Who cares?
That's what I wondered when George Packer (ace of the New Yorker) asked whether he could post my intention to vote for Obama on his blog.
So I duly ignored him. Only when he bugged me two days later did I say okay, and responded in quick, instinctive emails back.
Little did I know the splash this would make. Not until a day later, when my wife and I were up in Philadelphia to teach leadership via scenes from Shakespeare's Henry V for the Wharton Business School. When friends joined us for dinner at UPenn, they said their taxi driver had talked about my "endorsement of Obama," having read it online during a break.
What's most fun about unexpectedly "breaking through" on an issue is not feeling powerful, that you're molding minds out there. People make up their own minds, based on lots more information than my personal inclinations.
Okay, this type announcement can give (maybe a few) conservatives some cover -- not publicly to use with others, but privately to assure themselves that it's actually okay to break away. To break with the most conservative, or Republican, candidate and vote (in my case, the first time ever) for "the other guy."
And it's not most fun dealing with longtime friends, fellow conservatives. Most are polite and say they understand, and they'll get over it. Yet a few do get heated, show their disappointment, and say they can't understand my taking a public stance (even if I privately stray).
I don't enjoy those discussions, since I've long prided myself in being a staunch conservative.
Not a neo-con, since I was never liberal along the way (having campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964, when at that hotbed of lefty politics, Grinnell College). I'm really a con-con.
And not a staunch Republican, as I've never been to a Republican rally or convention (I came closest in 1980, after writing Don Rumsfeld's speech and after we drove there; but I left Detroit before the convention opened).
So I've considered myself less of a partisan than an ideologue. I cared about conservative principles, and still do, instead of caring about the GOP.
Granted, McCain's views are closer to mine than Obama's. But I've learned over this Bush era to value competence along with ideology. Otherwise, our ideology gets discredited, as it has so disastrously over the past eight years.
McCain's temperament -- leading him to bizarre behavior during the week the economic crisis broke -- and his judgment -- leading him to Wasilla -- depressed me into thinking that "our guy" would be a(nother) lousy conservative president. Been there, done that.
I'd rather a competent moderate president. Even at a risk, since Obama lacks lots of executive experience displaying competence (though his presidential campaign has been spot-on). And since his Senate voting record is not moderate, but depressingly liberal. Looming in the background, Pelosi and Reid really scare me.
Nonetheless, I concluded that McCain would not -- could not -- be a good president. Obama just might be.
That's become good enough for me -- however much of a triumph (as Dr. Johnson said about second marriages) of hope over experience.
Now what's most fun about the media breakthrough is hearing from gobs of people from previous lives. Many long forgotten, reminding me of long forgotten times together. People emerging suddenly, from the dark matter of time, into the recesses of the brain.
These folks were important at various stages of my life -- grammar school playmates, Grinnell classmates, Indianapolis cousins, Dan Quayle, Dick Allen, colleagues from the Reagan arms control agency (chuckling over my quip to Packer that I wouldn't have hired Sarah Palin to a mid-level job there).
A veritable stroll down memory lane, to see a line of people who have touched my life at various times, in its varied stages, reconnecting in a most unexpected (even bizarre) manner.
Now that's fun.
I'd love too see the Republican party who's been taken over by crooks, liars, extremists, & thieves crumble & be replaced by the Ron Paul's & the Dennis Kucinich's we still have out there. The ones who are still for we the people. Pelosi needs to go too. she should be impeached with Bush & Cheney. We have 43 blue dogs in congress. Republicans in the Democratic Congress. Get their names & get them voted out too. If a Dem is vying for thier position, get the new Dem in. These old blue dogs are what's keeping the Dems from passing anything
Neo cons must go too. neo just means new...new conservatives or as close to Nazism as possible in our home of the free. This is why we're not free anymore. And most people get their news off the radio!! Propaganda City. It looks like bloggers are the only truth we can get.
IT IS UP TO US TO GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN CONGRESS, PEOPLE WHO WILL NOT RUBBERSTAMP THE PRESIDENT NOR TIE HIS HANDS WHEN HE HAS PROPOSED SOMETHING GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY & ITS CITIZENS.
MAY GOD KEEP US SAFE & STRONG! WE WILL NEED HIM, NO MATTER WHO WINS THEPRIZE!.
And what makes McCAIN a better man,HIS FIRST WIFE OR SECOND?...Duh
Jesus; Isaiah, Moses; Mohammad, Buddha; Mother Theresa; John XXIII, Martin Luther, Gandhi; Mary McLeod Bethune; John Brown; Martin Luther King; Frederick Douglas; Medgar Evers; Abraham Lincoln; Rosa Parks; Nat Turner; Harriet Tubman; All the signers of the Declaration of Independence; George Washington; John Locke; Zakia Zaki; Tali Raz; Millicent Fawcett; Nathan Hale; George Washington; Barbara Frietchie, and many , many more. When conditions are unjust, out of sync, in need of bringing back to center and human rights liberals have consistently come to serve. That is why I have already voted for the so-called Liberal , Barack Obama.
