Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I am a christian. I am a single black male. I have no kids or people who depend on me to live and by my salary I am considered middle class. I don't belong to a political party, as there are issues that I agree with on both major party sides (Republican and Democrat). I am a partial homeowner.
This upcoming election is important to me. I have actually been following it pretty closely. Whenever I am home with my aunt or uncle, we always talk politics. We can argue and disagree like crazy, but at the end of the conversation we still love each other. If its anyone I learned that you could respectfully disagree from, its my aunt and uncle.
I believe that not only as a christian, but as a citizen of the United States, you are obligated to vote if you are over 18. The presidency is the most important office in politics. Sure it doesn't wield the most power, but the presidency has the most influence and is essentially the face of the United States.
What we have now is a race that has boiled down to 2 candidates. I am going to list both positives and negatives about the respective candidates from my point of view. Both are Christians, which made the choice harder.
Barack Obama
He's the first black presidential candidate (who has an actual shot to win, so the others don't count). I will put it blunt and say it, he already has my vote. But I did not come to this conclusion off the bat, he was actually my third choice when all is said and done. Many people assume that just because I am black, I am going to vote for Obama. No, NO, and NO. I am firmly against this and in my opinion its a huge step back.
Positives:
- Hope inspiring. Say what you will, but Barack has given hope to people who have NO faith in the government.
- Joe Biden. I think his vice presidential choice was great. Biden is knowledgeable and I would consider him to be a presidential candidate if he ran alone. I really like his platform and I'm confident that if Obama is assassinated or dies, Biden would be a great president.
- His ideas are right on target. Now keep in mind I said ideas. Its one thing to say the right things, but its another to DO them.
- He is smart. Read up on his credentials and you'll see what I mean. He has a pretty impressive list. He is definitely qualified.
- Seems to be more in touch with my generation.
- His domestic policies in my opinion are excellent. Read up and we will talk more
Negatives:
- Inexperienced. Say what you will, but being president DOES require experience in the political circles. Not just any schmo off the street can be a president. Obama is relatively young to be president and does not have as much as most presidential candidates.
- No clear cut plans. Remember when I just said his Ideas are on target? He does not state specific plans on how is to accomplish these. That's a big down side.
- His earlier post Iraq stance was WAY too shortsighted. I was mainly against him when he promised to remove troops immediately when he came into power. If you know anything about Iraq at this point, you would know that it was a terrible idea.
- I thought his handling of the current economic situation could have been better. Even though McCain got hammered for "failing" to help the wall street financial situation, at least he tried. Obama was in-active.
- I still have no idea how he is going to handle foreign policy. While meeting with leaders with no pre-conditions is good, you have to be careful how you do this.
- He has already backtracked on some of his promises.
John McCain
McCain was actually closer to having my vote than more people think. Before they chose vice presidents, I was leaning 60% McCain, and 40% Obama. As soon as they chose VP's though, and McCain chose Palin, that shifted from 0% McCain to 100% Obama. The reason was two fold. The first was that everything I have read on Palin suggests that she is GROSSLY unqualified to be the VP. Never mind International experience, but she doesn't have any DOMESTIC experience and shes not "in touch" with the rest of the continental united states. One thing that jumps out at me on this was the "rape kits" controversy surrounding her. Can you imagine if they tried to "charge" for kits in NYC? If McCain somehow kicks the bucket, I would be terrified that she would be the one leading our country.
Positives:
- P.O.W who chose to stay with his comrades. That to me shows character.
- His own party seems to dislike him as much as the Democrats. That shows Bi-Partisanship and the ability to not follow your party like a lemming. That's a good thing
- He is a man on action. He has more clear cut plans. I don't agree with many of the plans, but he will still take action. IMO action is better than no action.
- I am in line with his POST-Iraq methods.
- I am big on his stance against big business and wallstreet. His stance on the oil companies isnt bad either.
Negatives:
- His VP. Palin was a beyond horrible choice. If he happens to die, I don't want Palin in power.
- He is old/rich and out of touch. The fact he didn't know how many houses he owned speaks volumes. I don't know about you, but I can tell you in less than a second how many homes I own.
- I agreed when he said that he had more experience, I thought it was arguable when he said Obama didn't have any, but it was a good argument. Then he picked up Palin. How can you say shes qualified and at the same time say Obama isn't? This soured me greatly.
- He is not bright. He was almost dead last in his class (894 out of 899)
One of the things that really irks me are one issue voters. I mean people who vote for a candidate based solely on their stance on one issue. There are tons out there and its shameful and downright... stupid. You really have to weigh the positives and negatives of the candidates involved. Sure some topics are more important than others, but would you vote for a horrible candidate just because he was in line with your stance on Gun Laws? Lets get it together people....
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