Go Vote for Obama

Unless I’m mistaken, a limp leaf of lettuce could beat John McCain. Personally, I’d kill to see a Gravel vs. Paul main election. At least it’d be interesting.

As you and other skeptics have stated elsewhere, Obama (in spite of his overt religiosity) seems to be the most respectful of issues that are dear to the heart of freethinkers in the U.S., including Church-State separation and government support of science (research and education).

If you agree with most or all aspects of the Iraq War, including keeping troops there for a “hundred years if necessary”, then McCain is your man. If you like someone who styles himself as a “maverick”, but has changed his political opinions quite often (voting agains the Bush tax cuts earlier, than for them later), then McCain is your man. If you like someone who takes a serious questions about Iran and answers it with a layman-like Beach Boys rendition of “Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran”, then McCain is your man.

http://www.alternet.org/election08/75845/

My candidate is also out of the race, but I can definitely not find any qualms about supporting Obama over McCain. Even Ann Coulter said she would support Hillary over McCain. Then again, that’s because she thought Clinton was tougher in the “War on Terror”….

struggled with my choice between hillary and obama. it came down to do we fix what has always been broken in someway. OR MOVE FORWARD INTO 21 CENTURY creating new thoughts and concepts that will move this country and its people towards the greatness that is AMERCIA. OBAMA for president.

I am all for supporting Hillary Clinton, who I think has just as much ability to destroy ANY Republican candidate as Barack Obama (if not more). I believe she is ready for this; he truthfully is not. Too young, to inexperienced, and at such a time when our country is on the brink of collapse, we cannot just hand it over to someone who isn’t ready for the long road ahead.

However, if he gets the nomination…he’ll still be better than ANY Republican candidate!

My older son (now 18 and his first election) and I going to go vote as fast as he gets home from school. 😀 Gee, if we have this much fun together during his first election, I wonder what it will be like when he’s 21 and I buy him his first glass of wine? 😆 I’m a good mama and celebrately age appropraitely. 😀

I notice nobody has commented on that cartoon. Yipes.

I’d like to see a distinct change in US government, but if, at this point, you think we’re not going to have another Republican pres, I’d like to point out the following…

100 million potential voters will stay home this Nov because they always do.
Around 35 million will vote Republican because they always do.
Around 35 million will vote Democrat because they always do.
Around 10% of the electorate, the independents, will decide the election. They always do.

Four years ago they saw that John Kerry differed with George Bush only in a matter of scale, not principle. They tended to either stay home or vote for Bush, who’s BS they could predict and was at least internally consistent.

Today, they see that Hillary and Barak have had the opportunity to at least try to make a substantial opposition to the current administration’s policies by consistently voting against them. They also see that neither of these have made any strong move to do so. A few token votes, but nothing with any power to back up the rhetoric. Obama, for instance, has made claims of intent to end the war, but has utterly failed to do anything to work for that end as a senator. Hillary is in the same boat. If you compare both of their voting histories with their rhetoric, you can easily see that they say one thing and vote another.

Like with religion, everyone knows there’s a certain amount of BS and that’s acceptable to most as long as the rules are clear. Today, the indies can clearly see the BS, just like four years ago. McCain’s BS is more internally consistent. It won’t be about race. It won’t be about gender. It will be about who’s BS is easier to predict, just like it was four years ago.

So, here’s to President McCain (or maybe Romney). Anybody know if Canada is hiring?

Obama has so far promissed the moon (affordable health care for all, peace and love in the Middle East, an end to American jobs being outsourced to places where people actually work for their living …), but said exactly nothing about how he is going to accomplish anything. Nor can we point to any track record on how he accomplished anything in the past, except for winning prestigious positions and marrying a beautiful wife. (That was redundant, wasn’t it?)

This is what makes Obama the perfect choice for educated young people.

Wo Ho! Obama took Georgia and the polls close in MO close in 1 min. Obama is makin’ history! 😀

OBAMA! He’s da BOMB! He’s got Delaware, N.D. Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Utah, Kansas, Minnisota, Connecticut… He needs California and he’s going to blow Billary out of the water with delegates. 😀 YEAH!

We don’t know about Cali yet. Asians and Latinos are going for Billary. 🙁 They are carrying most of the votes for Billary too. Whites and Blacks are supporting Obama. That is what CNN is talking about too. So far, Obama has 12 of the electorial votes and Billary has 22. 🙁 They aren’t done counting there though. Obama really needs Cali to put him over the top.

I voted for Clinton, though I know that in Illinois it doesn’t really matter because Obama is beloved by all (and I like him too, and will vote for him in November, I just like HC better).

Do you honestly think that race will not be an issue in November?

