Why I Support Barack Obama

Dr. King once said that, if given the chance by God to live in any epoch of history, he would “take his mental flight” through the struggle of the Jews in Egypt, through the promised land, onto Greece past the discourse of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, through the Roman Empire, the Renaissance, the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. He said “Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy... that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding--something is happening in our world.”

I feel the same way at the point in history that we currently find ourselves. I feel that we are at a turning point in history – a point where we can choose 2 very distinct paths. One path leads down the same dark trail we have tread for many years. A path of division and apathy, bred from years of cynicism in our government and our fellow man. A place where the mantra seems to be “as long as I get mine”, rather than “we’re all in this together”. The other path is a path of hope – hope that we are as good as our greatest history and better than our worst. That we can meet the challenges we face and overcome them in ways we can’t even imagine. That we can truly live the idea that is America.

This leads me to the question as to why I support Barack Obama. I remember the 2004 Democratic National Convention and the keynote speech that a then unknown Senator from Illinois gave. One that stated that “hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead” and that “there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.”. Sweeping oratory from a man I knew could do great things for this country; gifts like those come by rarely. Little did I know what was in store. In February of 2007, as a Valentine’s Day gift, I received a copy of “The Audacity of Hope” – it was as if someone had taken everything I've ever felt about America and crystallized it. As the primary season approached, I would often tell people to not count out this man against the Democratic legacy of the Clintons. His thoughtful, nuanced and inclusive vision of American politics was a rallying call – change was coming.

Then came the primaries and his win in Iowa; the New Hampshire primary and his seminal “Yes We Can” speech – I could understand what Caroline Kennedy said “I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president”.

I feel that as a nation, we have forgotten what a leader looks like and what their mission is; to inspire their people to the greatness that is within. We saw that in Franklin Roosevelt with the New Deal and the fireside chats. We saw it in John Kennedy with the space race and the Peace Corps – the level of national service that Americans felt. I always wondered what that must have felt like – not an abstract love of country but a concrete showing of it. I feel this now. At 31 years of age, I am knocking on doors, writing letters, registering voters to try and positively affect the world in which I live and that my nephews are growing up in.

I look at this time with hope and, strangely enough, with some regret. I look with hope in what we can achieve with a leader who challenges us to pull the best from ourselves to help rebuild the country we love. I look to the time that I can tell my nephews the story that; at this time, in this election, we stood as a people and said “Enough” to fear and division. That we knew what it meant to be inspired, not from a movie or a history lesson; but because we saw it every day walking down the street. That we had a leader that helped us believe again.

As for the regretful feelings – they are minimal and I take comfort in the words that Dr. King spoke and the feeling that we are put in a time and place for a reason greater than we know. I regret that this feeling was absent in my youth – that I grew up in the greed and excess of the 1980’s – the feeling of isolation and being adrift in the 1990’s – the Bush years. Would I have joined the Peace Corps? Been a medic in the military? Entered some sort of public service? Known the love of America from more than old film reels of a JFK speech, a history lesson or a Hollywood movie?

Barack Obama is writing a new politic. Through his entire campaign, he has risen above the knife-fights that are modern American politics. He has shown a thoughtful, nuanced and patient vision that is sorely needed in this powder keg of a world we now live. He has put forth policies that reflect, in my opinion, the best of America and shown the pragmatism needed to make those policies a reality. But above all, and most importantly, he has shown us, in his words, that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.

I think that that will make a great bedtime story someday.

9/11 was beyond politics, beyond race, beyond gender, beyond religion, beyond all things that are divisive in our country and our world. NO ONE has the exclusive claim to this tragic event in our collective history. To show such graphic imagery at a partisan political event is to walk on the graves of the people that lost their lives early that late summer morning. Never forget and always remember to speak the truth to power... it is all that keeps us free. My love to all of you this September the 11th, 2008. May they rest in peace and love in the world after ours and may we find some peace within our hearts to know the path home - David



via videosift.com

A Lack of Class

The Republican party has really surprised me. I understand that not everyone thinks the same on any issue; that’s a big part of what makes America work. But I feel that there is a huge difference between the speeches and overall feel of the DNC compared to the RNC. The DNC blasted the McCain campaign for being “more of the same”; an allusion to more of the policies of the Bush Administration. This is the plain truth, Senator McCain himself has stated that he voted with Bush over 90% of the time, more than most of his Republican colleagues. What I did not hear during the DNC were personal attacks upon the character and history of John McCain. That’s class – honoring someone’s service, stating that you fully believe that they love their country as much as anyone else but saying that you differ in where to take this country and how. That’s a politics I want to be a part of.

