Congratulations Obama!
This really is an historic moment for the US. I’ve been pushing for Obama to run for president for a while (although I didn’t blog about it, I realize. Don’t know why I never did), but I initially was hoping he would not run this year, because I was afraid that he would get swallowed by the Hillary Circus. Well he did get caught up in the Hillary Circus, and he came through. I’m not only proud of him for not going apeshit and shooting everyone in the Clinton campaign, as many of us probably would have done, but I’m proud of this country. So often the arrogance, ignorance, bigotry, and mis-guided passion of this country can drive me nuts, but at least at this moment I’m very proud.
I’ve also been saying recently that I feel like at this moment in our history, we HAVE to elect Barack Obama. We just have to. He’s passionate, he’s open minded, he’s intelligent, and he’s (relatively) a Washington outsider. With the last eight years (and especially the last four), the American people have become more and more disillusioned with their government (for good reasons), and it’s time to get someone completely new in there. It’s time, and Obama fits the bill perfectly.
That’s the primary reason I was initially not for Hillary. At first I had no issues with Hillary, and in fact liked her, but she’s still a politician through and through. And though Obama is as well, and has had to become even more of one to really be a presidential candidate, the thing that has floored me since I first started subscribing to his podcast and following him on his run to becoming a senator was his refreshing honesty, even when what he was saying may not be popular (such as saying “we can’t just pull out of Iraq” when the Dems first really started pushing for that a couple years ago). Hillary will say what needs to be said, and that’s just the result of being in Washington most of her adult life. Nothing against her character, but I wanted someone new.
Now that was at the start of Hillary’s campaign. Now I can’t freaking stand her. Her campaign stopped being about what’s best for the United States and more about her ego for the last 3 months, maybe even longer. She was under the assumption that she was going to be president this year, and that’s what has been planned ever since Bill was in office, and now suddenly this other guy who was a total underdog shows up out of nowhere, inspires the nation and takes away what was hers. The last few months have been the political version of saying “Fine, I don’t even want to play with guys anymore, because you’re stupid and you have ugly faces!” And now when Barack doesn’t pick her as a running mate, she’s going to have even more fuel to gripe.
Regardless, she’s out now, and we can finally embrace Obama as the Democratic nominee. It actually makes me feel very giddy, like when a sports team you root for wins a big playoff game to advance to the next round. I know it’s a trendy thing to say “I’ll move to Canada,” but if we elect McCain….. I don’t know.
Terry McAuliffe
Sheesh, that was a long first thought. I’ll keep this one shorter. Did anyone see Terry McAuliffe on any of the thousand shows he was on this past week? The man has lost his mind.
Opposites in Cabinet
Whatever happened to the idea of surrounding yourself with people who disagree with you? You know, the idea that we always look back on with Lincoln and think “ah, that’s what made him a wonderful president” but then completely avoid in present day politics? I feel like Obama might be the first modern day president to really do that. Would it be crazy for him to have McCain and even Clinton in his cabinet? Neither as VP, but I wouldn’t be opposed to either or both of them being in his cabinet. Another thing I’m tired of in Washington is all the cronies. I’m not necessarily expecting Obama to do that, but why would that be such a crazy idea? One of our most idolized presidents did it, and was even more extreme.
The Media
It’s mindblowing how cable news networks blow things out of proportion. You’ve all seen the stories, you’ve all seen the same stuff, so I’m not going to go into detail. Just echoing the sentiment that it just blows my mind. Imagine if something you said one day was repeated by hundreds of people on television for the next two weeks, speculating from 15 to 20 words your entire character. But there’s air time to be filled, and easily manipulated minds to be molded.
I’ve tended to shy away from posting political thoughts in the last couple years, and I’m not really sure why, but I’ll try to be a little more open in the next several months. I may as well do like the rest of the country and take an interest in politics every fourth year. 🙂
And as always, feel free to completely disagree with me. I will always listen, and unless you’re really a nutcase, I will not dismiss or ignore your opinions. Politics already has enough arrogance and closed-mindedness for me to pretend like I’m always right.
“Now suddenly this other guy who was a total underdog shows up out of nowhere, inspires the nation and takes away what was hers.”
Hillary should have seen it coming — it’s exactly what Bill did in 1992! 🙂
As for Obama, he’s as nutty as anyone. He has no management experience, continues to have questionable relationships, etc. Call me a nutcase, but I think I’m moving to Canada regardless of who wins. (Or… where do conservatives move again?)
