February 15, 2008, 7:02 pm
Why I Support Barack Obama
Inspiration.
The last eight years have been representative of the politics of fear, intimidation, and corruption. Never before in American history has a Presidential administration so tacitly lied to the American people and gotten away with it - even the Nixon White House suffered at the hands of Richard Nixon's bald-faced lies. The last eight years have seen a President so far out of touch with America's values that his approval has plunged to 30% or lower, and his administration has struggled to keep up with the onslaught of new threats in the world while dealing with the least threatening nations with heavy-handed force.
The results of this President's policies and politics are clear: the majority of the American electorate believe that the war in Iraq is wrong. Ignorance of American domestic matters has rendered the economy decidedly weakened, with a housing and credit crisis that threatens to bring recession unseen by my generation. Our status as a beacon of light in the world has been diminished, and we are powerless to stop rouge states like Iran and North Korea, which became the first state in two decades to obtain the nuclear bomb. In droves, Americans are saying that they are scared - scared of where the economy is heading, scared of the way we are conducting ourselves in the world, scared of how this country is changing. They desperately desire change; a light in the dark; a hope for a new generation.
Barack Obama embodies that hope for this generation.
Robert Kennedy.
John F. Kennedy challenges Congress to fund a project to reach the moon.
Abraham Lincoln.
When I hear someone proclaim the virtues of Hillary Clinton's experience, I can't help but think that her "experience" translates into the very thing she accuses the Republicans: "more of the same." An America crying out for leadership needs not vast experience but a capacity to dream big, to envision an America that is better and challenge us to reach that place together. Hillary Clinton's role has never been one of inspiration or leadership, but one of policy and ten-point plans. Her experience won't fix what ails this country, or lead us to great new discoveries for the next century. It will only represent a repetition of the same flawed politics that keep Washington in gridlock election after election.
Our President needs wisdom in order to be successful. The President needs the ability to consider the implications of their actions far beyond the next election and well into the next decade. John F. Kennedy challenged America to go to the moon by the end of the decade - long after his term would have expired, even after winning possible reelection - and that vision depended not on him to see it through but on the American spirit to complete. Richard Nixon, a Republican, oversaw the completion of that dream in 1969 - a testament to the power of inspiration.
I become more and more convinced every day that the next President will be a Democrat. The disenchantment in America with the Republican party has grown, and the "throw the bums out" mentality was not assuaged by seizing Congress from Republican hands two years ago. With a war dragging on and a President too stubborn to change, Americans are ready for new leadership. I hope that they will put it in the hands of Barack Obama, and begin a new generation of challenges and inspirations from the Oval Office. "Yes We Can" is more than a campaign slogan - it should be our way of life, and I believe more strongly than ever that Barack Obama is the man to lead this country to greater heights than ever before imagined.
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Comments:
George wrote on February 17, 2008, 12:01 am:
"We are powerless to stop rouge states like Iran and North Korea, which became the first state in two decades to obtain the nuclear bomb."
And Obama is going to somehow "inspire" them to be less rogue?
Please, Brandon. You're the last young Democrat I would expect to fall for this nonsense. As a legitimate political scientist, surely you can see that Obamaphilia is simply the result a familiar, albeit well-executed campaign strategy designed to sideline the candidate's weakness (policy--the stuff for governance) and instead focus on his perceived strength (personality--the stuff for beauty pageants). Even the 1930s pastiche named Ron Paul has more substance than Obama, and while the former is undeniably a loon, I will at least grudgingly respect him for his serious-minded willingness to talk in terms of policy instead of mere platitudes. Even Democrats deserve better than this drivel.
brandon wrote on February 17, 2008, 2:18 am:
I must say, those are some harsh words, friend. Perhaps not undeserved. But harsh none-the-less.
Allow me a moment to clarify.
I do not expect our leaders to "inspire" rouge nations. I expect them to inspire us.
The Cold War was won in two ways: first, America stepped up, and second, Russia couldn't. America stepped up because our leaders inspired us to do better. Ronald Reagan, demanding that Gorbechav "tear down this wall" and Kennedy challenging us to race for the stars. Certainly inspiration had to be met with sweat, tears, and blood. No one is denying that. But it was the inspiration of these leaders that kicked off these accomplishments.
I am not so foolish to think that the devil is in anything but the details. My only concern is whether or not the details we already have fit the bill of what this country needs. Neither Hillary Clinton nor John McCain have proposed solutions to problems that I face daily. In that absence, I have little other remedy than to hope that the inspiration Obama brings can be coupled with real action.
Cale wrote on February 17, 2008, 8:25 pm:
Inspiring, you say?
It's true that Barack Obama is a strong supporter of homosexual marriage. It's also true that he believes Planned Parenthood should provide sex education to 5-year-old kindergarten children. He has consistently supported abortion on demand -- even the horrific partial-birth abortion. Twice he has voted against bills prohibiting tax funding of abortions. He has voted against notifying parents of children who get out-of-state abortions. In 2001 and 2002, Obama was the only Illinois senator to speak out against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which would have outlawed "live birth abortion." As a Senate committee chairman in 2003, he prevented the Act from even being heard on the Senate floor.
I agree that Barack Obama is inspiring, but what he inspires in me is loathing and disapprobation!
The Apostle Paul warned his younger co-worker, Timothy, against assuming responsibility for other men's sins by approving unworthy men as leaders (1 Tim 5:22). The implicit principle in the apostle's admonition has significance for us when we select our political leaders. Those we select will represent us. If we select men who practice, encourage and advance evil, those men will be representing us as they do those things and we will share in the responsibility for the evil they perpetrate. If we select a political leader who is responsible for the shedding of innocent blood, we will share in that man's guilt. If we select a political leader who undermines marriage and the family or is responsible for the corruption of little children, we will share responsibility for those things.
Selecting our leaders is serious business with potentially eternal consequences. We should not allow our emotions to make such important decisions. Rather we should carefully and soberly consider a candidate's policy positions, track record, leadership ability, and most importantly, his moral rectitude.
Campaigning candidates are wont to espouse policies they will later ignore or even contradict. This is frequently so because candidates for office tend to speak idealistically. Once elected, however, they are forced to deal with realities over which they have no control. Rather than proactively shaping policy, most presidents end up largely reacting to the hand that's dealt them. This is especially true in matters of foreign policy. Campaign rhetoric aside, we can reasonably expect all of the presidential candidates to deal with Iraq in essentially the same way because they will have no real choice. They will be constrained by the realities imposed upon them.
A candidate's track record gives us a historical record that portends what that person will most likely do in the future because it offers insight into the individual's character and moral values or lack thereof. Leadership ability is important, but has value only if the individual also has moral integrity. Hitler and Stalin exhibited strong (and inspiring) leadership ability, but the fruit of their leadership was evil because they were evil men. Ultimately, the single most important factor is the candidate's character. That will be the determining factor in the choices the officeholder will finally make.
None of us is perfect, of course, and the distinctions between individuals are seldom as sharp as those between the likes of Lincoln and Stalin, much less Jesus and Judas Iscariot. We must nevertheless remember that we are selecting individuals to represent us in all they do as our leaders, and we should make every effort to choose wisely and thoughtfully.
georgiasunset wrote on February 18, 2008, 12:06 pm:
Wow! Nothing like politics or religion to spark great debates. I look forward to your generation Brandon, the bloggers and the internet savvy to save us from the two party system. Maybe one day, we will have leadership at all levels by people who actually are the best for the job and won't have their hands tied by the goverment machine. Your generation has done more to invoke change and we need it. :) BRAVO!