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Three things played a role in my decision to vote for Barack Obama: issues, values, and leadership.
From how he has run his campaign to his behavior when the financial crisis broke, Obama has shown exceptional leadership ability. He remains calm in the face of crisis, he motivates people to action, and Obama does his job while he lets others do theirs. No worries about Obama becoming the Micro-manager-in-Chief. To top this off, Obama shows tremendous vision. His economic policy contains both short-term and long-term elements, as does his energy policy. His campaign has already laid the groundwork for for his plans to expand service to country. The campaign has also begun to redefine how people think about presidential elections.
The deciding factor about why I did not vote for John McCain? The abysmal lack of leadership capability that he showed during his campaign, but especially in the face of the financial crisis. I don't care to spend the next four years with a president who ricochets from one crisis to the next, who only performs at his peak when he is down, and who seems capable of dealing with only one matter at a time. He uses fear to whip up his crowds, and focuses more on his opponent and on his own past rather than on the future. Again, I don't want four years with a president who needs the enemy outside to keep people in line.
McCain talks about reform, but puts lobbyists in key positions on his campaign. Obama talks about the people making a difference, and he puts that into action. What kind of president will either of them make? Take a look at their campaigns.
Who are we kidding; capitalism redistributes wealth as surely as socialism. Capitalism left unchecked redistributes wealth from the pockets of the poor and middle class to the pockets of the wealthy. Our economic system benefits the rich and penalizes the poor. It's expensive to be poor. The least the government can do is limit the plundering. If the government can also ease the burden a bit, what's so wrong with that? Where do you think the poor and middle class spend their dollars? Paris? Not hardly. Their dollars go to Joe the Plumber and Rick the Mechanic and Mary the Shopkeeper. But somehow, according to McCain, this does not help the economy while tax cuts to the extremely wealthy does.
I find it ironic that the camp screaming about Obama's comment about spreading the wealth is the same camp that has supposedly tied itself to Christianity. Of course, I would guess that most of those Christians who have aligned themselves to the Republican Party are screaming just as loudly. They have a tendency to treat capitalism like one of the tenets of the faith, which leads me to wonder what Bible they are reading...because it sure isn't the one I read.
Some selections: (NRSV)
Deuteronomy 15:7-8, 11
If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord you God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be...Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."
Matthew 22:36-40
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Matthew 25:35-36
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
Luke 1:52-53 (from the Magnificat)
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly:
he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
Luke 3:10-11
And the crowds asked him [John the Baptist], "What then shall we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."
Luke 4:18-19
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Acts 2:44-45
All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Now, Obama is no socialist. He does not expect government to solve all social ills or to pay all the people's bills. In fact, he makes it clear that the people will have to step up and do their part. But unlike the Republicans who chant the mantra of private sector charity, I think Obama actually stands the chance of motivating the people to action. Who knows, he might make government social programs redundant. But until the time when we the people start looking after our neighbor, at least the government will be there to help make up the difference.
I've always thought of myself as an issues voter. I don't have any one issue that determines how I vote; my vote is shaped by the constellation of issues I consider to be most important in a given election cycle. Or so I thought. It took this election year for me to realize that I'm a values voter.
I care how candidates treat people. I care how they conduct their campaigns. I believe that the behavior we see from a candidate during the campaign indicates how they will be as President. And that matters to me.
Fortunately, my issues and my values have lined up. Not perfectly, but close enough. I don't require perfection. But I have to wonder what I'll do if an election comes when they do clash. Which way will I vote then? I'm not really sure. I do know that if my issues leaned me towards Republican I would be facing that choice this year.
I have been horrified by the tone, words, and actions of the McCain campaign. It seems like a lifetime ago that I cheered for him winning the Republican primaries. I believed that it would lead to a presidential campaign that would focus on the issues instead of engaging in Swift Boat tactics. I also believed that it would lead to an election where I could be happy whichever way it went. Okay, happy might be too strong. I disagree with McCain on a number of the issues, but I believed him to be a man of integrity. I can live with wrong-headed policies if the person has integrity. There is room for hope as long as a person has integrity. I really thought I could relax this election. Instead, I'm losing sleep agonizing about the outcome because the John McCain I thought I knew and trusted is gone.
But it isn't just McCain. Across the country the Republicans are engaging in despicable tactics. Vicious attack ads and robocalls, repeated attempts at voter suppression; it's like the whole party has lost its soul. If I preferred to vote Republican I would be in despair. How can people who claim to value morality justify acting this way? How can people who value morality continue to vote Republican? All I can say is that a person would have to have to define morality very narrowly.
Personally, my sense of morality cannot accept the complete absence of morality and integrity that I am witnessing in both this and past elections. And if it continues, it will be a long time before I feel I can vote Republican. I definitely will not be voting for McCain. Well, their loss is the Democrats', and Obama's, gain.
Meanwhile, the agonizing wait for November 4 continues.
Tell me. Where is the real John McCain?
I found this by far McCain's most disturbing performance in a debate. It was like he drank a potion that changed him from McCain to McNasty. Another chance to talk substance, and instead he spent most of his time either attempting to terraform Obama's plans to suit his own needs or else engaging in character assassination. When McCain won the Republican nomination, I never thought his campaign would look like this. The man I respected has disappeared.
