There’s been a lot of speculation on how and why the Republicans lost the election. It could be as simple as the Democrats having a vastly better candidate, which certainly seems to be the case, however that does not explain the vast degree to which they lost. The Republicans went from having control of the presidency, the supreme court, and both houses of congress to losing all of them (given the age of some of the supreme court justices, it’s only a matter of time.) The speculation continues on what caused this but for my hypothosis I’d say it was the love. Republicans lost the love.
There’s a bit of poetry in the book of Corinthians that says:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love,
I have become resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
The Republicans have been talking a good game, they haven’t changed their verbiage since Reagan. But Reagan at least, as my friend put it so eloquently, “Believed in the inherent goodness of the American People.” While many people have issues with Reagan’s policies, he honestly believed that Americans were good people and he believed that what he was doing was the right thing to do to help the country and the individuals living in it. He loved Americans.
Since then, the love has been replaced by a quiet (and sometimes noisy) cynicism. The Republicans lost when Bush failed in his response to Hurricane Katrina. The Republicans lost when they stop-lossed our troups. The Republicans lost when images of Walter Reed hospital were released. The Republicans lost when they, as a party, stopped caring about average Americans. Their idea was give enough to the rich and the wealth would eventually trickle down to the poor. Though they gave eloquent speaches, they’re words became like clanging cymbals.
Now the Republicans are lost in the wasteland pointing fingers at each other and trying to figure out what went wrong. We will wait and see whether they find the answers they are looking for, but unless they find the love, their reason for existing as an organization, it will be very difficult for them to return to power. And really, we need the balance or the Republicans will go the way of Bull-Moose and the Whigs to be replaced by another party that finds something beautiful and worth fighting for in this wonderful experiment we call America.
Thank God! The election is over and our new president elect is Barack Obama! Finally! An articulate, intelligent, thoughtful, president who will, if his campaign promises and his understanding of history are anything to go by, listen to both sides of the issues. Score one for hope! If his campaign is anything to go by, he will run a disiplined white-house. Booya!
Of couse President-elect Obama would not have been able to come to this point without a huge assist from the Republicans. Their general incompetance, pettiness, and hypocracy were invaluable in making this happen. Frankly, they have lost what they stand for. Quite simply, the Republicans did not give any clear idea where they would take the country if elected. They ran on their opponent being scary. Even if you’re successful in scaring the voters away from said opponent, it doesn’t really make them more inclined to vote for your party. But really it was down to their utter, utter hypocracy and the shallow hollows that their principles had become.
The Republican party is the party of self-reliance, so they let people fend for themselves and went about helping big businesses increase their profits. They’re the “fiscally responsible” party yet approved billions for two wars and gave no-bid contracts to thier cronies. They were the party of high morals, yet are under indictment for corruption.
Hopefully with the new president we will have a government run by competence. The democrats have two years. Two years to show that they can run the country as if it’s the United States and not just the red or blue states. Two years to show they can get stuff done that is in the best interst of the majority of Americans and not just friends and cronies. If they let their power go to thier heads, midterm elections will not be kind to them. History will not be kind to them. On the plus side, if that does happen we’ll be back to my optimal state of government: Democratic president, Republican congress.
Also on the plus side, I can go back to being a centrist. I like being on the fence, not taking either side. This election I picked a side. I think I picked the right side. We shall see. I am quite happy I will no longer be called on the defend my choice against the fear, uncertainty, and doubt thown around by the Right in this election. Hopefully in the next few years the Republican’s time in the desert will do them good and they will return to the principles that brought them to prominence with the election of Abraham Lincoln and inspired the nation like Ronald Reagan. I will say what the Right needs now is a new leader, like a Lincoln or Reagan. The Left has found a new JFK, a new FDR. The Republicans need to figure out where they want to take the country and convince those of us on the fence that this plan is the best plan for moving this country forward. Time marches forward. Any policies based only on keeping what we have will ultimately lead to our losing those things. We need to keep moving forward. And we need to pray for our new president and be willing to do our part to make this country, and this world a better place.
My initial gut reaction to the debate tonight was that John McCain won. He got in more snappy comebacks and sound-bytes. After the debate was over, I must say that despite this gut feeling, I liked Obama’s performance better. Obama came off as gracious, knowledgeable, and likable. McCain came off as mean, gruff, and not entirely honest. (If the number of times Obama objected to McCain’s statements as “just not true” were any indication.)
