Why I am supporting Obama

The following was distilled from my postings on a political forum where I went into depth on why I am supporting Obama.

Let me start off by saying, I'm not a Democrat, I am however a former Republican, so I have a bit of a luxury in looking at the Democratic presidential nomination race with a little bit of a different slant. And my view at this point and my gut tells me that Obama is likely to end up the Democratic presidential nominee, and eventual general election winner. And I'll even tell you why I think that.

In the debates on January 5th in Manchester, Hillary Clinton while on the attack against Obama made the following statement attacking his ability to actually make change happen, "As beautifully presented, as passionately presented as they are, words are not action," Clinton said. This one small view into the differences between the two main Democratic candidates is what my gut tells me will make Obama the winner.

There is something, and you can't put your finger on it, that comes across and grabs you when Barack Obama speaks. And the major problem for Hillary Clinton is that she doesn't recognize that words, presented with passion, and commitment can indeed lead to action. Now I'm not going to sit here and say that I believe every thing that Barack Obama is promising in his speeches, but I can't deny that I "hope" that he means what he says.

Over the last forty some odd years there have not been any Democratic candidates that could remind me of the connections that JFK, and RFK had with the youth of America. What I sense, and feel is starting to happen, is that a growing number of young people disenchanted with the status quo of the nearly last half century of politics, feel that in Obama is a real chance to try a different path.For us baby boomers, who can remember back to the JFK and RFK era, at least to me, there is the same ability to appeal to the "better nature" of Americans, and move that to the front of the platform.

When Obama refuses to make folks pay a penalty for not buying health care when they can't afford it, and Clinton bangs him for it, the attack only strengthens his position. What Hillary has forgotten is, people don't buy health insurance now because they can't afford it. To argue that you have to penalize people already in financial straights with a monetary penalty for not buying something you are dictating they have to buy, when they couldn't afford it in the first place, shows a serious disconnect with common people.

And in the end the reason will be because despite what Hillary Clinton believes, beautifully presented and passionately delivered words CAN move people to incredible actions and change. Just ask the millions of 1960s youth who were moved to action by the beautifully presented and passionately delivered words of a couple of earlier Democrats.

To a degree for me, this isn’t an election between Democrats and Republicans as much as it is a repudiation of “traditional” politics. Both Clinton and McCain are products of the same extreme political machinations that have seen our national and state governments locked up into statues of partisan bickering inaction. And whether or not Obama can fulfill my hopes of moving past this morass, I don’t know, but I do know that not voting for him almost certainly ensures the current “traditional” political environment remains intact. And to me that is no longer an acceptable outcome.

Do I agree with Obama on all the issues? Not at all. In fact I disagree with him on gun control, funding of the UN poverty initiatives with US taxes, and I disagree with his priorities on immigration.

Where I do heavily agree with Obama on the issues is on Health care, Foreign policy, the Economy, and on Education.

In the final analysis, for me at this point, it is a choice between continuing the status quo process of political bickering dead lock, or move to a state where bridges are built across our political divides to ensure a working government that is responding to it’s constituents. One thing in addition, that Obama has driven me to do is to take “serious” looks at the State and Local political candidates, and look for the same qualities of bipartisan gridlock and look to remove those obstacles in the coming election as well. But I am only one voter. My only “hope” is that more people are interested in moving past the same hurdles that I see, and are willing to take a serious chance for changing the landscape.

As I said there are specific areas that I disagree with Obama on some of his stands.

First: Gun Control
I firmly do not believe in legislative gun control. There is more than enough statistical evidence both here in the US and particularly in the UK that proves that gun control does NOT reduce gun related crimes. And in fact the data from the UK strongly indicates that it has exactly the opposite effect.

Second: US tax to support UN poverty initiatives
Until we have our own house in order, and have effectively delt with the growing disparity between income classes here in the US, and specifically done something to reduce the poverty level here at home, I don't think we should be going anywhere with US tax dollars to deal with other country's poverty problems.

Third: Priorities on immigration
I do not agree with the priorities Obama has on dealing with the massive illegal immigration problem. I am steadfastly in favor of securing our border and ports as the most important factor in dealing with illegal immigration. Once that is completed, and we can actually control our flow of incoming immigrants, then I am willing to discuss the issues of what to do with those already here.

Another area where I am not in lock step with Obama on is his energy program. While I agree with his proposals for moving quicker on renewable energy sources, and higher CAFE standards, I also think these things will take time, and in the meantime, we need to be more proactive in opening more components of our own oil/nat gas reserves to drilling in order to bridge the gap until more renewable energy resources come on line.

I've covered some of the issues that I disagree with Obama on, and on the flip side there are issues that I STRONGLY agree with Obama on.

First: Economy
His stands on the negotiation, implementation, and ENFORCEMENT of Fair trade agreements, is in these times of "outsourcing" is critical in my view of ensuring that American workers are not put in a disadvantage while operating in a global economy. I believe in Fair Trade, not Free Trade. To date our practice of negotiating open trade agreements have only benefited the countries we have signed them with while not enforcing the fair trade aspects. I also agree with his stands on Labor Unions, and supporting both their right to unionize, battleing against the efforts such as the NLRB's rulings that professional workers such as nurses are not protected by federal labor laws. I also agree with the raising of the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. I also support his stands on addressing predatory Credit Card practices.

Second: Foreign Policy
He is the only one of the remaining three candidates that stood firmly against our invasion of Iraq. Many have said he was lucky, but it is something that the "proof" provided by the administration provided that I myself did not find significant enough to go to war over, and take our priorities from the Afghanistan theater, and the pursuit of the Al Qaeda leaders who directly assaulted us. I also believe that our current foreign policy stand of not talking with countries we have differences continues to put us in a unmanageable position of either not partaking in ANY diplomacy, or using military force to enforce our will. I also agree with his stand that we need to strengthen and expand the military so that it remains the most effective military force. Many people argue that because he is a Democrat that he will gut the military, but there has never been a statement or implied indication that he would do anything other work to improve and strengthen the military.

Third: Health Care
I firmly believe that affordable and effective Health Care is a "right" that every American deserves. The current market driven method of dispensing health care to Americans has done little to ensure affordable health care, but has instead put the profits of the corporations ahead of human care needs. Health care providers continue to increase costs, more and more limits on health care coverage, while focusing on profits. The reason I side with Obama instead of Clinton on this issue is because Obama's focus is on reducing costs and making health insurance affordable, where Clinton continues to focus on the "mandatory" implementation of health insurance. As I said in the original post the idea of penalizing families for not buying health insurance when they simply can't afford it in the first place, with financial penalties is showing a disconnection from the underlying problem.

Fourth: Education
Our education system is the foundation that the rest of our country is built on. His plans to reform NCLB by actually making the money that was promised available, rather than just making a law and leaving it unfunded. But primarily I support his initiatives to support and reward the ones who make the decision to Teach our youth. For too long the focus has been on institutions, programs, buildings, while the plight of our Teachers has been ignored. If we are going to effectively educate our next generations, we need to put the resources, funding, and rewards in place to bring more, and qualified teachers into the system, and then make sure they are rewarded for doing what is a critical job.