Node Of Evil - Fair And Balanced Reporting

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

 
Why I Support Barak Obama for President

Once again, the Republican party has made the decision for President blindingly simple. Do you:

a.) Vote for the ticket that includes a soon-to-be indicted first-term governor of one of the smallest states in the Union (with a population of about 700,000) and is headed by Mr. Keating Five himself?

or

b.) Vote for the ticket that has real foreign policy experience and chops and is headed by a man who knows a thing or two about dealing with people.

To me the choice is clearer than any other election I can remember, with the possible exception of Kerry v. Bush in 2004. On character, priorities, policy, likability, philosophy, and just about every other scale of measurement Obama comes out so far ahead of McCain that it's not even a real question. I've mentioned to others that it's like choosing between having a real person as President or a watermelon (or a pig wearing lipstick).

It is truly sad to see that McCain has ossified into a weird combination of Joe Lieberman and George W Bush. I thought he was a good choice (for a Republican, anyways) in 2000 and felt that the Rovian tactics used against him in the primaries were shameful in the extreme. It seems that McCain was shocked and awed enough by those tactics to employ them himself in this campaign. The result has not been pretty, and I would be very surprised if his political career survives after this election. He's told a string of lies a mile long, only surpassed by those told by Palin (who's set something of a land speed record in that regard, telling more lies in the last week and a half than anyone who's run for political office that I can remember). George W Bush is a front-man for a cadre of thugs and nutjobs who've stripped everything decent from the office of President and sold it out wholesale to the highest bidder. Joe Lieberman lost his primary, won reelection as a Democratic-leaning independent and then, after Obama campaigned for his reelection, endorsed John McCain. Political backstabbing of that nature bespeaks character and judgment flaws that are beyond what we usually find in politicians. The fact that John McCain has adopted the most odious aspects of both their characters makes him unacceptable as President.

Thankfully we have an excellent candidate in Barak Obama. He is green, arguably almost as green as Palin. However, having spent the last few weeks interviewing candidates for jobs at my current employer, it's easy to see that he'd be a quick study. Like Clinton, he has the kind of mind that thrives on the challenges you face as President. He also has a stellar record of personal character and family values. Certainly better than McCain, who divorced his first wife after she became a quadriplegic to marry a wealthy beer heiress. Obama is actually concerned with the lives of regular people and gets that America faces real economic challenges. More importantly, he has a plan that addresses those challenges in a way that is fair and clear-headed.

Joe Biden, as I've stated above, has a long history of foreign policy experience and the kind of mental toughness that comes with it. If the Cheney administration is any indicator, America seems to be o.k. with having a very active Vice President who is often practically running our foreign policy. In Joe Biden's case, that's not a bad thing. While I don't necessarily agree with Biden's stances on every issue (for instance, I disagreed strongly with his idea for "partitioning" Iraq), he does do many other things right (I agreed with his diagnosis in that speech of the challenges we faced in Iraq). Enough so that I have full confidence in his ability to give sound advice and perform whatever functions he needs to perform in that arena.

I therefore wholeheartedly support Obama/Biden and will do whatever I can (however small those efforts may be) to ensure that they win in November. We need a real President.

Andrew 4:40 PM : |

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