What? A Person with Intelligent Reasons for Voting for Obama!?!

Many mornings I listen to the MJ Morning Show on the radio and for the past couple of days, MJ has had random callers give reasons for why they were voting for the candidate they supported. What shocked me was every Obama supporter that called in did not have a single valid and intelligent reason for voting the way they did. Let me summarize some of the reasons I heard for why Obama was the right choice:

• “I’m tired of the way this country is run and I’m ready for a change. Obama is that change.”
• “I didn’t even look at the candidates, I just voted straight democrat down the ticket.”
• “Now that Obama has been elected, I won’t have to worry about being able to afford gas at the pumps or my groceries.” (Apparently, Obama’s vision of helping those in need means free hand outs for everyone).
• “Bush screwed things up so Obama is going to change this country for the better.”
• Something about how… “Obama represents a change in mindset and how that mindset is going to change the country for the better.”

Through 2 hours of callers, not one had anything more specific to say other than Obama is change (as far as Obama supporters anyway). It sounded as if Obama supporters understood nothing but the catchy campaign slogans pasted everywhere and never once cited a single policy or issue as a reason.

In contrast, far more McCain supporters had solid reasons for voting. The reasons mainly revolved around McCain’s policies towards Iraq and the War on Terror, his ideas concerning the role of the U.S. in foreign affairs, strong opposition to the financial plan Obama presented to “fix” the economy, and strong opposition to the healthcare reform Obama proposed. You can argue whether or not those are important enough reasons, but what you can’t argue is that based on their beliefs, they were reasonably grounded in issues regarding policy and had a decent understanding of how the two candidates differed on those issues. There were some exceptions, some racists, and one crazy woman spouting on about Obama being the anti-christ, but the majority still seemed to know more about the issues than the Obama supporters.

Personally, I found the choice this year tough. First off, I do tend to lean democratic in my views and I definitely have never liked President Bush. I have strongly disagreed with the vast majority of Bush’s policies, but McCain is not a President Bush. As far as republicans are concerned, he’s much more radical and veers away in a lot of respects to what the rest of the party agrees with. I actually liked McCain, as well as Palin, and respected their approach and delivery of their issues. Politics aside, if I were to put my trust in either McCain or Obama as a person, I would trust McCain long before Obama. I don’t really like Obama and I don’t like Biden at all. Due to their associations and political history, I find it hard to trust them. There are a couple issues they seem to flip flop on without holding a solid stance. Furthermore, the financial and healthcare reforms proposed by BOTH candidates worry me. So, why did I vote for Obama if I don’t trust him, don’t really like him, and don’t like his ideas for financial and healthcare reform?

While pulling troops out of Iraq by a time-table may not be the wisest choice, McCain’s views suggesting that the US will always need to have troops in countries to fend off insurgents is too radical and oppressive for me. I believe we should not feed the fires of hate against our country by proving to radical extremists that we are a big country that can do what we want and put our nose in places we don’t belong. We should never have gone to war in Iraq and Obama also believed this. I stand with democrats on pro-choice abortion rights. I strongly oppose the Patriot Act, which McCain fully supports, and agree with Obama’s concern to protect civil liberty without sacrificing the tools for law enforcement to keep us safe. While I would like to see Obama’s policies towards energy strive more towards alternative energies than they do, McCain’s nuclear alternative seems to be a poorer choice long term. I like Obama’s approach to education better as well. But really the main deciding factors were:

• I disagreed with McCain’s approach to foreign affairs and the current conflicts the U.S. is involved in.
• I think Obama has a stronger ability to rally international support and help keep our noses a little cleaner from sticking it in countries where we don’t belong.
• His proposed reforms in education have clearer goals and solid proponents to affect improvement.
• With a democratic majority, Obama has a better chance of getting support from Congress to pass his reforms.
• I find McCain’s willingness to forgo liberty and the ideal of “innocent until proven guilty” in order to find terrorists, as evident in his fervent support of the Patriot Act and comments regarding it, scary and wrong. I could gladly give an entire discussion on the Patriot Act and issues related to it, but that divulges from the topic at hand.

All in all, these strengths were selling points for me and my disagreements with McCain’s policies were simply too important to me. Let’s just hope Obama succeeds in fulfilling his supporter’s high expectations.