And Obama? The fire has dimmed a bit. But that's fine with me. I much prefer the solid, steady performance I'm seeing from him now. It bodes well for an Obama presidency. I also find it amusing that at a debate between a Democrat and a Republican, the talk of sacrifice and personal responsibility came from the Democrat.
Obama must have found it extremely frustrating to have his positions repeatedly twisted beyond recognition by McCain. Unlike McCain, however, he remained calm and composed. McCain looked like he was in pain most of the debate. At least that's how I interpret that grimace masquerading as a smile. If this is the best McCain can do in a confrontational situation, I truly do not want him representing my country to the world.
McCain seemed to have taken a page out of Palin's debate manual this round, minus the humor. He ignored question after question to talk about his pet themes. Worse, instead of engaging in a substantive debate, McCain dismissed a number of profound statements from Obama with cracks about Obama's eloquence. I figure McCain must not have had anything worthwhile to say about his own plans. That might be what worries me the most.
I did not watch the debate live. I intended to catch CNN's replay at 5:00pm (+8 GMT) but it got preempted for not exactly breaking news. So there I was at midnight, brain starting to shut down, watching the debate. I can't claim to have caught everything, but there were some things that left a definite impression. And the longest lasting impression? Tones of voice.
The contrast was startling. One voice was calm and confident. The other voice? Insistent, attempted chummy, but mostly condescending. As a child, I never liked it when adults used that talking-to-a-child voice. I find it irritates me even more as an adult. It makes me feel like my intelligence is being called into question. Or that someone is trying to soften me up to ask for a loan or favor. Anyway, as far as I was concerned things did not bode well for McCain.
But on to content.
McCain wants to buy up the bad mortgages from the lenders and then renegotiate the terms with the homeowners. So he was hitting me up for a loan!
But seriously, other than talking about himself and bashing Obama, that was about as specific as McCain got. When he was talking about what he would do as president, it was mostly in generalities. Energy independence. Fix the economy. Solve Social Security. Broad sweeps of the brush. Trouble is, I'm interested in the details and once again I didn't get them from McCain. He still seems to think that it's enough to talk about his record. He keeps pointing us to the past. But I don't live in the past.
Obama talked about investing in clean energy technology, which would not only benefit the environment but would also create jobs. He explained why the bailout was needed by the average American and not just by Wall Street. Oh, he did his share of not quite answering the question. And he did his share of bashing McCain. But he didn't stick to campaign rhetoric. Obama talked about his plans for our country in a tangible way. When he talked about the economy, he clearly was not simply reacting to the current crisis. Rather, he presented a plan with both short term and long term implications. I kind of like the idea of a president who's looking forward.
In light of what we've seen from him the past month, I found McCain's closing words devastatingly ironic. "Times are tough. We need a steady hand at the tiller." And I agree. Obama has my vote.
What can I say, I love Joe Biden! I love him even when he sticks both feet in his mouth. But I wanted him to do well in the debate. What I did not want was for Biden to treat Palin like McCain treated Obama. To my relief, Biden clearly took her seriously. He interacted with her as an adversary. And while this might sound negative, it is a mark of equality. I wish Palin had given Biden the respect he gave her. The nudge nudge wink wink treatment got old fast.
What also got old was Palin's repeated and blatant refusal to answer a number of the questions. Once or twice I can accept. It wouldn't exactly be the first time I heard a candidate evade a question to promote their talking points. But in this case it quickly became obvious that there were a number of subjects about which Palin could not engage in discourse. Subjects that, personally, I consider quite important.
I also consider it important to come away with clear impressions of their plans for the country. Biden gave me a tangible vision for our country. Palin gave me rhetoric and emotionally charged buzzwords.
As much as this bothered me, I found something that bothered me even more. I didn't notice it right away. It was more like an aftertaste from the debate. The farther away I got from the debate, the more it tugged at me. And then it hit me. Palin had patronized me. I know folksy; I grew up with folksy. Palin hadn't been folksy. She had been condescending. I don't want to be winked at. I want to be treated with respect. Biden treated us respectfully. He honored our intelligence. And finally, in a moment of incredible vulnerability, Biden gave of himself to the voters. Palin gave us a snow job.
I'm not sure who frustrates me more; Pelosi and her poorly timed comments about the Bush Administration, the Republicans who try and claim this was sufficient cause to vote against the bill, or the constituents who refuse to see the interconnected nature of our economy.
Personally, I don't think the executives of the companies being rescued should be allowed to keep their jobs. Two weeks pay and a pink slip sounds about right. And yes, I want this as much for my own desire to see blood flow as that it would seem to make sense. I get why the average person does not want to the the multi-millionaires bailed out.
But I also get that I don't exist in financial isolation. It doesn't matter that I've never bought stock or that I don't have a mortgage; if these institutions go down I'm gonna get hurt. So no matter that a part of me would love to see Wall Street crash and burn, I want Congress to pass this imperfect piece of Legislation.
What I don't get is why so many people can't or won't see that they cannot take down Wall Street without taking down themselves. Our economy is too intertwined to indulge ourselves in such acts of self-gratification.
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