Why I May Vote for Barack Obama
After watching the first of three presidential debates between Barack Obama and John McCain, I realized just how razor thin the veneer was between my not supporting Obama, and my supporting Obama for President. After watching the debate a couple of times with argus-eyed fixation, I started sensing certain characteristics of Obama that I had benightedly disregarded. Being inquisitive about my new found inclination for Obama, I sought confirmation. Fortunately, I knew where there lay a treasure trove of unbiased dictum, intellectual confirmation, and an exceeding abundance of reality–The Huffington Post, and the Daily Kos. These two great pseudo gazettes, are an anomaly in the journalistic caste system. They are thriving with the left, despite the fact that the substance of their columnist’s product seems to suggest a GED rather than MBA, or PhD. But they had me at right wing radicals.
After perusing the musings of the hierarchical intelligentsia of mankind in the aforementioned domains of enlightenment, I felt the birth of an awakening within me. For some reason, I thought, along with conventional wisdom, John McCain had won the debate. If I had only known, according to my newly discovered Thalia muses on the left, while watching the debate, that McCain was being drummed, beaten, made a fool of, destroyed, and intellectually played with by a thoughtful Barack Obama during the debate. Barack Obama for the change we need. I can see that. We do need change, and I think Obama has the character to deliver us from the tribulations this country has been subjected to and he has the capability to drag, push, and cajole us out of our deep-seated malaise.
Just as there is a thin line between love and hate, the veneer separating my full support for Obama from my disdain for him is razor thin. There are just a few very tiny and minute issues that need to be reconciled within my cerebral faculties before crossing over. Obama should be given the benefit of the doubt.
The first small issue is with Obama’s relationship with the Rev. Wright. Obama sat in this man’s church for twenty years while Rev. Wright spewed racism, hate, lies, and some of the most Un-American rhetoric imaginable. Obama spent twenty years listening to Rev. Wright, being married by Rev. Wright, and having his children baptized by Rev. Wright. Obama does not recall anything negative coming out of Rev. Wright’s mouth. Now, most folks would believe that after twenty years of listening to your preacher, and not recalling his radical positions, you would either be a liar, or an idiot. Now I am sure Obama is neither a liar nor an idiot. Isn’t it expecting an awful lot out of a person to recall twenty years of hateful speech by their preacher of twenty years? In all honesty, there were only 1040 sermons in that time period. Let’s be realistic, and understand that it is hard to hear in the periphery when one is being thoughtful.
Speaking of hate, I am reminded of another tiny issue with Obama–William Ayers.
William Ayers is one of the founders of the domestic terrorist organizations that bombed, or attempted to bomb, pretty much anything related to the U.S. government during the 1960′s and 1970′s. They operated like a large fraternity of Timothy McVeigh’s only not as smart or successful–if you count killing American citizens, as does Ayers, as a success. William Ayers just so happened to be a neighbor of Obama’s. Surely nothing other than coincidence. Oh, and he also just happened to jump start Obama’s political career in his house. After all, they are neighbors, and that’s what neighbors are for. And one other thing, just doing what neighbors do, Ayers serendipitously just so happened to raise millions of dollars for Obama’s political campaigns. And being the good neighbor, that Obama was just friendly with and nothing more, Ayers just so happened to appoint Obama to the board of a trust that he operated, and together they distributed over forty million dollars to left wing radical organizations. They are neighbors after all, and I must believe these are neighborly things to do. This will not sour my growing affection for Obama.
Speaking of neighbors I am reminded of a guy named Tony Rezko.
Tony Rezko and Obama were neighbors also. They say you can’t pick your neighbors, but Rezko sure was nice enough to pick Obama as a neighbor by being neighborly and picking out a house for Obama. And being a good future neighbor, he even worked some sort of great deal for Obama to get the house on the cheap, since Rezko bought the lot next door and juggled some numbers and a whole lot of other neighborly financial things, and presto–cheap mansion for Obama. That Tony, what a guy. What else could Tony Rezko do since Obama routed millions of dollars to Tony to help build some really nice apartments in the poorer parts of Chicago. Now Tony was recently convicted of numerous felonies, and sadly so, for the really nice apartments were falling apart and declared unlivable. What is wrong with that?– they were already a couple of years old at that point. But that should not be a reflection on Obama–you did not see him out there with a hammer. How could you hold him responsible for the bad construction? I believe Obama, no matter how felonious this looks for him, should receive a pass on this one. This is such a small issue, I think I can get past it.