Okay, BB - here's the thing. It's not about what YOUR ethics are. YOU don't have to like people needing abortions, nor do I have to like innocent people being given the death penalty. You don't have to make your daughter get an abortion any more than I have to send my son off to fight in Iraq. Do Iraqi babies count? Is okay to kill them for a 'greater cause'? Is that what Jesus would do?
Forgive me, but religion has no place in politics or policy. Period.
Time for intelligent leadership, BB!!!!
Many a conservative whom this could have swayed will dismiss before reading because it's here instead of a mainstream media outlet.
For a second I was going to dismiss what you said BUT AS SOON AS YOU WROTE IN CAPITAL LETTERS .... how could I not be swayed?
Excuse me, is nobody supposed to answer for the lies that got this great nation into its latest great mistake? Among those peddling them was Ken "Cakewalk" Adelman, now a fat-cat lawyer in Washington, DC, and a noisy booster of Shakespearean culture who doubtless will get something named after himself because of all his civic contributions. By contrast, the most that those who died because of what Adelman and the other chicken hawks are likely to get is post offices named for them in their home towns.
Obama is a leader born. McCain is not. Never was. Never will be. He's a maverick: a dissenter among his associates (the definition according to Webster). I understand people will hear what they want to hear and this will become their reality. Einstein nailed it.
However, the facts remain about John McGAIN. If you want to read more you can visit this link here. It is truly an eyeopener: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/27/17246/795/813/643983
http://thebluepointofview.com
It's the best Expose I've seen on McGain.
Every American who wants to vote for the GOP ticket should read this article ->>
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/27/17246/795/813/643983.
Already Voted! Feels Good!
OBAMA~BIDEN '08~'12
The country is in very, very deep trouble. (So is the world, largely because of our country.) Ther's a lot to be done to fix it -- and some of it might already be irreparable. We'll need every hand to help.
Given this, is it a good idea to hold grudges? Is it a good idea to hold back forgiveness, and to welcome the strayed back to the fold?
Maybe some people (Powell? Adelman?) are beyond forgiveness. But even then, is it possible that forgiving the unforgivable might not only be merciful, but necessary, if we're to survive the next 8 years?
All the forces of the rich and powerful will be arrayed against us. Can we afford to turn away any allies?
Barack Obama has been making allusions to his inspiration by Lincoln -- who famously sought to treat the rebellious and treasonous South "with malice toward none and charity to all." What would Lincoln do with Adelman?
What would Barack do?
TAKE HUNDREDS of BILLIONS OF INCOME TAX FROM WEALTHY
FOR MIDDLE CLASS "GOVERNMENT" CHECKS (share the wealth)
HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS NOT ALLOCATED TO FUNDING SOCIAL SECURITY
Bad economy, Bad state for 401Ks, Social Security under-funded - so let's take TAXES from rich that would have gone to fund Social Security....
.....40 pieces of silver
Obama has now been caught more than once talking about socialist ideals. His 2001 radio interview in Chicago has him bemoaning the lack of power in the courts to help redistribution of wealth. His answer is redistribution .. take from me, give to you, take from you give to someone else ... and when the government does something, we lose 30% or so in administrative costs. For every $100 taken from Joe the Plumber, only $70 makes it out to give to Joe the Dumber Plumber. Sometimes worse than that.
And it's not right. It's not "justice" - it's a perversion of the word "justice" to take from the productive and give to the non productive. To take from the working class and give to the non working class.
And Barack calls himself a Christian, but what Christian believes that a pregnancy is not a life? What Christian believes that life doesn't start at conception? What Christian believes that abortion isn't the murder of an innocent? (those questions will probably get this message deleted ... I know it's unpopular, but I sure hope to have them answered).
Barack is just a symbol of change, just a symbol of something new, just a symbol of something NOT Republican. That's all people want ... I seriously doubt they really want his policies. The policies are the kind of academic naivete that keeps professors safely out of the working force, tucked away in universities where they can do the least amount
If Jesus were alive today, he would stamp out the "Pro Choice" movement, no? He would not be a socialist ... he would be a theocrat. Duh.
The poor are taken care of by private charities more than they have ever been taken care of by government. That will continue to be the case with an Obama presidency, as well. Government does things poorly for twice the price. The most effective boots-on-the-ground charitable organizations have always been churches.
As far as being Christian, the more Christian thing to do would be to leave people alone to make the choices they need to make to progress their life.
Change is good, it's not always easy, but it's good.