I think that gender is a bigger issue, here. It seems that while there have been plenty of instances of racism for Obama (the “shuck and jive” thing springs to my mind quickest) we have seen way more instances of sexist things being said to and about Clinton, for no other reason than it makes people uncomfortable that a woman is trying to become presendent. Try doing a search for Clinton t-shirts- I have seen dozens of ones calling her a cunt, which makes me livid.

Billary

Can we not, please? I really hate that everyone acts like she is riding her husbands damn coattails. Can we just assume she is her own woman, please?

2) He’s done cocaine.

I had not heard this. I kind of respect him more for admitting it, though (assuming that is how we know).

Can we not, please? I really hate that everyone acts like she is riding her husbands damn coattails. Can we just assume she is her own woman, please?

The fact that I do assume this is the only thing stopping me from voting for her. Or rather not believing this is the only reason I could see for voting for “her.”

Mriana, I don’t have thin skin, but I do tend to see a lot of sexism being thrown at her. A LOT. It’s a little depressing, for instance, to see a Hillary “nut cracker” for sale, or to hear them ask her in a debate if she prefers diamonds or pearls, or having John Edwards make fun of her for crying. I read your comment as sexist. Perhaps it isn’t. It still is a little grating to see a politian referred to by a name that sounds like a relationship fandom.

If you think Bill will be heavily involved in her running the country, well, that is possible. She was heavily involved in his 8 years, according to most. I fail to see proof that means he will be doing all her work, though. She seems strong enough to stand up for herself, if you ask me.

I did like you said, and even encouraged a few friends, but the Clintons still won my state anyway. Sorry. I do agree they’d make weaker candidates than Obama in the general election – they provide so much raw material for the Republican slime machine, even though they have one of their own. If the Clintons are the nominee, I suppose I’d rather see them re-elected than any Republican, but I worry that our country can’t take four more years of ugly divisiveness like the kind that follows them everywhere (whether it’s their fault or not).

Now I’m going to have nightmares where President McCain dies in office of old age and Vice President Huckabee leads a repeal of the Establishment Clause. And shuts down the science funding that feeds me, because we stubborn biologists just won’t agree to spend equal lab time on creation research. Then I wouldn’t even benefit from the end of income taxes. Ooh. So many reasons not to sleep tonight.

My prediction is that McCain will win the republican primary through strategic “deals” with Huckabee and then pick Huckabee as his running-mate.

Well, I stand corrected in that McCain did quite well for himself all on his own.

I do predict, though, that Obama will close the delegate gap a bit in next weeks “Chesapeake” primaries (MD, DC, VA). The Democratic race will go down to the wire.

WHat is it you all see in Obama that makes him the one to defeat the republicans in November?
I see nothing concrete in his speeches (yeah there good but he doesn’t say anything), nothing of value in his voting record that puts him above Hillary.
And he has never been tested in a real fight, and if you all don’t know it, it is going to be a knife fight come november.
Why chance a fight on an unproven fighter? We know hillary is a fighter and we know there are no skeletons in her closet.
Oh and just so you know, I will support the nominee no matter who it is.

thanks

I hate listening to the pundits when they say that the democratic campaign is all about “identity politics”. That’s complete bullshit.

I’m a white male. If I voted for Barack, it’s supposedly because I have a gender bias. I guess if I voted for Hillary it’s because I’m racist???

WTF?@?@ Can we just have a moment… I mean really take a moment and realize the fucking strides this represents for America?

Can we also just for a moment have some equal time parity and talk about how the entire republican field is white men, and NOOOOOO that can’t POSSIBLY be about race or gender. NOOOOOO.

Okay that’s my weekly quota for cuss words.

Mriana,

I took the time to read your blog post, and while it’s not contentless, it’s certainly not a compelling, or detailed presentation for why you support Obama.

#1 “He has my family’s values”
#2 “…his childhood story is the combined story of my sons…”
#3 ” I have always believed in hope- there is no such thing as false hope.”

The first reason is a perfectly good one, although I should hope that your family is not like the borg, and you actually mean your independent values, and your family has varied views on lots of subjects. You don’t mention what those values are, and that’s a charge against Obama as well. Do you have to go through an iniation ceremony, or pay money, before you actually get to hear Obama’s values?

Really, reason number two is having similar experiences as your children therefore being a role model? Would that mean if you would have had girls you’d be voting for Hillary?

I think if anything has been learnt from the Bush debacle, it’s that hope can be false, and hope doesn’t fix Iraq, sometimes outcomes are predictable, and they’re not always good. Right now I’d be looking for plans based on what we know, through evidence, targets and timetables are good thing. What do you call hope in the face of evidence to the contrary?

