Why I support Obama pt. 2

Thanks to Jared for the little bit of nagging that was required to get me to write this, and thanks to American Airlines for the fancy-pants upgrade that gave my wrists the room to write. Have you ever tried working on a laptop in coach when the dude/lady in front of you inevitably leans back? It’s like insta-wrist-cramp. Not fun.

 

As I’ve said before, I’ve been spending some time of late looking at why I support Obama. I’m looking for reasons/rationale beyond the fact that I generally support Democrats, and more importantly, I’m trying to avoid the omni-present “Why I shouldn’t vote for McCain” line of reasoning. 

 

Which brings me to a brief aside….

 

I have yet to find anyone able of presenting me with a coherent argument in favor of John McCain. Every Republican-centric blog I read, all of my conservative friends, they’ll all give you a veritable litany of reasons not to vote for Obama….but they seem light on why I should vote for McCain.

 

But I digress.

 

I don’t think there’s anyone who would be willing to argue that our next president, McCain or Obama will be inheriting a world and a country that is a vastly different place than it was eight years ago. While it is the general tendency of those of us that lean to the left to blame a great deal of those struggles on the failed Bush administration (if you’d like to argue that Bush has been a successful president on any front, be my guest), the reality of the situation is that there are a number of the most pressing issues of our time that our current president had nothing (or at least little) to do with. 

 

Regardless of blame; rising poverty, energy crises, economic woes, wars, terrorism, and healthcare; these are issues that our next president will be forced to deal with on day one, and ultimately, I think a positive resolution to some of these problems must come due to a combination of two main roads.

 

First off, these issues demand the application of new, innovative solutions. The Cold War is over. It isn’t 1985 any more, and we need a president with a 21^st-century vision, and I can’t help but feel that John McCain is fundamentally a 20^th-centry man with 20^th-century solutions to problems. For me, I look at Obama and I see the future. I see a country moving forward; understanding the past, appreciating what has come before, but fundamentally understanding that in order to succeed in the 21^st century,

America

will have to change. Notice, for example, Obama doesn’t speak the language of economic protectionism that is so typical of the Democratic Party. He doesn’t talk about protecting American jobs, or bringing back the ones lost to an evermore global economy, he talks about new jobs. Moving forward. It’s what we have to do.

 

The second road is related to the first. Our president must be willing to take this nation on a path to making some fundamentally difficult choices. As an example, the era of cheap gas is over. Our nation has to come to grips with this, and putting our heads in the sand and saying “drill baby drill” just isn’t going to get it done. Our next president must help this country through some difficult decisions about how we live our lives relative to the consumption of energy. New policy and programs will be important, but those sorts of initiatives are worthless if you can’t get the people to buy into them. Some folks might get sick of Obama’s big speeches and some might find his rhetoric off-putting, there are those of us that find him to be nothing short of inspiring, and an inspirational leader who can rally the people of this nation is exactly what we need to help us make some of these tough choices. It won’t be easy, it might not be altogether pleasant, but in the end, the difficult choices aren’t optional if we want to see our nation through to our children’s generation.

 

There you have it. Part 2. 

 

Notice I’ve not really said anything concrete about policy, nothing about who’s got the better healthcare plan, or the better economic model.

 

I think there’s a reason to that. In my eyes, while I constantly clamor for a discussion of the issues, for talks of policy, I think this election may be about more than taxes, healthcare, or even the wars we are fighting. I think this election is more about the vision for this country over the next decade or so, and to that end, I can’t help but support the candidate that seems to have his eyes pointed toward the future instead of the one who seems to be firmly planted in the past.

Comments

[Bill]

Does this mean that you are entirely comfortable with the politics of personality we have going in the US?