All the tighty rightie dismissals of Obama's "judgement", of Obama's "unpredictability", "trustworthiness", and so forth, all boil down to one phrase: "Obama is a scary nigger!". That's it.
Now, there's lots of reasons why *not* to vote for John McCain -- he's old, he's senile, he's crazy, he's been a rubber-stamp for the failed policies of the Bush Administration and there's no reason to think he's going to do anything other than continue those same failed policies that have led to disaster in Iraq and disaster for the domestic economy -- but anywho. Let's now talk about something else: Why to vote for Obama.
Okay, here we go....
- Obama is smart. He's got a law degree, has a smart wife, has run for the most part a smart campaign (though I'm starting to get worried that he's listening to John Kerry's advisors now regarding how to respond to Rethuglican scare campaigns). You listen to him talk about real problems, it's clear that Obama knows his stuff -- he's not just talking in lame talking points and such, he's got his shit together.
- Obama has been right on every major issue to come up over the past eight years. He was right on Iraq. He was right about the aftermath of attacking Iraq. He was right about the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy being a fiscal disaster. He is right on the need to improve healthcare. He is right about the current state of race relations in the United States, and right about the need for a major alternative energy program. John McCain, of course, has been wrong on all those issues.
- Obama knows about the world. Obama doesn't get mixed up on Sunni vs. Shia. Obama knows who is in charge in Iran (hint: It's Supreme Leader Khamenei, not President Ahmadinejad, who is little more than the mayor of Tehran and has the power to issue parking tickets, maybe... what is it about the phrase "Supreme Leader" that is so confusing to tighty righties and John McInsane?).
- Obama is dignified. Obama doesn't give unwanted back rubs to foreign leaders or treat them with undignified jocularity. Obama doesn't behave in humiliating ways that make America look like it's ruled by morons and idiots.
- Obama understands the proper use of force -- as a response to attacks against America, not as a substitute for diplomacy and sanctions. As he said prior to the start of the attack on Iraq, "I am not against all war. I am against dumb wars. And this war [Iraq] is a dumb war." He was right in supporting invading Afghanistan to take out Osama bin Forgotten, and right on opposing invading a nation (Iraq) which was no threat to America and had no potential to be a threat to America for many years.
- Obama doesn't want our troops to be in Iraq for 100 years. 'Nuff said :-).
-- Badtux the Politics Penguin
Obama also caved on FISA. I've been a supporter since the day he declared, and that one event has led me to seriously consider throwing away my vote on a third party candidate... or hell, just writing my own name in.
ReplyDeleteI know the game. I know that every winning nominee tacks to the center after the primaries. But voting to give telecoms retroactive immunity for assisting Our Preznit in illegal spying on American citizens is not "The Center." Is is the Fringe. The Lunatic Fringe.
And the worst part is that there was absolutely no reason to flip on this issue. All he's accomplished is to enrage supporters like me. The type of benighted dipshits who think it's just dandy for Our Preznit to spy on anybody he wants, for any reason at all, are not going to vote for Obama under any circumstances anyway.
It was stupid, pointless, and craven. It may have just thrown the election to John Dr. Strangelove McCain. Good job, asshole.
And yeah, I'll probably still vote for the bastard anyway, goddamit. Which is what pisses me off more than anything else: there is no alternative.
Like I said: "Obama is, in the end, a politician, with all the limitations that this implies -- i.e., that his first allegiance is to his political goals, not to any specific agenda that progressives might like him to swear allegiance to."
ReplyDeleteJesus he ain't. Better than the alternative... well, duh!
- Badtux the Snarky Penguin
I'm with Fnord. Obama voted for throwing away the Fourth Amendment (although he did vote against it -- the "immunity stripping amendment" -- before he voted for it!) A pointless sellout on a matter of principle. I'll still hold my nose and vote for him -- assuming S.F. fulfills my request for an absentee ballot, and somebody counts it. But I won't send the bastard any money, and I won't give a rat's ass when the Republican minority introduces articles of impeachment 5 minutes after he takes the oath of office, and the Democratic Party eventually decides to support them in the name of bipartisanship.
ReplyDeleteIf voting could really change things it would be illegal.
ReplyDeleteTrue 'nuff. I don't recall which comic said that the first thing that happens with any newly-elected President is that they take him into a dark room and show him the Zapruder film in slow motion to show him what will happen to him if he *really* tries to change things... but sometimes I wonder if that's the truth. I don't think our system would allow a *real* change agent to take charge, it would find some way of either destroying his campaign from the outset, or making sure he knew that if he really tried change, he'd meet the same fate as JFK.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Cynical Penguin
he'd meet the same fate as JFK.
ReplyDeleteOr Paul Wellstone...
I swear, Badtux, I'm not a tinfoil-hat-wearing nutter. I'm a LIHOP, not a MIHOP on 9/11, for instance. I lead a normal life, hold down a job, navigate through the differences of a (slightly) different culture, talk to people without them scratching their heads and wondering "what's wrong with this bloke?" But crap, the more I see how things happen, how supposed "change" candidates like Obama represent the illusion of difference instead of anything truly different, the more I feel like the fix is in. They're all bought off. There is no hope.
There's no hope down here either. I just saw a report on the local TV news about a police speed trap using a fake "construction zone" that dropped the limit from 100 kph to 40 kph, so they could seize the vehicles of anyone who was 45 K's over FOR THEIR FIRST OFFENCE! "Hoon" (hot-rod) driving is a national ninny-state phobia here. So there's authoritarian arse-holery everywhere. The difference is, I don't give a shit about what happens in Australia, so it's easier to take their foolishness.
Yep, just like Paul Wellstone. Frayed electrical cables... Yeah, right.
ReplyDeleteyup, i think thats the problem. people are afraid of niggers and a nigger with intelligence and who can play the game, a nigger who may have a grudge (by definition niggers have grudges)
ReplyDeleteSCARY
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDude, read the rules. Posts that consist solely of right-wing talking points (i.e., insults and stupidity) will be deleted. If you make allegations as serious as the ones you made, you better damn well have some evidence to back them up (and I mean real evidence, not "I heard it on the Rush Limpdick show"), and then we can talk. Until then, take it to your tighty righty circle jerks and leave us alone.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Rules Penguin
If you have a post titled with the N-word, does it attract right-wingers via search engine like flies to shit or Republicans to illicit gay sex?
ReplyDeleteNot as many as you'd expect, but enough.
ReplyDelete- Your Penguin Overlord