Why I voted for Obama: Reason

I have never been a believer in democracy American style and years of participation has not changed my mind. My first opportunity to vote was Bill Clintons' first term and I skipped it due to apathy. I didn't want to vote for the lessor of two evils, I wanted to believe in someone. I pretty much dropped out of society during the Clinton years and don't even remember his second election, no TV or radio for several years. I dropped back into society in a big way by the 2000 election season and found in Ralph Nader someone I did actually believe in and I enthusiastically gave him my vote. I knew he couldn't win a presidential election, but I wanted him to get enough votes to receive federal campaign funds for the Green Party.

After four years of Bush I was hugely political and though I didn't believe in John Kerry I held my nose and voted for him. I don't like the idea of voting for the lessor of two evils but in this case the greater of two evils was the dark lord himself. Needless to say I have regretted that decision ever since and I would like to see John Kerry go to jail for giving the presidency away instead of taking a necessary stand and fighting the schoolyard bully. At least my first time was for love, oh well. I'll take this opportunity to say that a true democracy would allow for a run-off voting system in which you get a first choice (Nader) and a second choice (Kerry) and so on. With this far more fair and logical system, we wouldn't be accusing a growing third party of spoiling elections, this monopoly two party system must be stopped!

So who would have thought that just four years later, I was ready to believe in someone, and vote for someone, who would actually win? Although, after eight years of Bush/Cheney, and with the traveling side show the republicans were endorsing, it's hard to believe that any Democrat could lose. But I wasn't gaga over Obama, OK, so I was feelin' it, but I've been burned before. I knew that the truth behind his overwhelming individual campaign contributions was his overwhelming corporate contributions. Historically, presidents do not keep the campaign promises they make in public, but the ones they make in private to their biggest contributors. We all felt the epic shift of corporate dollars go from mainly Republicans to mainly Democrats, and specifically to the Obama Campaign. And we all know why they gave so much to him, they weren't supporting him like you or I, they were buying him outright.

So why did I vote for another Democrat, why did I vote for Obama? George Bush was a real wake up call for my generation, and maybe for the world. Being under his command was like having a plunger for a boss, there's just no reasoning with an inanimate object. When we say Bush was a "tool" we really mean it. He was intellectually inanimate, he was just a conduit for the will of others. When he spoke he mis-spoke and no one could understand him much less argue with him, and when he gave rehearsed speeches it was obvious that someone had to coach him and explain what he was saying and why. When he said, "Let's bomb Iraq, it will solve all our problems" the world rose up and resoundingly said "Hell no!". He responded by suggesting that the record breaking world wide peace protests represented a "special interest group". Protesting anything that came out of the Bush administration was (as congressman Barney Frank said) like arguing with a dining room table.

When I look at Obama I don't see a dining room table or a plunger, and I certainly don't see an angel or a devil. I see a reasonable, rational man who is not only capable of using logic, but also vulnerable to it. I voted for him because I believe that a superior logic can persuade him when he is on the wrong path. If he had picked a less bank and corporate friendly staff I'd be inclined to believe that he had many of the right answers and strategies. But unfortunately the jackals are deeply entrenched and bent on making sure that his every deed is a misdeed. But if we can get a superior message into those big ears and on that great mind of his, Obama may have little choice when the light of reason shines in. I've not seen much that gives me hope since his inauguration but the reason I voted for him remains: Reason. Obama is far from perfect, but he may be willing to go in that direction when the way is clearly shown.