Why I Want Obama to Win the Election

I have been thinking about this topic lately, and there are a lot of reasons why I want Barack Obama to win the presidential election this November. Some of you (of the two who read my posts) will interpret this as me "coming out" as an Obama supporter. I am not "coming out." I am simply stating exactly what I already said - these are reasons why I want Obama to win. Nowhere will you see, "This is why I'm voting for Obama," because I have not even come close to concluding that I would be bold enough to take that course of action. Without further adeiu, here are some of my top reasons:


- He sounds intelligent. Now I know, no one is perfect, and even Obama can sound pretty labored when not having the luxury of a teleprompter next to him. But, come on, Bush can't speak coherently with a teleprompter (and John McCain is not so great himself). So having an intelligent-sounding president would be a real treat.


- I can't wait to hear the dynamics of political discussion completely flip-flop. After listening to "things aren't as bad as democrats make it sound" for at least eight years from conservatives under the rule of George W. Bush. I can see and hear and smell it now: all of a sudden, the country will be in the crapper, only because Obama became president. And it will be all Obama's fault. Of course, democrats will be saying "things aren't as bad as the republicans make it sound."


- Obama might actually have some positive foreign policy attributes, other than, we tell you what to do, you do it, or we threaten you, and then we bomb you. But then again, President Bush isn't the only president in recent history to take those positions, so I don't know how much hope we can have for the "weak on defense" democrat Barry.


- For all that's gotten screwed up under Bush's watch, I can't imagine Obama could do that much worse. I want Obama to get elected so everyone can see that the country actually won't be sent to hell, just because the "radical, marxist, socialist, communist, white-hater, muslim, abortion-loving, extremist-associating, corrupt-real-estate-broker-relationing," Obama got into office.

- When Obama implements his "socialist" policies, I want to see economic conditions improve in the country. And then I want to hear how it has nothing to do with Obama from the conservatives. Actually, I would love to hear them say they were wrong about the stock market self-destruction predictions they made previous to the elections, but I might as well clean all the bathrooms of Grand Central Station with my tongue (to quote "Weird Al"), because that ain't gonna happen.

- I want to laugh while people keep listening to Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Savage, attack and attack and attack President Obama, and defend their actions, all the while forgetting how dispicable they thought (and said so) democrats and liberals were for doing the same thing to President Bush for eight years. My oh my, no wonder nothing changes. But it will be bittersweetly funny.


Okay, those are just a few reasons I came up with off the top of my head. On a related note: after decidedly hating contradictions, I am really starting to embrace them. Epecially the fact that so many people do not even see the blatant hypocrisy in their words and actions (and I probably don't see it in myself, which makes it even more ironic and painful). For republicans, when the economy is in trouble, it is not Bush's fault - it's the democrats'. When gas prices go way up, it's not Bush's fault. It's the democrats' because they resist more oil drilling, and nuclear power.


However, when Obama's president, if the economy is weak, it will be his fault. If immigration doesn't change, it will all be on Obama. If gas prices don't go down, Obama will be to blame. And people can't see the double standard that they wake up with, walk out the front door with, and come home with, every day of their lives.

I'll come right out and admit - I don't like Bush, not really much at all. But I don't think he's ruined the country. I don't hate him. However, I think he set the bar so low for U.S. presidents, that either Obama or McCain will make a better president. So I may vote for McCain, I may not. I may vote for an independent candidate like Ralph Nader or Chuck Baldwin. But when the new president is sworn into office in January, 2009, I will have hope for him, for us, for the country, because he will not be President Bush.

But hypocritical politics, I suppose, will endure. People who want to hate McCain will find reasons that support that agenda. People who want to demonize Obama so they can feel better about voting for McCain when they never would have supported "the maverick" otherwise, will do so. I will not be a part of groups similar to those. As a close relative said recently (and I hope he doesn't mind me lifting this from him), "I vote for people, not parties."

Maybe later on, I will tell you why I want McCain to win.