Go Vote for Obama

February 5, 2008

I’m voting later tonight. Barack. Easiest vote ever cast.

If you’re an independent voter, listen to lawyer Eddie Tabash talk about the dangers we face with another conservative president and a Supreme Court that could be heading toward disaster with the next appointment.

We don’t need that to happen for another four years.

And Barack has the best chance of defeating John McCain.

[tags]atheist, atheism, Point of Inquiry, Don Addis, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Freethought Today, Barack Obama[/tags]

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t3knomanser

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.
writerdd

Amen, Hemant.
John Remy

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).
Reed Braden

http://unorthodoxatheism.blogspot.com/2008/02/sway-me.html

Hemant just posted about tonight’s primaries in 22 states, telling people to get out and vote… for Obama. He then said that Obama is the best candidate to beat McCain.

Just playing the devil’s advocate: What (and please cite sources) is so bad about McCain? Huckabee and Romney are obvious religious fuckwits, but where is that gleam of reckless insanity in McCain’s eye?

I can easily take the neutral stance on this: My candidate left the race and I equally hate all of the remaining morons who are vying for the Office of President.

I will, however, have to cast a reluctant vote for someone next Tuesday (VA primaries are a week from today) and I have 7 days to be swayed.

Sway me.
Spurs Fan

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”….
Becky

T3: I agree with you on the Gravel vs. Paul main election. I would personally love to see Gravel lead. As Hemant states though, and I must agree: we have a better chance of getting religious doctrine out of our government, with Obama; not to mention getting some intelligence in there. So I will vote for Obama today; my heart belongs with Gravel, but my vote with Obama.
Derek yancey

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.
Karen

Much as McCain has nurtured his “maverick” reputation over the years, he has one of the most consistently conservative voting records in the Senate.

Of all the Republican field, McCain is the least offensive. But we really need to get a progressive in the White House. Four more years of Republican leadership won’t get crucial problems solved, IMO.
Chris

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!
Larry Moran

And Barack has the best chance of defeating John McCain.

I don’t get a vote but I’m curious about this claim.

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

Are you certain that there are no swiftboat episodes in Obama’s past?
Mriana

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. 😀
HappyNat

I don’t get a vote but I’m curious about this claim.

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

Race may well be an issue, but sex would likely be an issue as well. The problem with Hillary is she inspires hate/fear in a large number of people. The republicans won’t have any trouble getting people to come out of the woodwork to vote against her. They may not like Obama, but he doesn’t inspire the hatred.

Are you certain that there are no swiftboat episodes in Obama’s past?

They will find something to attack in whoever runs. I still don’t get how the swiftboat thing stuck being that Bush “served” in Alabama. Oh yeah, it stuck because Kerry was a tool.
MikeClawson

Go Vote for Obama

Done 🙂
Siamang

Are you certain that there are no swiftboat episodes in Obama’s past?

It doesn’t matter. The opposition will just make shit up. Heck if Hillary’s the candidate we’ll go back to those people who said she murdered Vince Foster after having a lesbian affair with the ghost of Elanor Roosevelt. And it’ll run on the editorial pages of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall St. Journal.

You know it’s gonna happen.

I cast my vote this morning for Barack Obama, but it wasn’t an easy choice, as I have respect for Hillary Clinton too.

But at the end of the day, I’ve got to give it to Barack. I think he’ll have the ability to inspire people to come into the political process… and that’s a plus.
Siamang

I notice nobody has commented on that cartoon. Yipes.
Mriana

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

If there is, then this nation still has a BIG problem in the 21st century.

Are you certain that there are no swiftboat episodes in Obama’s past?

And if there is, what of it? I think his recent past is more reasonable to focus on than the distant past.
Justin McKean

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?
cautious

a)

Anybody know if Canada is hiring?

The last time I was in Calgary, they had an intense labour shortage. So, yes, Canada is hiring.

b) I threw my vote today towards the candidate I preferred, Edwards. It’s the best I’ve felt about a vote since I gave Dean one 4 years ago.

c)

Are you certain that there are no swiftboat episodes in Obama’s past?