And speaking of real estate, I am reminded of the current Wall Street crisis that was caused by an inordinate amount of sub-prime mortgages.
How can Obama be even remotely held responsible for the disastrous implosion of the home mortgage industry? I mean he was a community organizer, and the groundwork for the implosion was being laid in the 1980′s by the great Socialist Experiment under the esteemed Jimmy Carter, and accelerated during the Clinton Administration. After all, Obama was just a community organizer. So what if he has strong ties to community organization group, ACORN, the organization that used Mafioso tactics to blackmail lending institutions, and then Congress, to force the lenders to give substandard loans to substandard borrowers. How can you blame Obama? He was in the same position that Congress wants to place the credit card companies in. It is not the users of the credit cards that have run the balances up and cannot make the payments, it is the credit card company’s fault for issuing the cards. Its Congress’ fault for passing the laws, not the community organizers fault for pressuring them to loosen up the lending standards.
Speaking of loosening, I am reminded of Joe Biden’s mouth.
I understand your menological miscalculation by believing you were in the U.S. Senate in regard to your most gut-wrenching decision to stand up and be against the war in Iraq. Never mind that you were not in the U.S. Senate until almost two years after the congressional vote to invade Iraq. It is just a miscalculation in numerics. I mean, after all, Joe Biden, who probably has a higher I.Q. than most, was under the impression that FDR was in office in 1926 instead of Herbert Hoover. And FDR even went on television, which was not available at the time, to calm the public. Joe even had a quote from that televised event. I believe, that you believe, you were in the Senate standing up against the Iraq war, and can somehow feel your gut-wrenching decision. I also believe that Joe Biden believes FDR was the President in 1929. I understand.
And speaking of understanding, I am reminded of the U.S. Constitution and your being a professor of constitutional law.
Since you were a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago, and almost every opinion you have had concerning constitutional law since becoming a Congressman, state and federal, has been antithetical to the original meaning of the Founding Fathers, I understand. I don’t agree, but I understand. You’re in the business of getting elected and re-elected, so how much success would you have had with the left wing loons that elected you if you actually followed the original meaning of the Constitution? This would explain your peculiar adoration for the four sitting constitutional anarchists on the Supreme Court. How archaic, all that morality, those freedoms, and those pesky limitations on the Federal Government. I am trying to see the big picture here, and not just limit myself to some ancient parchment that could present itself as a barrier to change I can believe in. The Founding Fathers were just a bunch of right-wing radicals anyway.
That about sums up the pettiness of my issues, except for just a few microscopic ones left dangling, that I am sure could be bridged. I am sure your ignorance on Iraq, Afghanistan, a nuclear North Korea, an aggressive military buildup by China, your anticipation of the decimation of the military, and the dismantling of the Missile Defense System while the world around us is either arming, or preparing to arm, themselves with nuclear weapons at an alarming rate. Your perpetuating of infanticide. Your ignorance on the economy by promising to add approximately one trillion in government programs which would further burden a weak economy with, including, but not limited to, socialized medicine, while at the same time cutting government revenue by raising the capital gains tax, the corporate tax, and increasing the tax on the wealthy. That’s a lot of doom and gloom, which reminds me of, well, doom and gloom.
There is one other small issue that has stuck in my head since you and your wife came on the national political scene. I am trying to think of just one particular moment when either you, or your wife, made one positive statement about this country other than drone on and on about how horrible the conditions this country is in. And if we could just do something about the lying. All politicians lie, but your lie to truth ratio is unprecedented. Word to the wise, remember what Lincoln said, “No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.” Your memory is obviously subpar. Maybe you could work on your memory, take a course, or something.
