I had a few other things to rant about before, but none of the actual rants really blossomed into more than a paragraph or two, so I canned them. Instead, I’ll go with something not only I, but many other people could talk about until they’re blue in the face. Something that affects our daily lives, something that determines and shapes much of what we do. That’s right, I’m going into the bullshit that is politics, at least for now.
I’ll come right out and say it, and you can tell me what grade of idiot I am when you’re done reading (And please, do read the full passage and not stop after this sentence), but I like Barack Obama. I like his character, I agree with him on a lot of issues, whereas I find myself in disagreement with John McCain on the same issues, and fiscally, he’s no worse than his opponent. Because of this, it makes me chuckle every now and then to see what Republican pundits are attempting to do in an attempt to make him look bad. Sean Hannity claimed that because he was at a party where hors d’oeuvres were being served, he’s automatically disqualified as a people’s candidate. Michael Savage rabidly obsesses over the fact that his middle name is Hussein, and insists that he’s Bin Ladin’s butt buddy simply because of this fact. These are just flagrantly silly examples, but there are also a few other points that are slightly more serious, but are plain-out stupid if you look at them.
-Reverend Wright: This isn’t milked nearly as much as it was back when it happened, but it still is somewhat. It went from a convincing point to yet another media obsession when various news channels spent all their time following Reverend Wright around and dedicating entire 3-hour blocks to dissecting Obama over the issue. What people who cry out about Reverend Wright whenever somebody supports Obama fail to acknowledge is that McCain got endorsements from evangelical Christians, a handful of which were just as bad as Reverend Wright.
Don’t believe me? http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/22/mccain-reverses-himself-to-reject-hagees-support/ Hmm… sounds really familiar, doesn’t it…
-He never voted when he was in the Senate: Bullshit. Complete and absolute bullshit. He voted many times, and on many controversial issues, no less. I had to look up his voting record for an assignment in my government class, so I actually know what I’m talking about. So he voted present a bunch of times. So say that instead, even though it defames him significantly less.
-He thinks the Iraq War was a failure: He thinks the Iraq War was badly planned, badly executed, and started on a false basis. He says that it’s great that Saddam Hussein was taken out of power during its duration, but with that accomplished, we need to withdraw and focus our military on Afghanistan, which is a much more pressing matter. Yes, that is, indeed, different from calling it a failure.
-He’s too inexperienced: So was Bush, and people voted for him anyways. Course, the result was much more unsavory, but still.
-He’s black, so he clearly isn’t qualified to hol-: Stop talking now. Just. Stop. Talking.
I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to dislike Obama. There are a few good reasons to: you don’t like his stances, fiscal or social, you like McCain more, you think he’s too much of a bandwagon candidate, or you’re afraid of the fact that he’ll be working alongside a Democratic-majority Congress and has much more influence over the law as such. But there are many more things people cling to, because they want to see him crash and burn come November. Why? Partisanship? A much stronger preference towards McCain? Or is it just because he’s black?
EDIT: No, I’m not trying to fly the race card every way I can… I seriously don’t know if that’s the reason or not.
