I Voted For Obama

After a year of following the primary election with rather extreme interest.  After watching several Democratic debates and seeing the highlights lowlights of the Republican debates.  After giving some of my hard earned money first to Senator Chris Dodd and later to former Senator John Edwards.  After spending hours and hours reading the blogs debating the merits of the candidates and watching their victory speeches from the early primary states and watching the mainstream media dissect their speeches.  After all of this time spent in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, we as a nation could wise up and elect a leader who could reverse the horrible course we've been on for the last seven years, I walked into the polling booth today having no idea who to vote for.  There were only two choices left -- the small early states with very few delegates had somehow eliminated my favorite choices - the true progressive Edwards and the constitutional defender Dodd - and the choices I had left me somewhat uninspired.  I actually considered voting for Edwards -- he was still on the ballot, despite withdrawing last week, but figured an actual vote for someone who was still running was more appropriate.  I chose Obama.  And I hope he's the next president of the United States.

There's a lot to like about Obama -- he's a brilliant orator and a truly inspirational figure, able to galvanize huge swaths of citizens (particularly young people) to rally around his message of "change" and "hope."  He seems like a decent person, he's made some mistakes in his life and doesn't run from them, and he spoke out against the Iraq war BEFORE it happened, something very few of us can say (including me).  On the issues, there's probably not a big difference between he and Hillary, and they have both campaigned further to the center than I would have liked, neither promising to withdraw from Iraq immediately and neither offering health care plans that don't involve the for-profit insurance industry.  On individual rights, both candidates are strong and I would expect that both of them have experienced enough overt and covert prejudice against them that they will look out for the rights of all Americans, not just rich white men.  I have a problem with Obama taking money from lobbyists and corporations, just like Hillary, and I have a problem with his repeated message about overcoming inertia in Washington by working with the other side and rising above the party divide.  In my opinion, the elected Republican Congress is not worth working with.  They are our most conservative, far-right, racist, elitist, corporatist, and idiotic citizens and what they believe is right for the country has caused so much harm, just in the last 7 years, that the whole lot of them should be in jail.  The number of rational, centrist, or moderate Republicans still in Congress is so minimal at this point that it is far from worth reaching out to the troglodytes that are there.  So I have a problem with Obama for that.  I'm not sure how Hillary would try to govern (her husband did use a lot of conservative ideas like welfare reform to shape his government), but she is unlikely to find common ground with Republicans who think she is the anti-Christ.  So she's probably better there.  But again, there's not a lot of difference between the two.

I don't mind Hillary either, and I will vote for her against any Republican in the fall.  I'm not sure if a lot of more moderate or independent voters feel the same way, though, and that's what I fear.  Hillary vs. McCain could prove to be an uphill battle - say what you will about McCain's continued support of the failed Iraq war or his pandering to the Jesus freaks on the right, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone on the left who'd criticize a war hero (those on the right had absolutely no problem doing that to war hero John Kerry -- in fact, his war service was inexplicably turned into an overall negative thanks to Republican dirty tactics, as opposed to Bush's active refusal to serve the country despite being the same age as Kerry... but I digress).  The point is, McCain doesn't exactly generate much dislike in voters, especially independents.  As for Hillary, well, let's just say the Republicans would be thrilled if she won the nomination if they weren't so terrified that she'd win. 

So I voted for Obama, who I think can win over those independents pretty easily and not suffer from the hatred Hillary will receive.  Is there an element of the Republican party that will try to use his race and his name and his father's Muslim religion against him?  Absolutely. They already have.  Hell, I'm pretty convinced that a huge swath of the Republican party are actively racist.  How else do you explain Strom Thurmond's continued election victories and Trent Lott becoming Majority Leader AFTER saying we'd have been better off if Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948 on a segregationist platform.  But Hillary ain't winning those people's votes either and even if she could, letting a bunch of backwards racists determine our next president is more than a little silly.  What about the "moderates" with underlying racist tendencies?  I don't know.  That could be an issue I guess.  I choose to hope that we are better than that.  I don't know if that's true.  But I voted for Obama and I'd like for him to win.  I'd like to think he could symbolize the start of something great - a more powerful electorate with minority representation at the highest level.  That could only be good for our country.  How will he respond to Iraq?  The deficit?  The environment?  The recession?  No one really knows, not even him.  But for some reason I think he could save us.  And that's what this election is all about.

Comments

[Mike Francesca]

"If you dont want to vote for a Black or a Woman who do you vote for?"

Chris "Mad Dog" Russo.....Mike and the Mad Dog show.

[Mitt Romney For President]

Hillary is the Anti-Christ. If she wins I'm moving to Canada.

[Bill]

MSNBC is calling NJ for Clinton. Oh well, just like all of my sports teams, I remain the kiss of death for people I'm rooting for.

[John]

If your talking about Anti-Christ, then three things...
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Obama's middle name is Hussein, there was a "prophecy" that anti-christ will be "Maddas" which spells backward for "Saddam"

There was a "Saddam" in Iraq, whos last name was "Hussein" but, he wasn't much of an "Anti-Christ" because really... he didn't make that much of a "global upheaval"

maybe the "prophecy" was referring to Obama?
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Also! Doesn't Obama sound ALOT like Osama? Who is like the leader of the "terrorism" movement in middle east?

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Also, "Barack" sounds kinda like "Iraq" doesn't it?
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So... if your talking about anti-christ, Obama is the best candidate for it, are these all coincidences?

[Sid]

I just wanted to thank "John" the previous poster, for making me dumber with his post. Fucking idiot.

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