To start, this image pretty much sums up my take on the Republican candidates this year:
The first and biggest problem I have with McCain is that I think he'll die in office, making Palin our president. If the job doesn't actually kill him, he will at least be down for the count time and again, as doctors desperately work to keep him alive. The fact is that being a US president is, more than ever, an exhausting, demoralizing, mind-fuckingly stressful job. Look at Bill Clinton's before and after pix, then look at George W. Bush's. Does anyone really believe a 72 year old man can take all the kicks to the stomach that go with the job and come out alive? McCain could live to 100 as a Senator, but as President, the stress will take an already physically and mentally fragile old guy and put him in an early grave. (Note: no need to explain why Sarah Palin in the Oval Office is a nightmare none of us can face, right?)
The next problem with McCain is that he is a sociopath. When the devoted wife who stood by him during his time in a POW camp got into a terrible car wreck that destroyed her figure, put her in a wheelchair, and caused her to gain weight, McCain promptly dumped her and his kids cold and ran off with a rich, young woman who he married only one month later. That's why none of his grown kids show up at rallies or speak out in support of him: they hate his guts for what he did to their mother. I can't help wondering why his new kids don't show up at rallies either. The GOP has made a point of dragging Palin's kids on stage, even the baby who shouldn't be passed around like a political prop in the first place. But where is McCain's little adopted daughter? Is he afraid he'll lose the support of his racist constituents if they were frequently reminded that his wife adopted a darling little girl of color?
Leading to another thing that makes me hate McCain. I've read thousands of anti-Obama rants by McCain supporters. And I'm afraid I can only draw one conclusion from the gobbledy-gook of their addled arguments. They're damn racists. I don't care how vociferously McCain supporters may deny it, but his camp's political fortunes rest on the shoulders of hate-mongers and ideologues. McCain's most fanatical supporters believe in white supremacy and in keeping women in their place. A good number believe the Rapture's right around the corner, so we might as well blow up the world now, because they're floaters and the rest of us can go to hell.
As I see it, there's room for everyone in America, even the ignorant and deluded; but I am certain that if the ignorant and deluded run America, they won't make room for me or anyone else who doesn't think like them.
I still can't believe that the female lobbyist McCain philandered with (and no doubt made illegal deals with) has not even been an issue in this campaign. I can't believe anyone thinks that McCain, who played a role in the S&L fiasco, could possibly do shit about Wall St., except fuck it up even more. I can't believe that anyone could see McCain as a man of the people when he married a filthy-rich, Mafia-connected heiress who puts up with verbal abuse and worse from him, while he uses her money to buy office. McCain called her a cunt in public and yet no one links this with his character. WTF. Everything about McCain screams sociopath.
I'm not madly in love with Obama, but I respect him. More than that, I think he will be a great president. If he can live up to his potential, well, I think he could be the greatest president of my lifetime, maybe even the greatest American president since FDR. But he is a politician, and I am incapable of ever fully trusting any politician, no matter how much I love what he stands for. To be a politician is to compromise: if you don't compromise, you don't win. And those compromises inevitably disappoint. When Obama caves to oil interests, when he goes along with bills that infringe on our Constitutional rights to privacy, well, it is what it is: a politician trying to please too many camps, listening to too many advisors, and trying to make the most politically advantageous compromise.
But I believe Obama can be a great president. He is the only presidential candidate in my lifetime thus far who has demonstrated the same qualities as the best presidents in American history. He is that wondrous, mythical creature: a liberal Christian. He has shown himself to be rational, generous, kind, respectful and considerate in the face of adversity, even when he's been viciously attacked. Obama has overcome incredible odds in this campaign, and in his life as well. He was the disenfranchised, underprivileged outsider who, through hard work and more hard work, has risen to lead a nation. He combines the charisma of Bill Clinton with the affability of Ronald Reagan, the social concern of Franklin Roosevelt with the towering intelligence of Abraham Lincoln.
His political enemies have done everything in their power to discredit and humiliate him. He's survived dirty tricks (like the Obama "food stamps"), hoaxes (like the campaign worker who scratched a B on her face and blamed it on an Obama supporter), lies (such as the claim that he's a Muslim terrorist) and McCarthyism (e.g., re-heating Cold War hysteria and calling Obama a Commie for wanting to restore social equality to America). More amazingly, he's done so without resorting to the GOP's favorite ploy: whining like babies about media bias. ( Which is really fucking hilarious, btw, since nearly all major media outlets and talk-radio stations in the US are owned by right-wingers.) Obama has weathered every possible political storm with courage and elan.
Obama seems to be a man who always valued his family, and particularly the women in his life: his mother, his grandmother, his wife. Unlike Cindy McCain, Michelle doesn't seem to freeze up in terror next to her husband. Mrs. Obama is beautiful and strong and acts like her husband's equal and friend, unlike Mrs. McCain, who looks like she's hiding domestic abuse and drug addiction under three compacted inches of make-up. That Obama appears to have such warm and progressive relationships with his female relatives probably explains why he has a progressive attitude about women's issues. That McCain looks like the poster-child for tyrannical males may explain why he doesn't think women have a right to choose what to do with their bodies.
Obama doesn't have to engage in name-calling to win points. Whether or not you thought he won the debates, Obama certainly classed them up. He exudes leadership qualities. McCain looked and acted like a creepy old Wal-Mart greeter. Obama is articulate. McCain is loud. Obama looks like he smells of good cologne. McCain looks like he smells of Ben Gay. Obama gets personally informed on issues and makes original, interesting statements. McCain gets memos from staff telling him what to say. You can "listen" to McCain simply by turning on Fox News where talking heads read off the same notes that McCain was given.
But perhaps the most important reason I support Obama is because I believe that he is uniquely capable of getting America out of the horrible shit-hole we've sunk into over the past eight years. Obama has the character, the intelligence and, most importantly, the will to get us out of Iraq. Obama understands social inequality and financial hardship, and can make the right choices to restore financial stability to the country, just as he made good choices in his own life and lifted himself up by the bootstraps. McCain's greatest personal financial accomplishment was to marry a rich woman. McCain's innate sense of entitlement, coupled with his greed, spell doom to our economy. If McCain's a friend of the working class, I'm the tooth fairy.
I took advantage of early voting this year. I don't know if, in the end, Obama will prove to be the man I think he is. Who can say? But I'm kind of hoping that he will prove that he is even better than we can yet imagine. Kind of like Lincoln, who stepped into office equipped with little more than an insanely bright mind and a passionate commitment to serving his country. Lincoln's resources were tested and stretched beyond all human limits once in office, yet he managed, despite his personal agony and despair, to rise above and lead this nation towards truth and justice. I see that potential in Obama. I see that same strength, and clarity, and sense of honor and duty to a cause larger than himself.
McCain and his minions are the same old boys who created the mess America is in now, and they're still living in the past. Obama has a vision for a better future and the talent to make it happen. He is our only hope for change, and we need change badly. I pray to God that you, and yours, and most Americans this election year will vote for Barack Obama.
I know how Gloria feels when it comes to politicians and I think she has Obama sussed pretty well. She definitely has McPain's number - as do a whole lot of people.
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