But you do seem to have a lot of support from productive and intelligent people. A recent Gallup poll of 1000 adults believe the economy is in a depression– not a recession–a depression. Approximately 40% of the adult population does not pay any income tax. And your tax plan would raise that to 50%. You really do understand the adage, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul’s vote. Yes, Senator Obama, you certainly seem to have the ne plus ultra of the moral, patriotic, and intelligentsia behind you. But then again, the depression remarks could just be the prophetic meanderings of your minions with regard to the economy if you are elected.
And speaking of support and representation, I am reminded of your Congressional cohort’s support of the American tax payer today as opposed to politicizing a grave issue.
While the House of Representatives, is led, no less, by one Nancy Pelosi, the most demonstratively stupid individual to hold that position, bar none. She has partisanized, politicized, and soiled the rescue plan of up to 750 billion dollars, but in reality, it would cost less than half that, with her unsophisticated Machiavellian tactics. The rescue plan, though unpalatable, had the potential to be a profit generating plan for taxpayers if implemented correctly, but with one caveat: it would have to be completely managed out of the grasp of Congress. The U.S. stock market dropped 777 points, causing the world markets to crash, all from Pelosi’s politicizing, yes Pelosi–as she is the Speaker of the House, when she should have been using her position to lead and craft out a package to salvage a rapidly deteriorating stock market, and use her leadership position as Speaker to bring the House of Representatives together for a non-partisan approval–yet she did just the opposite. The result was the stock market dropping to the tune of 1.1 trillion dollars, and that was just in the U.S. Markets crashed all over the world because of Nancy Pelosi. And who’s money is in the market that dropped by 1.1 trillion? The American citizens’ money and their retirement accounts. Pelosi, of all people, knows it is not easy work to achieve and maintain a 10% approval rating.
Speaking of Pelosi, I am reminded of leadership.
And bully for you, Senator Obama, for not making a fool of yourself by standing up to your party for the first time in your shallow, political career, and chastising them for playing politics while the economic health of this country is spiraling out of control. And by the by, you might want to stop crying about how Republican deregulation caused this mess. It was actually regulations that caused it. It was Democrat regulations, coerced by community organizers-especially ACORN, that caused it–spin it, twist it anyway you want, but it is a fact. They regulated the mortgage industry, with a gun to their heads, by forcing them to make these bad loans. A free market is not a free market when you are regulated to make a bad decision that you would ordinarily not make because of an inordinate amount of risk, i.e. the red lining of loans by banks from people in certain areas, with poor credit, no down payment, and no ability, to pay the mortgage, but I digress. They don’t call you The Great Uniter for nothing.
I don’t think we are that far apart, Senator Obama, if we could just get past these few teeny, tiny issues, you could probably have my vote.
Comments (6)
ACORN does pretty well at the victim business, just look at all the Taxpayer money they get. The brother of the Founder stole $1,000,000 and they didn’t ever report it to the Police, you never know, it might have prevented Police brutality, we don’t need more victims
If you’re yearning for life under a neo-fascist or real fascist, with back-breaking taxes, permanent damage to our society and possibly national security, heightened racial divisiveness emanating from the White House, de facto repeal of the First Amendment and perhaps real repeal of the Second and others, an Obamificated Supreme Court that will legislative not adjudicate, and worse, then, sure, vote for Obama.
Jim, as you know I can stand Obama, but this was pretty much more of the same. You began with the debate as your backdrop, and so I figured you would have delved into Obama superior knowledge of world affairs over the feable-minded McCain! I was particularly interested your take on McCain’s explanation of Obama’s earmarks, and the fact that he has asked for “…$1M for every day he has been in Washington”.
Excerpt –
McCain: “Now, Senator Obama, you wanted to know one of the differences. a million dollars for every day that he’s been in the United States Senate. I suggest that people go up on the Web site of Citizens Against Government Waste, and they’ll look at those projects. That kind of thing is not the way to rein in runaway spending in Washington, D.C. That’s one of the fundamental differences that Senator Obama and I have.”
OBAMA: Well, Senator McCain is absolutely right that the earmarks process has been abused, which is why I suspended any requests for my home state, whether it was for senior centers or what have you, until we cleaned it up. And he’s also right that oftentimes lobbyists and special interests are the ones that are introducing these kinds of requests, although that wasn’t the case with me.