Conversely, The RNC speeches last night were anything but class. First up was Mitt Romney; the same man who was Governor of Massachussetts, lambasting the East Coast Liberal Media (the very one that gave McCain a free pass during the primaries), The East Coast Liberal community (where he made his fortune buying companies and laying off workers as well as governing one of the most liberal leaning states in the nation) and Big-Government liberals (Republicans have led Washington for 8 years and the governement is bigger than ever). Seriously? Do conservatives really believe these platitudes and arguments, if you can even call them that?

Next up was Mike Huckabee; not a bad speech other than stating that Palin got more votes in Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden in the primaries… that’s just laughable. One thing struck me with his speech though; the story about the school teacher teaching her students that our military men and women were the ones who earned everything for us and that we owe them everything in return. A very touching story. Unfortunately, it was a figurative spit in the face to our veterans. McCain railed and voted against the recent G.I. Bill to care for the veterans coming home from war as well as going along with the legalization of torture. No class. Just hypocrisy.

Rudy Giuliani... used to be America’s Mayor… now he just peddles condescension, mockery and fear. What has he got to be so angry about? Republicans have run this country for 8 years! What have they done that we should reward them with 4 more years… let’s see; they responded to 9/11 by invading Iraq on dubious reasons; they allowed, through redefinition, the torture of prisoners; they have tried to battle a terrorist network operating in 80 countries by occupying Iraq while letting Afghanistan fall again to fundamentalist theocracies; they presided over the torture and abuses of power at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons abroad; they presided over the debacle that was the rescue effort for New Orleans after Katrina; they presided over the housing crisis, the failing economy, the weakening dollar; they allowed warrantless wire-tapping on every American citizen; they tried to actually defend the removal of the writ of habeus corpus – one of the ideals this country was founded on. And then to demean and dismiss an American citizen’s public service and say that community organizing is, in essence, a joke is beyond understanding. Community organizing is the last bastion of hope for the inner-cities decimated under Republican rule… people lost jobs, health insurance and dignity under Reaganomics and Bush’s policies. The Republicans have failed them; all they have is their community and leaders within it to help them organize. To dismiss a man who walked away from a life of assured privilege to help his fellow man in desperate times is an insult to America itself and Giuliani and the RNC should be ashamed. But they cheered it on just the same… cheered it on while their country crumbles.

Sarah Palin… classless and condescending to the end. She didn’t talk about how they wanted to help rebuild America at home and abroad – she dismissed Obama personally through mockery, sarcasm and distortions of truth. This after Obama himself publicly defended her family’s right to privacy during a political campaign. Attacks and Lies, all the while the bloodthirsty crowd screamed for more… they cheered and cheered while everything noble and good about their party burned to the ground. America is wounded, our Constitution being shredded and true leadership lying dead on the floor on the spear of neo-conservatism. And all they have are attacks, sarcasm, mockery and lies… even if lies by omission. A week went by and she was linked to half a dozen scandals and questionable situations – but questions on those are sexist, right? Except if they happen to Hillary, than it’s a woman politician whining, right? Or if they happen to Obama, then it’s just the American people vetting a nominee, right? To see if he’s “one of us”, right? Whatever that means.

I’ve included some of the distortions of truth that came out of the speeches last night. As Bob Marley is claimed to have said after people questioned why he would appear live in concert in front of the very people who shot him in his home: “the people that are trying to make the world worse never take a day off , why should I. Light up the darkness”May we light up the darkness, may the agents of fear see their delusions for what they are and may we truly live out the greatest idea, ever, that is America.

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation in Congress.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded. Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state - by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right - change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington - throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats been in charge of the House and Senate.