This afternoon, in a discussion at work, I said that regardless of what happens, both sides will declare victory. That is certainly the case. (Although the McCain campaign apparently jumped the gun and declared victory this morning before McCain had even confirmed there was going to BE a debate.) Hopefully a few people learned some things and maybe even a few people changed their minds. We can hope.
A coworker who I have a running political debate with (I’m nothing if not an argumentative bastard) sent me the following email. In my response I actually had to do some research so I figured I would post the fruits of my labors here and let it do double duty.
The following was pointed out last night while Colmes Interviewed Dick Morris.
Statement – McCain voted the same way as bush 90% of the time
Reality:
Most were budget votes where there are two sets of numbers and you are voting one way or the other.
Look at the 9 most critical issues, and you will see that McCain and Bush differed:
torture
the surge
campaign finance
tobacco
banning golden parachutes
assuring worker pensions in mergers
global warming
energy
judicial confirmation
9 of the most crucial issues, and McCain and Bush disagreed.
The 10% where McCain broke with Bush listed above (I see no mention of the two main ones, the economy and the war) I’ll address here:
torture – Surprising that after being tortured McCain would be opposed to it. *eye roll* I’m actually more shocked that the Republicans are admitting that the Republican Bush administration WAS IN FAVOR OF TORTURE!!! So even if McCain opposed torture, it was the Republicans who were in favor of it! Not a terribly strong argument to make when you’re running to keep your party in the white-house and your party is, or recently has been, in favor of torture.
the Surge – first this: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/pfotenhauer-bush-surge/
Bush didn’t oppose the surge. Secondly, the surge did work but that’s like saying you decided to build your castle on a swamp even when everyone says it’s daft to build a castle on a swamp, but you build it all the same! Just to show ‘em! And it sinks into the swamp. So you build it again! And it sinks into the swamp. You build it again and that burns down, falls over and sinks into the swamp. But then you send a bunch of extra workers out and they manage to build you a castle that stays up. Just because it succeeded eventually doesn’t make the whole idea of the war (Which McCain has wholeheartedly supported since even before it started. I can find the video clips to prove it if you press me) not foolish.
campaign finance – “I wouldn’t have signed it if I was really unhappy with it,” Bush told reporters, according to the Washington Post. “I think it improves the system.”
Tobacco – What? Who cares? Was bush in favor of tobacco or against it? This is hardly an election level difference. Seriously, this is supposed to be the 9 most critical issues of this election? Or just the 9 most critical things McCain has disagreed with the president on? Cause either way, this is kind of sad.
banning golden parachutes – Cool! Another thing I actually agree with John McCain on! I couldn’t actually find any information on this one except in lists of Republican talking points on how McCain differs from Bush but I’m all for it. The fact that this is something that McCain had to break with his party on is, as in my above paragraph on torture, kind of sad and doesn’t really improve my opinion of Republicans much.
assuring worker pensions in mergers – Another one I’m all for, but couldn’t find any actual information on. Not even a list of Republican Talking points. Also, Bush was against people keeping their pensions in mergers? Seriously, WTF?
global warming – All well and good, but he chose as his running mate someone who denies that global warming is man-made (something I’m actually not 100% convinced on either to be honest, but still.) These days, even President Bush believes in Global warming. Or at least Global Climate Change, because Bush can never seem to agree to call anything what it is. (IE, time table = general time horizon.)
energy – It’s fairly obvious that Bush and Cheney are in the pocket of the oil companies. That McCain is not is refreshing, certainly. But then he chose Governor Palin for the ticket who is. (See that whole pipe-line-is-god’s-will thing or just her quote “I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can’t drill our way out of our problem or that more supply won’t ultimately affect prices.” Agree somewhat with the last bit, certainly not the first part though.) As part of my “Try to find good things about John McCain project from a month ago, I said that McCain’s energy policy is much more robust than the Obama campaign is claiming (Drill, Drill, Drill) however it was hard to tell from watching the RNC and all the “Drill now!” signs in attendance and no real mention of any other forms of energy.
judicial confirmation – Uh… what? Which judges was he opposed to?
Quote from McCain: “Let me just look you in the eye, I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible], and I am proud of my record of working to get them confirmed, and people who worked to get them confirmed will tell you how hard I worked.”