The attacks so far on Obama have hit on two potential negatives of his:

1) His having lived in Indonesia and attended school there (which Fox News has translated into ‘that makes him an Islamic fundamentalist’

2) He’s done cocaine.

Besides that, the Republican attacks on him will be for not having a conservative record; e.g., he’ll be termed “anti-family”, “against the troops”, or whatever term they need for whatever Senate vote of his they don’t approve of.

Heck, James Dobson has already stated that Clinton and Obama are anti-family.
Looney

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.
Jeff

My prediction is that McCain will win the republican primary through strategic “deals” with Huckabee and then pick Huckabee as his running-mate. See W.VA. Then McCain will aggressively go after the religious right to try to be installed as yet another conservative president in the “W” tradition.

For the democrats, I’m hoping Obama gets the nomination. I think he is the countries best bet to bring the country together.
Mriana

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

Can’t defuse the Obama Bomb. Hells yeah!!

Obama ’08!

Huckabee won my home state (Alabama), but so did Barack, so maybe that’s a good sign?
Mriana

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!
Aj

Obama: Decriminalize Pot
California: Yes please!

*Obama takes California*

~~This is a joke.~~
Mriana

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.
Nick

It really bothers me that so many people are suggesting voting for the candidate that will be most popular. Isn’t that what voting is supposed to decide? It’s just a side effect of having political parties and only one vote.

I’m registered as independent because I refuses to officially associate myself with a political party. I saw this the other day and think it’s a really good idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAgE1CUch3Q
Jen

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).
Mriana

Obama lost California. 🙁 That’s ok though, because he has more states and delegates than Billary does.

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?

No, I enjoy calling her Billary. IF she wins, we will have two pres for the price of one because Bill has no self-control. He’ll be the pres again with her. Thus Billary. She’s not riding his coattails, she sharing and will share this election and presidency with him. I will call her Billary as long as she is in this race and IF, which I doubt, she makes pres, I will continue to call her Billary, because that’s what it is. A vote for her is also a vote for her husband too. They will both be running the country IF she wins. I hope she doesn’t though and so far it looks good that she won’t even though she took California and NY. I’m sorry you’re so thin skin about nicks.

BTW, I call the Shrub erm I call Bush the Shrub. It’s the same thing with Billary only it’s a shared campaign. Bill jumped Obama in one debate. Someone asked Hillary if she could control her husband if elected- she laughed. I can guarantee you, they will both be running this country if elected, thus Billary.
Miko

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.”
MikeClawson

I voted for Clinton, though I know that in Illinois it doesn’t really matter because Obama is beloved by all

It does matter though, since delegates are distributed proportionately. Your vote sent some of those delegates Hillary’s way.

Now if only the Electoral College worked that way…
Jen

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.
Mriana

Jen, I’m not throwin sexism at her, but you know what? I’ll concede your feelings in that respect, but would you like to know what I feel after listening to CNN repeatedly bring up race and “White women are voting for Hillary and Black women for Obama?”

See my blog post on Obama’s site: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/Mriana/C74r

That’s what I’m feeling. I honestly feel reporters are making STUPID comments and it really does pain me. 😥 I don’t know if anyone will understand, but it’s how I feel and admittedly I don’t know if what I feel is the same as your feelings of sexism or not, but it’s a powerful feeling when I hear the crap about race.
Epistaxis

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.
Jen

I read your entry and I wholeheartly agree. There are many reasons any one person would choose a canidate, and for some reason, the media thinks it is only race or gender. It also seems that CNN doesn’t realize that women specifically can vote on other issues than Obama’s skin or Clinton’s sex.

I think you might appreciate this comic

As to your post- I don’t think we have moved on to some sort of “post-race” world, at least not in a country that can have something like the Jena 6. As the whitest of white people, I have read some convincing arguments from POC bloggers who argue that we shouldn’t try to live in a post-race world, because it is both impossible and an effective whitewashing of our history. But I absolutely agree that race should not be an issue in this damn election. As for me: I think it would be fantastic if the children growing up today can’t remember a time when a black person could not be president.
Jeff

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.
Mriana

I read your entry and I wholeheartly agree. There are many reasons any one person would choose a canidate, and for some reason, the media thinks it is only race or gender. It also seems that CNN doesn’t realize that women specifically can vote on other issues than Obama’s skin or Clinton’s sex.