Mriana,
I went and read the blog post in the link you posted and still nothing but hope and a dream.
Not one substantial statement of fact or even a hint of his plans. NOTHING!
This is what makes me so confused about the Obama crowd. they have NOTHING.

Some claim he never voted for the war or claim he voted against it. Thats because he was not in a position to vote. However his voting record on the war since is identical to Hillary.
Explain that one.

Some of you claim Hillary has many things in her closet, well if that was true the $80 million dollars of our money the republicans have spent trying to find something would have turned up something, but no, again NOTHING!
The Media is suckering you all in by not examining Obama and reporting his on his voteing record. He will be swiftboated into oblivion if by chance he gets the nomination, which I doubt he will.
The swift boat crowd will have him made out to be a cocain useing muslim madressa recuiter who belongs to church that gave Fahrakan and award.
They will make him out to be just another chicago politician who is on the take with all his dealings with slum lords and shaddy internship awards.
Come on, anyone, one substantial thing, one reason to switch my vote to Obama.
PLEASE

Evolouie said,

February 6, 2008 at 12:44 pm

Mriana,
I went and read the blog post in the link you posted and still nothing but hope and a dream.
Not one substantial statement of fact or even a hint of his plans. NOTHING!
This is what makes me so confused about the Obama crowd. they have NOTHING.

You asked why I support him. You didn’t ask of his plans. IF you want that, go to the main Obama site and then click the issues tab. You will see PDF files detailing his plans.

It’s not because he isn’t in the position to vote, it was because he was against it from the start. He didn’t want us to be in Iraq to begin with. He wasn’t to pull us out of Iraq. It has NOT been like Billary’s. She flipped-flopped- one day for it, the next day against it. Obama never flipped or flopped once.

He is not a cocaine using Muslim. He NEVER was a Muslim. He lived over there for a while, but he never went to a Muslim school nor was he a Muslim. The issues he has when he was kid were then, not now. He’s overcome whole lot and I admire him for that.

I’ve campaign for this man for months. I know what his stance is on the issues and I know what he’s about. IF you want to know his stance on the issues go to his site and click on the issues.

Aj said,

February 6, 2008 at 11:24 am

Mriana,

I took the time to read your blog post, and while it’s not contentless, it’s certainly not a compelling, or detailed presentation for why you support Obama.

#1 “He has my family’s values”
#2 “…his childhood story is the combined story of my sons…”
#3 ” I have always believed in hope- there is no such thing as false hope.”

The first reason is a perfectly good one, although I should hope that your family is not like the borg, and you actually mean your independent values, and your family has varied views on lots of subjects.

AJ, #2 was inspiration.

So, inspiration is the #2 reason.

You completely missed that I guess and #3 was speaks the same language.

Do you have to go through an iniation ceremony, or pay money, before you actually get to hear Obama’s values?

Does anyone know how to read or listen? He’s been talking about all it the whole time. Go to his main website and click the “Issues” button. You will find PDF files giving full details of his plans under each issue. 🙄

Would that mean if you would have had girls you’d be voting for Hillary?

Hell no! She doesn’t appeal to me at all. She wants to stay in this war with Iraq and has been flip-flopping from the beginning. She shares none of my values.

MikeClawson said,

February 6, 2008 at 2:03 pm

Come on, anyone, one substantial thing, one reason to switch my vote to Obama.
PLEASE

Evolouie, what is preventing you from simply going to Obama’s campaign site and reading about his positions and Plan for America yourself? There are a lot of specifics there.

Thank you, Mike. At least someone is making logical sense and talking REASON, instead of ignorance. I’ll be damned too! He’s a Christian minister! 😯 Seems to me all the past insults thrown at Mike in the past month are also unfounded. You see? Christians aren’t all bad and they aren’t completely without reason, rationality, or a brain. He’s obviously not deluded in thinking how to find the main site and getting the info he really wants.

What I want to know, what stopped all the whinning “I don’t see nothin;” people from exploring the rest of the website to find the issues? Y’all were right there. All you had to do was click on the ’08 Dem. Obama sign to get there. It’s NOT rocket science, esp for those of you who know how to use the net. 🙄 I maybe a non-theist, but I’m profoundly amazed that those who say, “I don’t hear/see nothin'” don’t seem to think about how to find what they really want and then they turn around and try to accuse others of not thinking rationally. 🙄 Rational thinking says, “Well, she has a nice blog post (or a sucky one), but that’s not what I’m really looking for. Where can I find what I want since I’m here?” And IF you didn’t know you were on Obama’s website, then it seems to me you weren’t very observant. I led you right to it. All you had to do was figure out finding the page your REALLY wanted.

Next time anyone accuses Mike of not thinking rationally… OY! You would think… Honestly! Guess we are all lacking in some area or another when it comes to reason.