And now those two I mentioned earlier:
the economy – McCain’s senior economic advisor and co-author of McCain’s economic policy (now technically former advisor, but still handing out free advice and considered by many in the media to be a shoe in for treasury secretary should John McCain become president) Phil Graham was instrumental in deregulating the energy industry, allowing speculation on oil prices that have lead to our current gas price mess and also aiding the likes of Enron and their gaming of the California energy market (rolling brow-outs, remember them?) He was also instrumental in furthering deregulation of the mortgage industry and we all see how well that worked. Still, the fundamentals are strong, right guys?
the war – McCain has been a proponent of the Iraq war since before it started and while his “100 years” comments were taken out of context, the fact is that even after the Bush administration and the Iraqis are starting to talk time-tables for withdrawal, McCain is still in favor of us staying there and spending 10 billion dollars a month. (Oh hey! There’s something else they disagree on!)
Really though, all of this is of secondary concern. Hell, I’m on record saying that I wish Obama would get off this McCain = Bush line of attack. I watched both the Democratic and the Republican conventions. I heard a lot from both camps on why we shouldn’t vote for either candidate (Bob Barr is looking better and better…) However, what I was listening for really wasn’t the partisan bickering over which candidate was better than the other one, who had more experience or the right kind of experiences, it was the question of where the candidates would take this country if elected. And I like where Obama wants to take the country. Sure, he may not make it to the land of world peace, great economy, blue skies, clean water, and a sun-flower in every driveway, but at least he is trying to take us in a positive direction. I hope you all have gotten a chance to listen to McCain’s acceptance speech at the RNC. Listening to it and all the other speeches at that event, I never got a clear view of where exactly the Republicans were going to take us, I can only guess that we’re already there. After all, the Republicans have been in control of our government for 7 out of the last 8 years and the last year or so that the democrats have had “Control” of the Senate, the Democrats had 50 votes, the Republicans had 49, and Joe Lieberman (McCains BFF) and Dick Cheney were the tie breakers. (No wonder they can’t get anything done.)
It’s odd that the Republicans seem to be running against themselves so much. Is McCain’s best selling point really that he’s a maverick and went against his own party lots? What does that say about said party and why, even if their candidate is a maverick, would we want to reward them with another 4 years in power?
I consider myself a centrist. I believe that America is Purple, just like it says in the title, and that the greatest wisdom is found in the center between the right and the left but this election is making me so mad I’m about to turn blue. To be quite honest, I think the Republicans are going to win this one. I hope not, but their attack machine is too good at what they do. I saw it at work tonight at day two (well, one and a half) of the RNC. I’ve heard of double standards, but the Republican standards machine makes the IRS’ tax code look like a children’s book. “Experience matters when it’s our candidate that has the experience. If our candidate has little experience, then the type of experience they have is worth more than the experience the other guys have even if the experience the other guys have is the same as our other candidate.” It’s mind boggling.
A liberal blogger wrote the other day on the nomination of Governor Palin that democrats should be very careful in attacking Palin because the Republicans are experts at making weakness appear to be strength. That was in full force tonight. My first thoughts after reading up on Palin were “It’s a Trap!” I call it Rovian judo. You get a candidate that is likable and relatible for the segment of the country that falls for such things, then anytime anyone attacks them, it becomes an elitist attack from those damn liberals that think they’re so much better than you with their “Experience” and “Judgment.” It’s how Bush got elected twice. Weakness is Strength. And if the media, even the conservative owned portion which is quite large these days, attacks your candidate with facts about them that you don’t like, well it’s that damn liberal media attacking good people just like you again. Aren’t they mean? I counted several caustic statements in tonight’s speeches directly aimed at painting the media as being friends of the democrats despite the study showing that the media is critical of Obama 78% of the time. If everyone thinks the media is biased, they’ll ignore even legitimate questions about your candidate’s character or experience. So it pays, even when the media is on your side, to always attack the media.
And in the other game I played tonight, which had it been a drinking game I would have stayed quite sober, I counted 5 minorities in the crowd at the RNC. I’m not sure, but I may have been counting the same one a couple times. I’ll have to get some drinks for tomorrow night. Not sure it’d make watching this any more bearable.