Yes and when your family doesn’t care about those things, where things like height can cause struggle in a tall world are more important and those who have other struggles are more important too, it can be emotionally painful to see people focus on such issues as race. My sons know I need help sometimes because I’m sort and sometimes my younger son needs extra help to understand this world due to PDD such things as helping others become much more important. I think when one lives in a multi-racial family one doesn’t notice the colour of one’s skin as much as others do. Varying shades skin are natural and even for my sons it becomes painful to be pushed back and forth from one group to another or be called names.

I think you might appreciate this comic

I like the smart remark the woman made. That was good. 😆

As to your post- I don’t think we have moved on to some sort of “post-race” world, at least not in a country that can have something like the Jena 6.

And that was exactly what I was questioning in my blog post. CNN made that painfully obvious last night.

But I absolutely agree that race should not be an issue in this damn election. As for me: I think it would be fantastic if the children growing up today can’t remember a time when a black person could not be president.

I agree with both, however, my sons know and my older son is constantly saying, “I never got my 40 acres, but one day I’m going to get it.” He is referring to his ancestors who were slaves and were promised some land when they were set free- 40 acres and a mule. Like the N.A. they never got the promises made by the White man. Women had to fight just as hard and they didn’t get to vote until AFTER the Black man got his right to vote and even then they were all held back from voting in some way or another. My sons don’t remember, but they know.

Even so, I’m being accused of voting for Obama based on race. No, it has to do with hope for a better future for all of us. It seems painfully obvious that those who accuse me of that don’t get it. What chance do my sons have for reaching their full potential if not every person in the U.S. has an equal chance of reaching their goals without people looking at the colour of their skin? That has nothing to do with colour or even sex. It’s a hope for a better future for everyone. It is a vision that Gandhi, King, and Roddenberry all had.

I want to be able to walk into a convient store, south of the mason dixon, my sons get their drinks at the fountain, and not hear the manager tell me, concerning my darker complected son, “Don’t let him touch that!” Although while he has not issue with my lighter complected child, who could “pass”, get his drink freely with no issues. Yes, that literally happened to us and right here in this little corner of Missouri. It shouldn’t have mattered that he was getting a drink as long as he wasn’t harming anything.

I rather hear a man say, and at least one has, in a store, “I want to follow you around just to help you reach things”, instead of thinking about “how cute” I look. Yes, I’m sure there was some physical attraction in that statement, but yet he saw more than once in the store how I struggled to reach things on the top shelf. The thought of assisting me, instead of thoughts of sex, was quite nice. There is a difference between the two things. One is panting like an excited dog and the other is a desire to help someone. It would be nice if we all could get beyond basic urges and discrimination.
Evolouie

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
Mriana

WHat is it you all see in Obama that makes him the one to defeat the republicans in November?

I’m not typing all of it again. Follow the link I posted if you really want to know.

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.

It depends on what you value. He says a lot of things of value.

Why chance a fight on an unproven fighter?

Because Obama is a fighter. Billary has a TON of skeletons in her closet and personally I don’t care about hers or Obama’s. EVERYONE has skeletons in their closet. No one is perfect.
Siamang

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.
Spurs Fan

Don’t look now, but my state of Texas may decide the Democratic nominee on March 4th.

On one hand, as someone who normally has to vote after the nomination had been decided, I’m very pumped!

On the other hand, we have an open primary, so Republicans could crash the Dems ballot boxes and decide the race. Although, because of their unfounded hate for Clinton, may nominate a “more electable” (I know this is a bad phrase) Obama.

