I've never had warm, fuzzy feelings for Barack Obama. I never quite understood the fuss about him, but of course, given my contrarian nature, anything wildly popular is immediately suspect in my book. Aside from that, in my gut, I've always had a nagging bad feeling about him - that he's not what he appears to be.
(For full disclosure - in the primary, I had the historic chance to vote for a black man or a woman and I voted for the white guy. John Edwards has always been my first pick - since Kucinich has no chance in hell of ever being nominated.)
Too bad I've been right about Obama all along. I would have loved to have been proven wrong, but it seems Obama is just another &*!#ing politician like the rest of them. He'll say what you want him to say when you stand him up at the podium but when the rubber meets the road, he's just like any other disappointing politician these days, voting for FISA, talking about expanding Bush's idiotic faith based initiatives, backtracking on Iraq, and generally retreating to the middle where all political cowards meet.
The only thing that keeps me in his voting column is the Supreme Court. Despite all my misgivings about this man, I'd still want him picking justices over McCain - who is a complete guarantee of Bush's third term.
I simply can't understand why Obama is pandering to the 29% who still love the president-select. Poll after poll shows that the public is fed up with Bush, his economy, his war and his idiocy. We know we're headed to hell in a hand basket and we want someone who has the cajones to move us in a different direction. Apparently, the "change" Obama touts is just a code word for "more of the same."
Meet the new boss - same as the old boss.
I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised. No one of integrity can get nominated as a presidential candidate and that is a sad state of affairs for a once great nation.
Update: For more on how Obama's support of faith based initiatives hurts poor GLBT people, check out Irene Monroe's excellent column here.
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13 comments:
you, too, huh? ain't it disappointing?
Yes, it is disappointing. Glad to know I'm not the only one whose feeling it!
Just wait 'til you guys get a load of Vice President Nunn.
Hi, I just started reading your blog. John Edwards was my candidate too, but by the time the Oregon primary happened in May, he'd long been off the ballot, and I haven't heard anyone considering him for Vice President either.
Okay, about all the Edwards love...Progressive politicians come no bluer or truer than Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Here's Senator Feingold from a few months ago on John Edwards:
"The one that is the most problematic is (John) Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act, campaigns against it. Voted for No Child Left Behind, campaigns against it. Voted for the China trade deal, campaigns against it. Voted for the Iraq war … He uses my voting record exactly as his platform, even though he had the opposite voting record."
"I don't understand how somebody could vote, five or six critical votes, one way in the Senate and then make your campaign the opposite positions," Feingold said. "That doesn't give me confidence that if the person became president that they would continue the kind of policies that they are using in the Democratic primary. I'm more likely to believe what they did in the Senate."
"You have to consider what the audience is, and obviously these are very popular positions to take when you are in a primary where you are trying to get the progressive vote. But wait a minute -- there were opportunities to vote against the bankruptcy bill, there was an opportunity to vote against the China [trade] deal. Those are the moments where you sort of find out where somebody is. So I think, people are being taken in a little bit that now he is taking these positions."
So how does Edwards beat the "just another &*!#ing politician" rap? This is a guy who made a premeditated, opportunistic, political decision to tack left when he saw that Hillary wasn't getting any early traction with the 'netroots. Me? I always thought he was a sanctimonious fraud...plus, he's so slick he makes Bill Clinton look like Admiral Stockdale.
I was particularly disappointed when Obama began talking about how he let Jesus into his heart...talk about pandering. I'd rather vote for someone who honestly believes in imaginary friends than someone who only pretends to in order to gain the Christian vote. I think I'll be staying at home come Nov. 4.
Ed, while the choice between McCain and Obama appears to be just another lesser of two evils choice like the last election - I do think it would be a mistake to stay home on election day.
I would urge you, despite our disappointment with Obama, to go and vote for him anyway.
There will be more retirements from the Supreme Court in the next administration. The court outlives a presidency by many, many years. Bush has already stacked the court full of pro-business, anti-civil rights right wing whackos already. McCain will complete the job.
If nothing else, we must have Obama in office to pick judges that won't overturn Roe v. Wade or Lawrence v. Texas.
Think of the bigger picture and hold your nose on Nov. 4 and vote!
Yesterday, I saw a candidate for President of the United States in Europe proudly calling himself "a citizen of the world," deriding the twisted ideal of America-as-Empire, and calling unequivocally for a worldwide nuclear weapons ban. Despite a move to the center after clinching the nomination (which anyone with even a cursory background in electoral politics should've seen coming) and...yes...some ill-advised pandering (once he's in office, the Faith-Based people will carp about being sold a bill of goods by Obama...just as the "pro-lifers" always did about Reagan/Bush's lip service), my hand won't be anywhere near my nose when I touch a screen for Obama.
I don't know, candace, if McCain is elected, pretty soon we're going to find ourselves making crude weapons from pointed sticks and wearing animal pelts sewn together. And hey, if he devolve that much, that'll take care of the pesky pollution problem, and I'm all for environmentalism.
Mike, I agree it was a hell of a speech. I can only hope it's what he truly believes and will put into practice. I'm tired of having a damn cowboy in the White House and McCain will just continue that America as Empire foreign policy - if he can ever find that Pakistan-Iraq border, that is.
(Hint: It's called "Iran")
Ed, despite the environmental pluses of crude weapons and pelts, I'm still convinced Obama is better than McCain in the way a kick in the shin is better than a sharp stick in the eye!
On an intellectual level, I know you're right, but I'd say it's more like having to choose between Beelzebub and Mephistopheles.
Well, at least you guys can look forward to being pleasantly surprised. I'm not fucking around this time. The Republicans have simply got to be shown the door. I've got two toddlers who will be young adults when I slip this mortal coil. Hell, my son will be draft age eligible in four election cycles. So this "leaving the world a little better place than you found it" business (and, fuck yes, a kick in the shin is a little better than a stick in the eye) is real personal to me. I don't have the luxury of making the good the enemy of the perfect. Go ahead...hold your noses. Wear a full-body condom if you have to. Just don't let McCain win...
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