What with Obama taking a well deserved and strategic vacation this week, I thought I would focus in on the other candidate in this race. I’ve previously discussed my general disgust with his complete about face from eight years ago when I supported him for President over both George Bush and Al Gore, however I felt that if I’m calling myself a centrist I should at least attempt to see the better side of John McCain. He has not been making it terribly easy and it’s only Tuesday. On the heels of his celebrity ad showing Obama as a vapid celebritard the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, his latest ad makes the bold (and completely untrue) claim that Obama will raise the taxes of anyone making $42,000 per year or more. (Obama’s tax plan would actually double McCain’s tax cuts to people making less than $100,000 per year.) Then there’s his latest rhetorical dick-waving at Russia over the invasion of Georgia (the country, not the state. Red Dawn Southern Style averted!) McCain either thinks that the cold war is still going on, or he would like to start World War III. Due to the two wars we’re fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan we simply do not have any spare troops available to take on Russia, so threatening them is just silly at best. As you can see, I’m not off to a very good start at liking McCain. To try and balance this out a little, here’s a few positive things I can say about him.
1)“He has a comprehensive energy policy.” In the same way that the McCain camp has tried to paint Obama’s energy plan as just “Inflate your tires,” Obama’s camp has painted McCain’s policy as “Drill for it!” Neither one is true. McCain’s energy policy also includes new nuclear plants, and wind and solar energy. I prefer Obama’s emphasis on new technology and innovation (and dislike his pushing ethanol which has a very low bang for the buck and contributes to the hike in food costs), but McCain’s energy policy is at least a far cry from the “Hey, our friends in the oil industry are making a killing! Suck it!” energy policy of George W. Bush.
2)“He at least admits there’s a problem with our economy.” Our current president does not believe there is anything wrong with the good ole US of A. While I don’t think he’s the best person to lead us out of this mess, McCain is still light-years ahead of Bush in at least acknowledging that there is, in fact, a problem.
3) “He has a history of bi-partisanship.” While the last eight years have seen John McCain make the arduous journey to the far right, he has in the past been much less partisan. In the quest to clinch his party’s nomination and fire up his party’s base, McCain has adopted the vast majority (94%) of Bush’s policies. This stands in stark contrast to his previous record of level-headed pragmatism. One can hope (although all the signs lately disagree with the possibility) that if elected, John McCain would return to his more even-handed roots. A return to the John McCain of 2000, while unlikely, would be most welcome. If, having won the election, he is able to wrest his soul back from the devil it could mean good things for the country.
4)“He has a sense of humor.” Sure it comes off now more like Grandpa telling bad jokes around the table at thanksgiving dinner, but he at least still is capable of acknowledging the existence of humor. Before his shift to the right, he was a favorite on the Daily Show with John Stewart and showed a lot of wit and charm. Lately his jokes have been falling flat. A senator making such jokes is one thing, a candidate for president is a bit scary (cause you’re never 100% sure if “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran” is a joke or not), but at least he’s making an effort. I kind of wish he’d return to the self-deprecating humor he’s used in the past. Given his charge that Obama is an over-inflated celebrity, it might help his cause. If nothing else it would help him to be a bit more likable provided he doesn’t overdo it and end up in the Lieberman “Woe is me” zone.
Okay, so most of the things I’m able to find likable about McCain are nostalgic memories from eight years ago, but I can at least bring myself to believe that there is some good left in him, even if he is more neo-con now than maverick, twisted and sold-out. It’s a start.
First some background on this post: The CEO of the company I work for has a very interesting political perspective and is frequently asking us thought provoking questions. Being as I am not terribly quick on my feet when it comes to verbal conversations (I’d never make it as a pundit,) I’ll attempt to answer his latest ones here. Supposedly how you answer these questions will tell you if you are actually a Republican or a Democrat.
1) Do we pay too much in taxes? Too little? Just enough?
My initial reaction would be that we pay to much tax, because quite frankly I hate having to pay taxes. However, given that we have borrowed $600 billion dollars from China and our national debt is skyrocketing thus lowering the value of the dollar to the point that Canadians are making “What’s that in real money” jokes at our expense instead of the other way around, it may just be possible that we might be paying too little on our taxes. Let me ask a question here, has there been a single war in history that was not financed in some way by a raising of taxes? (More on this in question 3)
2) Are our doctors the best in the world?
Nope, we’re 18th in the world as far as health care is concerned. Hanging out this past weekend listening to my mother-in-law’s stories (she’s a nurse) leaves me skeptical of the idea that our doctors are the best in the world. Best in the world or not, there are a lot of people in this country who do not have the privilege of seeing a doctor because the way our system is set up, the only people the insurance companies want to give health insurance to is the healthy. (Which is a sound business decision on their part, but kind of defeats the purpose.) Allowing hospitals to be for-profit enterprises in the best case leads to increased choices, higher quality, and better care than any type of socialized medicine. In the worst case, it leads to loss of caring for many of the people who need it most, especially from the all too often callous insurance companies. The real trick is to balance the needs of the patients with the needs of medical businesses to make money. How would you best ensure that balance?