The irony, the irony!
Aj

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?
Karen

Unfortunately, a lot of independent voters in LA County tried to vote for Obama but their votes probably weren’t counted because of a major mix up with the ballots. Either they weren’t able to get Democratic ballots, or they weren’t told they had to mark a special bubble that said they were choosing to vote Democrat. Duh – they picked a democratic ballot and marked Obama but their vote doesn’t count because of a bubble??

That’s really stupid. I don’t know whether the threshold of affected voters would be enough to make a difference in LA County, but just anecdotally there were dozens of calls into the NPR affiliate here yesterday complaining about it.
MikeClawson

WHat is it you all see in Obama that makes him the one to defeat the republicans in November?

Because Hillary is so hated by the Republican base. (I know, I was part of it back in the ’90s.) She is the only one who could totally unite the Republicans against her.

Consider this: if McCain is the GOP nominee against Obama, it is likely that a lot of the conservative base will just stay home (especially conservative evangelicals whom McCain has openly insulted – James Dobson has already publicly refused to vote for McCain). However, if Clinton is the nominee you can bet that a lot of this conservative base will come out anyway, not to vote for McCain per se, but to vote against her.

I see nothing concrete in his speeches (yeah there good but he doesn’t say anything)

He gives a lot of concrete, specific ideas in his book.

Besides, why would you ever listen to a political speech for concrete ideas? Those things are never anything but fluff and rhetoric, no matter who is giving them.

nothing of value in his voting record that puts him above Hillary.

Well, he never voted to authorize a war or trust President Bush’s word.

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

That’s part of why I’m not supporting Hillary. I’m tired of politics as usual. I want someone who will actually lead with ideas, not just bend to the latest polls and try to score points against the other party. I want someone who will rise above the knife fights.
HappyNat

Don’t look now, but my state of Texas may decide the Democratic nominee on March 4th.

Same date we have in Ohio. Our primary votes may actually mean something this time!

so Republicans could crash the Dems ballot boxes and decide the race. Although, because of their unfounded hate for Clinton, may nominate a “more electable” (I know this is a bad phrase) Obama.

If Repubs crash the Dem ballots for anyone it will be for Hillary because she stands the best chance to be defeated in the genral election. Most Republicans I know want Hillary to get the nomination, they don’t want her to lose until November.
Evolouie

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
Aj

Evolouie,

They will make him out to be just another chicago politician who is on the take with all his dealings with slum lords…

You’re afraid the Republicans would do this? I think that ship has sailed.
MikeClawson

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.
Evolouie

Mike,
You asked “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.”
Again NOTHING on Obamas site that you can’t find almost word for word what is on Hillarys site.
Look I am just asking why vote for the untested candidate when all else is the same.
I 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.

So Again I ask whats so different about Obama that you are willing to risk the election on an untested, inexperienced fighter.
We have hillary, she has been tested by the best. She has the experience, she has the Fight, and no it’s not revenge she wants, it’s a reckoning.

Thanks
Mriana

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.
Mriana

BTW, Obama is not inexperienced. He’s been in politics long enough to know how it works. Secondly, the old experienced foggies aren’t doing any good with their ideas. We need a new person, with fresh thoughts. Not the old foggie long term been there for a while people that will do the same old thing again. Get rid of them I say and get fresh new ideas in and we will see a change and I’m confident it will be for the better with Obama.
Spurs Fan

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.
MikeClawson

You asked “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.”
Again NOTHING on Obamas site that you can’t find almost word for word what is on Hillarys site.
Look I am just asking why vote for the untested candidate when all else is the same.

Because if all else really is the same then I’m going to go with the one whom I think is most electable. And in my opinion that is Barack, not Hillary. I’ve already explained why I feel that way in my comment above.

I’m also going for the one who will be least divisive (and therefore most effective) once they’re in office. I don’t want a repeat of the ’90s, which is exactly what led to the polarization we see today, and which is very likely what we’ll have another 4-8 years of if Hillary gets in. It’s not enough for me just to have a Democrat win (since I don’t consider myself a Democrat). I want someone who is interested in changing the whole culture of Washington, on both sides of the aisle, and Hillary doesn’t strike me as the person for the job.

I 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.
Mriana

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. 🙂

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