Why I'm Voting for Barack Obama
Asked by someone I used to be like (a Republican) why I'm voting for Barack Obama, my instinct was to shoot back, "I recommend researching both presidential candidates as thoroughly as I did." But how would that come across? What if he really wants to know and isn't baiting me into an unwinnable argument? What if I could actually change his mind? I answered him with my personal bottom line at the top.
• I looked at the way the candidates ran their campaigns, and one small thing stood out: When paid Obama campaign workers take a taxi, they pay for it themselves but when they take a bus, they are reimbursed. That's the kind of common sense savings of interest to me. I think he would run the country the same prudent way. McCain's campaign runs amuck.
• I liked that Obama's contributions came largely from little people like me and not from the Democratic Party. McCain's money came largely from the Republican Party, not that there's anything wrong with that. I just like the grass roots thing a whole lot.
• McCain appeals to the lowest denomination in us, while Obama appeals to the highest.
• Iraq. Bring our people home and treat them like the stars they are.
• Personally, I dislike being talked down to by anyone including McCain, and dislike hearing the same words over and over, like "I know how to do that," "I'm a maverick," and the POW stuff. And I'm sick of being called "my friend ... " I dislike McCain and his running mate ripping off Obama's themes and phrases, like "change," "Washington is broken," and anti-Bush sentiment when he was a part of all of those deadly decisions. Obama said he was an American and a citizen of the world, a statement heavily critized by McCain who then turned around and said We are all Georgians. Say what? Constantly hearing McCain say that his running mate will take down "the good old boy network" when McCain is a good old boy himself, I found amusing. On McCain's upside, he's funnier than Obama, though he doesn't intend to be; comedy shows would have much more material if he's elected.
• I'm not afraid to use plain language: McCain is too old - and it's not the age, it's him. He seems lost much of the time, and confused, and curmudgeonly. He's angry, rash, and a risk-taker, not one who should sit near a nuclear button.
• I didn't like the way McCain handled the "release" of his medical report. Thousands of pages, but only half an hour or so for reporters to try to get information from them. No copying was permitted. This is suspect to me. What is he hiding?
• McCain and his running mate constantly accuse Obama of doing what they themselves do, but Obama does not do. There's a definition for that kind of behavior. What is it again? Oh yes, paranoia.
• Obama is calm, reflective, and confident. His personality is presidential. Obama is 21st Century, McCain is 19th.
As to specific plans and issues, you can read for yourselves here:
Check everything out at http://www.factcheck.org and http://www.snopes.com
Besides using the billions currently spent in Iraq back here repairing our infrastructure and putting people back to work, his common-sense tax plan, and his gift for unifying us and likelihood of regaining our self-respect and the respect of the world, those are my reasons for voting for Barack Obama.
Follow Maggie Van Ostrand on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magpie99
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Ms. Van Ostrand...
Good article. Sober and well written.
You really are a National Treasure to say the truth about our heroes.
Obama deeply cares about them and so do we.
Sen. Obama will bring our troops home and Sen. Obama has a better record of supporting our troops than Sen. McCain which is the manifestation of the support, respect and esteem which Sen. Obama hold for our heros.
Our troops do not need a politician to parrot the word "victory" while under cutting them and refusing to vote for the GI Bill.
Our vets and servicemen are our National Treasure and Sen. Obama has treated them accordingly. That is true victory.
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