Yeah that’s true about BIll. good point.
And the questionable relationships for Obama, are you referring to relationships with Pastors who hate America?
And Conservatives move to little colonies in Idaho and Utah. So best of luck with that. 🙂
Nah, I’m referring to the more recent one: Rezko. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060402824.html?hpid=topnews and others, I’m sure.
With the number of people you work with in politics, it doesn’t entirely surprise me some of them end up being corrupt. I mean any politician I would want to not have any connections such as that, but unfortunately probably every single politician can be linked to someone corrupt. In fact, probably all of us could be linked to someone corrupt were our pasts under a microscope.
Obama’s earned my trust enough to believe that he’s not corrupt, even if some he’s been connected to are. Of course, I voted for Bush the first time around too, and he didn’t come anywhere near meeting what I expected or hoped of him.
If I completely disagree with you, can I be on your cabinet?
Yes you can!
What really scares me the most about Obama is his lack of specifics. I’ve been though all 64 pages of his ‘Blueprint For Change’ and no where did I find anything about how to go about making all these changes he’s calling for. The reality is everything he’s calling for will have to go before the professional politicians – the likes of Byrd, Reid, Biden, Hatch, Boxer, Specter, and Levin. What do you honestly think will happen to all Obama’s reforms…?
While Obama’s greatest asset is he’s not a professional politician (yet) it’s also his greatest weakness. He has zero experience in international relations and that’s a glaring problem. His plan for Universal healthcare will put the government in bankruptcy if it doesn’t bankrupt most businesses. And his plan for the economy is laughable.
Everything I read in that ‘blueprint’ was a lot of fluff to make people feel good inside. But the reality is he’s never get 1/10 of those plans passed. Either because the professional politicians will see his plans as adversely effecting their livelihood or because the plans would simply cost far more than our government has to spend.
I had the exact same thought about McAullife. He’s gone loopy.
Oh and geez – Rezko’s kids are *frightening*.
and pcg (if you’re still reading this), I’m calling you out — how on earth is Obama “nutty?” If by nutty you mean suspiciously off one’s rocker, then I guess I have to take issue with that. How, exactly, is Barack Obama nutty?
Those are some dangerous words you’re bandying about.
Not sure if he is still checking, but I think that first off pcg might be coming from a jaded point of view, where nuttiness is assumed. So someone needs to prove themselves not nutty rather than the other way around.
However, I also think that everyone lies somewhere between pessimism and optimism (or realist and idealist). I won’t speak for you (Jonathan) or pcg, but I know that I lean towards optimism, if not live completely on that side. So where an optimist like myself might see hope, a pessimist sees foolishness. And where a pessimist might see necessary logic, I see limited thinking.
So with that in mind, I can understand why pcg might think Obama is nutty, however, I entirely disagree.
And Craig, I haven’t read through Obama’s “Blueprint for Change” nor will I likely have the time anytime soon, but do we really expect politicians at this point in the game to have specifics nailed down? Maybe we do, but I don’t recall GW (who was the candidate for change his year, remember) having specifics in place at this point.
And could Obama’s plan for the economy be any more laughable than Bush’s?
Well, shoot, late to the party but I have to offer my 2 cents.
For me, this election is less about specific plans, but apparent character values. If Obama is saying that he wants to accomplish A, but can only do B, we still voted for A. All politicians are liars. Whether it is intentional or unintentional (ie, they think they can do something, promise it, find out later it is impossible). They lie to win.
Keeping the above supposition, we aren’t electing politicians for what they do, we elect them for what they say and what they appear to be.
If you vote for Obama, then you vote for an atypical politician choice I will call O. Even if he does status quo in office, we still declared that we wanted a new political type O.
If his lies win him an office, we start seeing more liars using his approach. The more of these collective O-type liars, the more chance that 1)someone who actually means O gets into office, 2)someone who is O type actually does something they said they would do, so that they can get re-elected, and 3)someone who is O type and surrounded by other O-types is actually able to accomplish O.
There are plenty of McCains in congress already; you don’t need to vote one more into office, because the rest of them will still have their say. We need more O types in office, vote Obama as a president and you will see more Obama’s in congress.
In other words, shoot for the stars and hit the moon, or vote McCain and shoot for the sky and never leave the ground.