why I voted for Obama

[elemess]

I had planned on writing up this brilliant essay worthy of publication in a respected newspaper (or at least the AJC), but instead I pounded this out in the last half hour or so. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to my second job so I can afford to feed my dog.

Comments

[karmalingoist3]

i could not have said it better.

amen sir.

[lemon_says]

This is not the same John McCain I could have voted for in 2000.

I'm having problems with that very thing as we speak. I liked 2000 McCain. I vocally supported him, and I have not often done that with elected officials. Not this McCain.

[elemess]

It goes back to judgment. He's lost it. Eight years ago, he never would have plucked Sarah Palin from obscurity in a desperation move to appease the evangelical base. Look how it's backfired on him. He's lost credibility as a moderate, or at least as an independent, and may have cost himself the election and his reputation in the long run for a short term gain.

That's not what we need right now.

I feel bad for the guy, I really do. His road to the White House was predicated on splitting the evangelical vote in the primaries and harnessing their vote in the general to beat Hillary Clinton. The first phase worked to perfection, but when the bugbear that is Hillary lost, he needed someone else to rally the base since he couldn't do it himself. He tried all summer, but they wouldn't bite. He chose to pander to them rather than stand up for himself.

If he loses, I hope he goes back to being the old John McCain, the one that showed up on SNL this weekend. At the very least, he'll keep Obama honest on Iraq.

[lemon_says]

You know what I don't get? It's not like the fundamentalists would have voted for Obama if he didn't get more right-wing, you know? They would have been angry, but they still would have voted for him.

I'm just really disappointed in him. Palin still seems like a joke to me.

[elemess]

The conventional wisdom was that the evangelicals would simply stay home and not vote. Or at least not vote for President. While states like Utah or Arkansas are solidly red, when James Dobson says he's abstaining, states like Colorado and Missouri suddenly go to the Democrats. That's why he picked Palin.

I thought from the beginning McCain would pick former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who was the standard bearer for the evangelicals during the primaries. But Huckabee wouldn't go away even when he had lost and pissed off McCain.

[martina_d]

Excellent.

The thing that I just don't understand with people who are voting McCain, is the white elephant in the room, Palin. Even if you think McCain is the Answer, how could you in good conscience put her in the #2 position? It's not a ridiculous thought that he could become incapacitated sometime during his term, and there she'd be. I can't imagine anyone thinking that would be a good idea.

[elemess]

There are people voting for Palin, not McCain. Others are voting against Obama and/or the Democrats, and not just because he's black, but because he's liberal. The war hawks and those willing to put security over liberty also vote McCain, and there are more of those people than there should be.

I mean, I get it. But if you have any respect for the founding principles of our country, Palin is just a deal breaker. It isn't just the fear of something bad happening to McCain, it's the questionable judgment of choosing her.

[martina_d]

You are so right!