McCain: Senator Obama suspended those requests for pork-barrel projects after he was running for president of the United States. He didn’t happen to see that light during the first three years as a member of the United States Senate, $932 million in requests.
I’d say the old guy trumped the empty suit on this one!
Then there was the memorable exchange on Afghanistan:
MCCAIN: Senator Obama is the chairperson of a committee that oversights NATO that’s in Afghanistan. To this day, he has never had a hearing.
OBAMA: Look, I’m very proud of my vice presidential selection, Joe Biden, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and as he explains, and as John well knows, the issues of Afghanistan, the issues of Iraq, critical issues like that, don’t go through my subcommittee because they’re done as a committee as a whole.
Looks like Obama was running to Papa Joe, instead of trying to face the old man on this issue.
There are so many excellent quips that McCain did to spank Obama, like his knowing Kissinger for over 30 years, and saying that he knows for a fact that Kissinger didn’t say what Obama repored. Obama had to run to Lehrer for milk and cookies, yet again.
Finally, there was the discussion of Russia. Talk about separating the men from the boys. You will undoubtedly recognize the roles…
MCCAIN: Well, I was interested in Senator Obama’s reaction to the Russian aggression against Georgia. His first statement was, “Both sides ought to show restraint.”
Again, a little bit of naivete there. He doesn’t understand that Russia committed serious aggression against Georgia. And Russia has now become a nation fueled by petro-dollars that is basically a KGB apparatchik-run government.
I looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes, and I saw three letters, a “K,” a “G,” and a “B.” And their aggression in Georgia is not acceptable behavior.
I don’t believe we’re going to go back to the Cold War. I am sure that that will not happen. But I do believe that we need to bolster our friends and allies. And that wasn’t just about a problem between Georgia and Russia. It had everything to do with energy.
There’s a pipeline that runs from the Caspian through Georgia through Turkey. And, of course, we know that the Russians control other sources of energy into Europe, which they have used from time to time.
It’s not accidental that the presidents of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine flew to Georgia, flew to Tbilisi, where I have spent significant amount of time with a great young president, Misha Saakashvili.
MCCAIN: And they showed solidarity with them, but, also, they are very concerned about the Russian threats to regain their status of the old Russian to regain their status of the old Russian empire.
Now, I think the Russians ought to understand that we will support — we, the United States — will support the inclusion of Georgia and Ukraine in the natural process, inclusion into NATO.
We also ought to make it very clear that the Russians are in violation of their cease-fire agreement. They have stationed additional troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
By the way, I went there once, and we went inside and drove in, and there was a huge poster. And this is — this is Georgian territory. And there was a huge poster of Vladimir Putin, and it said, “Vladimir Putin, our president.”
It was very clear, the Russian intentions towards Georgia. They were just waiting to seize the opportunity.
So, this is a very difficult situation. We want to work with the Russians. But we also have every right to expect the Russians to behave in a fashion and keeping with a — with a — with a country who respects international boundaries and the norms of international behavior.
And watch Ukraine. This whole thing has got a lot to do with Ukraine, Crimea, the base of the Russian fleet in Sevastopol. And the breakdown of the political process in Ukraine between Tymoshenko and Yushchenko is a very serious problem.
So watch Ukraine, and let’s make sure that we — that the Ukrainians understand that we are their friend and ally.
LEHRER: You see any — do you have a major difference with what he just said?
OBAMA: No, actually, I think Senator McCain and I agree for the most part on these issues. Obviously, I disagree with this notion that somehow we did not forcefully object to Russians going into Georgia.
Obama essentially got a real-life lesson on “been there done that” from an old man! The true independents will know who is ready to lead.
“You really do understand the adage, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul’s vote.”
And eventually you become Petered out.
love #4′s comment.
got a new name for obama – ohbummer!
does anyone understand why articles such as these are not transmitted to the general media, via the more commercial means of written and oral communication? it is not possible to have this much bias before an election, is it?
new obama slogan if elected: ohbummer!