3) Should we finish what we started in Iraq?
I counter your question with this question: What did we start in Iraq that we are supposed to finish? We went into Iraq originally because we believed that a) Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and b) Saddam was a threat to our interests and allies in the region. It turns out there were no WMDs in Iraq, and we captured and executed Saddam. Now we’re stuck in a 5 way civil war in Iraq, between us, the Shiites, the Sunnis, the Kurds, and “Al Qaeda in Iraq” and have spent $750 billion dollars ($600 billion of which we borrowed from China, as previously stated) with nothing to really show for it except $4/gallon gas. We have finished what we started and then some. Ignoring the ret-con’ed reasons for going to war, the real questions should be, “What constitutes victory in Iraq?” and “Is that victory attainable through any of our current means?”
4) Should we be able to determine where our tax money goes?
Oh heavens no. But we, the American people, should have a lot better oversight of where it does go. For instance, I’d like to know where that $9 billion went. I think the American people might be a bit more willing to pay thier taxes if they didn’t think that the government was wasting it ($50 for an ash-tray, $300 for a hammer, etc.) and if they are wasting the taxpayer’s money, there should be a national outcry and those in the government that authorized it should be held accountable. …and as long as I’m dreaming, I’d like a pony.
I am sorry to say that I am getting very sick of this election cycle. I made the tragic mistake of watching pundits. The media has been spinning their wheels, analyzing and analyzing back and forth. The pundits seem to think that they can tell what the mythical Average American Voter will glean from any minor flub or gaff. We haven’t even gotten to the conventions yet and we’re spending hours of our time analyzing every word or change of phrasing. The candidates have not said anything new in months. They say the same thing in a slightly different way and oh my God! Flip flop!
NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS! NONE OF THIS WILL MATTER IN NOVEMBER. THE ONLY THING THAT WILL MATTER IN NOVEMBER IS THE STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN LATE OCTOBER!
What I would like to see in the run-up to the election in November would be to take an issue a day and show us where each candidate stands and give us the argument for and against those positions. That’s all we need at that point. For now, I’m almost longing for the days of frivolous news stories. What is Brittany up to these days?
…I take it back. I’ll take this crap over that crap any day.
Professor Elwell, you’re a little man. It’s not that you’re short. You’re…little, in the mind and in the heart. Tonight, you tried to make a man little whose boots you couldn’t touch if you stood on tiptoe on top of the highest mountain in the world. And as it turned out…you’re even littler than you were before. – Mr. Shunderson, People will Talk (1951)
Eight years ago, as I have written about before, I supported John McCain for President. At the time he seemed larger than life, a straight shooter, and even if you didn’t always agree with him, you knew where he stood and could respect that. The intervening 8 years have managed to shrink Senator McCain to fit the standard Republican mold. Gone is the maverick, the centrist, the common sense senator from Arizona. Today he has a record of voting with President Bush 95% of the time at the same time he attempts to distance himself from the beleaguered president.
On Tuesday evening, before Clinton and Obama gave their speeches and before a hideous green screen, Senator McCain began an assault on the Democratic nominee. The speech was ungracious to say the least. Clinton’s speech next was also lacking in grace to the extreme, but while Clinton’s speech made me angry at Clinton for her complete denial of objective reality, McCain’s speech creeped me the hell out. I’ve seen John McCain on the Daily Show in better years and I know he has a sense of humor and have seen him genuinely laugh. Whenever he laughed or smiled during this speech, he looked like a rigid corpse. And while I do not approve of basing a voting decision on who looks better, I noticed that one of Senator McCain’s eyes is smaller than the other and I couldn’t stop staring at it, adding as it did to the creepiness factor. “Who is this man?” I shouted. Who is this doppelganger? What have you done to Senator McCain? Has he been body-snatched? Is there a thing living inside him poking through as the skin rots? See what I mean?
