" Getzel
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