I would agree with Evolouie somewhat. I saw a report (good media is refreshing!) the other day tracking Obama and Clinton’s Senate vote over the past year and all but two were indentical. They are very close idelogically. And I would strongly support a Clinton Presidency come November. So, I too, ask myself, why do I lean Obama? My humble reasons are as follows:

1) Clinton’s Iraq vote in 2002. I just can’t get past it. She defends it by saying that she was given false info by the Administration and knowing what she knew (or thought she knew) then, she says she doesn’t regret it. There was opposition to the war at that time, but it wasn’t a majority because Mr. Bush had high approval ratings and it was difficult to go against him politically on this. It meant you were “soft on terror”. I can remember checking the news that morning after the vote and being pissed at her, Senator Kerry, then-Senator Edwards and others. Yet, Kerry and Edwards said they made a mistake. That may sound like “flip-flopping”, but if Hillary wants to maintain that she trusted Bush and Co., and was willing to give up the constitutionally-mandate duty of CONGRESS to declare war, then I can only imagine that she either A) wants to portray the she is “tough on terror” (hate that term) or that B) she too would want to have the (again) unconstitutional role of deciding when we do or don’t go to war. If either is true, then that concerns me. I understand that Barack gets a free pass on this…he didn’t have to vote on it. However easy it may be to be critical of the war in the Illinois legislature, he still was outspoken against it and even if he had voted for it, I can’t imagine that he would continue to justify it. On a side note, the one (now former) Democratic candidate who voted against the war in Congress in 2002? My main man Dennis Kucinich.

2) Senator Obama has taken the high road in the campaign. Some of the comments from the Clinton camp (staff or supporters) are questionable at best (for example: dredging up Obama’s miniscule past drug use). Now Hillary didn’t make these comments, but she also didn’t take a strong stand against them. Case-in-point: Bob Johnson stabs Obama with the drug issue and Clinton laughs and claps…no rebuke, no “well, perhaps we should stay on the high road and talk about my issues” statement, nothing. And she still lost South Carolina. Obama’s team seems to be doing a decent job refuting false claims and doing it with class. Some claim that this is a liability against the Republicans and we need Clinton to play hardball with the Swift-boat Republicans come November. This may be true, and maybe my idealism is getting the best of me, but I like the fact that Obama has not played the “win-at-all-cost” game and I think people in this country are ready enough for a change to see past this during the general election (at least 51% are).

3) According to most recent polls, Obama fares slightly better than Clinton in the head-to-head matchup. I can’t see Senator McCain unifying the GOP, but I can see Senator Clinton doing so (against her of course). Picture a youthful, eloquent Obama in the debates against McCain. Slam dunk, indeed. Now, I realize that “electability” is not the best reason to vote for or against someone, but here, it could play a role. I also realize that John Kerry ate Dubya’s lunch in the debates in 2004 and still lost. Yet, before the first debate, polls were showing Buh in a landslide. Afterwords things evened up.

4) If Clinton gets elected and serves two terms, that will be 28 years of the Bush-Clinton dynasty. This sounds a bit too “developing country” for my tastes.

5) Finally, in Obama’s speeches he makes clear that he supports more inclusiveness, even thought it is a risk politcally. I’ve heard the lists a few times: “Christians, Muslim, Jews, Atheists, etc.” and also “Gay and Straight”. He could leave some of these words out at no political costs, but he doesn’t. Also, his mother seems like she was a freethinker along the lines of the people on this blog and he was very close to her. I can’t help but think he would represent the views of us skeptics better than any remaining candidate, including Hillary.

All this said, if Hillary wins, I will proudly support her. I’m encouraged by the fact that in just about every state, Dems are doubling the GOP’s turnout. And all three reaming viable candidates are not as theocratic as our current adminstration is, nor as Romney or (espcially) Huckabee would be. I doubt most conservative Evangelicals would even say John McCain was a Christian. So, even thought I disagree with him on many issues (and fear some of his hawk-like policies), I am happier!

Sorry this was so long.

5) Finally, in Obama’s speeches he makes clear that he supports more inclusiveness, even thought it is a risk politcally. I’ve heard the lists a few times: “Christians, Muslim, Jews, Atheists, etc.” and also “Gay and Straight”. He could leave some of these words out at no political costs, but he doesn’t. Also, his mother seems like she was a freethinker along the lines of the people on this blog and he was very close to her. I can’t help but think he would represent the views of us skeptics better than any remaining candidate, including Hillary.

I agree. I think he would support our views.

mean I don’t think we are just voting in another election here. I think it is now or never for the dems, liberals and progressives included.
This is a fight we can NOT afford to lose.

I totally agree, which is why I’m voting for Obama.

I second that motion, Mike. 🙂