Obama’s speech on the other hand was gracious to both candidates and looked, dare I say, Presidential. See it here:
I recently had a conversation with a friend who is not a big fan of Senator Obama. He said that Obama is great at making speeches, but none of his supporters even know where he stands on the issues. Being that I am terrible at thinking on my feet in these types of situations, I didn’t really have an answer for that other than it seeming to be a critique more of the average Obama supporter than Obama himself, which I also did not state. If pressed I might have said that the average Obama supporter probably doesn’t know where he stands on the issues in the same exact way as Clinton or McCain supporters don’t. (Hillary supports health care and a gas tax holiday. Average Clinton supporter know anything beyond that? And who knows what McCain supports these days since it seems to be the exact opposite of what he supported 8 years ago when he lost to Bush.) But honestly, it’s time to stop this nonsense, and I’m as guilty as anyone of Clinton hate. The last two elections I have voted for the lesser of two evils. I supported McCain in 2000, but he lost in the primaries so I was forced to vote for Bush. (In hind-sight that may not have been the lesser evil.) I supported Kerry in 2004 (in that I grudgingly voted for that smarmy bastard) and he lost to Bush. I want to be able to vote FOR someone this year instead of against someone or unenthusiastically fill in the circle for the candidate who I deem will screw up the country less. So let’s get back to what attracted me to Obama in the first place. Here are some things that impressed me about Senator Obama enough that I now support him instead of making jokes about the “Obama-nation.”
1) Honesty - I know some people will argue with me on this one, saying that Obama is a fake, a shell game, someone who puts on a front to appeal to people but has no substance. I’ve heard that argument and I reject it based on a couple of things. The first is his handling of Rev. Wright. He’s still taking crap about it, but when this manufactured scandal broke, Obama did not “Throw Rev. Wright under the bus” as so many pundits love to talk about. He spoke honestly to the American people about race in this country, the feelings on both sides, and the struggles we all face sharing this great country. When his “Clinging to guns and religion” gaffe came out, he did not deny it he explained it. He is saying the same things even now (although worded a lot more carefully.)
2) Duality – Obama is both Black and White. He is, by background or some innate ability, uniquely able to see and understand both sides of the issues. While he takes one side, he actually takes the time to understand the arguments against it. It goes back a ways, but while in the Illinois legislature he passed a law requiring all police interrogations to be video-taped. The law was opposed by law enforcement but Obama met with his opponents and won them over. He actually addressed their concerns. Our current president doesn’t listen to polls and refuses to answer to the increasing number of people who oppose his policies (72% of the country last I checked.) Obama has the potential to be what I have wanted in a president for a long, long time: Someone who is president of the United States of America and not just the red-states or the blue-states.
3) Speeches – The first time I actually LISTENED to Obama, was not his famous speech in ‘02. I instead came late to the game and listened to a speech he gave on Religion on June 28, 2007. Some say that Obama is all speech and no action. I don’t see a problem with that. Name a single president since George Washington that is known more for what he did than what he said. Nixon? Grant? Perhaps someone can tell me if I’m wrong on this, but George Washington was the first and only president to lead his troops into battle (in the whiskey rebellion if you’re curious.) Since then the President of the United States of America is there to meet with people and give speeches. Speeches are the “Doing things” of the presidency.
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent…”
Good presidents are remembered for what they said, bad presidents are remembered for what they did. Will anyone remember a single speech that President Bush gave? Obama is not president and people already remember his “speech in 2002″ and his “A more perfect union” speech on race. As president, Obama will continue to speak out and set the tone for the nation.
4) Tone – The president sets the tone for the nation’s discourse. He is the face of America to the rest of the world. Obama’s message of hope, personal responsibility, and involvement of the people in the workings of government is just what this country needs right now. We face enormous challenges in the coming years and if the cynical, jaded nature of most of us bitter Americans continues to hold sway, we stand no chance of facing them. We will slip quietly into recession, depression, and irrelevance to the rest of the world. We need a message of hope right now and that message of hope is resonating with millions of people across this nation. I went to the rally where Edwards endorsed Obama in Grand Rapids, MI and sat in the crowd. There was an awesome feeling of excitement there that was incredibly refreshing after watching the cynical talking heads on TV for weeks on end.
5) Transparency – I have read through Obama’s positions on just about everything (They’re available right on his website) and agree with most of them. The one that I like the most out of Obama’s camp is his focus on Transparency in government. The Bush administration has been the most secretive one in history, and Obama plans on making the government accountable to the people again. That alone is reason enough to vote for him in my book.
All things considered, I admire Obama’s ability to communicate and imbue his supporters with enthusiasm but that is not why I support him for President. I support him for President because out of all the candidates I believe he alone stands a chance at making the states of America united again.
