Why are you voting for Obama?
I get that question a lot.
A lot, a lot.
And not just from conservatives or republicans, either.
In fact... mostly NOT from them.
Most people who wing that question at me are liberals. Far left liberals. My comfort zone people, if you will. They hear me talk about this or that through out my days, and naturally assume I'll throw my vote in the "green party" direction. An honest assumption, really. My personal views and beliefs do tend to line up a bit more closely with the green party then any other, but that doesn't mean I'm going to essentially throw my vote away to make a political point. I'm a bit more practical then that.
Yes, me, practical!
Save it!
When we have such a close race, with only two
practical contenders (there may be 381 options on the ballot, but one of these
two guys is going to win), and the other guy is going to run this country back 50 plus years; you better believe that voting "green" is the last thing on my mind. Even if that were my only reason, to keep the other delusional douche OUT of the white house, that would be reason enough for me to swing my vote in the other direction. An elitist with a religious agenda has NO place in government. You can roll your eyes and claim immoral all you want, as many of you have, but voting "the lesser of two evils" is absolutely a rational tactic in my opinion. In my very loud, and passionate opinion.
That is not the case for me this election cycle. It just so happens that I support Obama. Not on everything. There are things that I whole heartedly disagree with (the continued use of wire taps, and lack of passion to make gun control a priority, to name a few), but we line up on a lot of things. I think he's been great in office. My overly ambitious expectations were not met, but that's not a short coming of Obama ... no one could have met them; I'm sure. Obama has done everything we elect a president to do. And he has done it with less then supportive passion from the left, and an all out block on the right. I think if people stood back and really took a look at the facts, instead of just rattling off Fox News' agenda, they'd see he's done quite a lot of good for this country in his 4 years. They'd see his plan (an actual plan, not some "see me after the election for the details" bullshit) for our future continues to move this country forward. And isn't that what we want? To move forward.
The right for every person in this country to have access to affordable health care. Affordable being the key word. How is this a socialist agenda? He didn't propose FREE health care, which I personally feel every human should have a right to (see why people assume I'd throw my vote so much further left?), he just wants it to be affordable. Stopping the ridiculous inflation of insurance companies where you can basically buy better health care depending on your salary. So the rich are privy to good health, the rest of us can go fuck ourselves, right? Why is taking care of our citizens with universal,
affordable health care a bad thing again? Because I don't get it. I think, as I said, we should be striving for FREE not just more affordable. How is everyone not behind "more affordable"?
He supports rights for every Americans, not just the few that the religious right want to acknowledge. How we can call ourselves a progressive nation when only 5-6 states legally allow gay marriage ... is baffling to me. We are denying a percentage of our people basic human rights that the rest of us have, and yet calling ourselves "cutting edge", "progressive", "leaders". Bullshit! There is the separation of church and state in this country for a reason. Obama has worked to make that line clear, the other side not only wants it blurred; but will work to decimate it. The effects of rights being stripped, progress being shoved back, and religious supreme court justices being put in place will be devastating and far reaching. Along with his support for gay rights, he also expanded the definition of hate crime to include assault over sexual orientation and gender identity. How this was up for discussion is also baffling to me.
In line with that "rights for every American" ... he supports a bill to restore basic protections against pay discrimination. Basically, he supports a federal law to maintain fair wages for women. Umm, yea! Who in their right mind would be against this. Oh, right, the "other guy". The guy who also wants to make it his business what women do with their bodies, in every circumstance. Obama has been labeled "the abortion president", with tactless "shock factor" images of him with bloody babies and a caption that reads "he EVEN supports partial birth abortions" sweeping the internet. Because, ya know, a great huge number of woman decide they no longer want a baby as it's being born. "Nah, on second thought, I changed my mind ... just kill it before it's fully here". That is ignorant. If my life is at risk, you better goddamned believe I want the right to decide which path I'm going to take. It is, after all, my life ... it should logically be my decision to take the risk or not. Piss women off as a whole by not supporting their right to equal pay, and by demanding that the government gets a say in their body, and the wrath will follow. Lets go ahead and ignite a civil war.
He has made great strides in restoring our image around the world. This is huge. Why make enemies? Why give off the impression that we're bad ass mofo's who will fuckyouup if you look at us wrong? He's checked Americas ego, and has put us back on path to be seen as a leading progressive nation. Much better then the title of Global Bully that we donned before.
He understands that in order for this country to make money, it's going to have to spend money. He's not delusional and spouting off empty pipe dream promises of a super fast recovery. We were in a huge hole when he took over office. We were free falling to another great depression and beyond when he took over, and he put the brakes on. He managed to stop our free fall before we broke through to great depression numbers, and he's helped us claw our way back up. Obama oversaw the creation of more job in 2010 then this country saw in all 8 years under Bush's administration. Jobs in our country have steadily increased over the past four years. Not at the rate many of you hoped for, but it is happening. There is no magic answer or quick fix. In an instant gratification, disposable world, people don't want to hear that it's going to take time. But for cripessakes ... it's going to take time. Time and money. Both of which Obama has been upfront and honest about, and both of which he has executed. It's a process I trust in and support. The other way... well, that is what got us in this mess in the first place.
He is invested in green energy. The only LONG TERM solution to getting this country energy independent, and the only option to even have a country in the long term by reversing global warming.
He's made college more accessible for our kids by vastly extending pell grants, and removing banks from the financing of student loans. Sure it costs a bit more money up front, but the payback is unmatched. Investing in our people, especially our children, advances our country.
He's putting money into social programs because he knows that the heart of America relies on them. The right is pushing hard this image of Obama cutting medicaid and social security, cutting welfare and school programs, cutting this and cutting that. And then in their very next breath they push hard the image of Obama refusing to cut anything and spending us into oblivion. Ummm ??? Which one is it? Oh, right, neither!
He realizes that defense spending doesn't need to be as high as it has been because we're not funding 2 wars anymore. Instead of continue to pour the same amount of money into defense, he's allocating the "no longer needed war money" back into this country. For infrastructure, social programs, and to take care of this nations Veterans. Our troops need support while they serve, yes ... but they also need it when their terms are over. Obama has made this a priority. I live it; I know.
I could go on, but it's sunny out and I'm going to go play outside.
And tomorrow I'm going to watch as this country hopefully makes the choice to continue pushing us forward.
GET OUT AND ACT!
Educate yourself on facts.
Claim your voice.
And cast your vote.
