I'm undecided on who to vote for, so I thought it would be helpful to see what reasons fellow clutchfans posters are voting for who they are voting for. In only 5 bullet points, state the primary reasons you are voting for your candidate over the other.
If the election were today I would have to seriously consider voting for Obama. My reasons would be: He's a better choice with regards to civil liberties and hopefully will give back some of the power that has been concentrated in the executive branch. I think in terms of foreign policy (not the war) he has a better idea of how to approach world problems and how to communicate with other world leaders. Despite the fact that I do not agree with him on economic issues (due to his and Biden's direct call for wealth redistribution among other problems) I don't think McCain has a firm enough grasp on the economy as has been outlined over the past few weeks. I also don't think McCain's advisors would do a better job than McCain. While Joe Biden is an idiot, I think Sarah Palin is not ready for the national stage. She's actually a smart woman (if you look at her past debates) but she was brought to the national stage way too soon and does not have a firm enough grasp of the issues to be VP. Hopefully a defeat in November will send the GOP back to its libertarian roots which will once again mean we have only one party who wants to expand the role of the government and not two, as we currently have.
Obama Health care reform Pull back from Iraq Stop the Bush practices of unchecked presidential power Less of a threat to use force as a first option Better VP choice Bring back some of much needed government regulations.
Don't we have a thread like this already? Obama: 1. Wisdom: Obama has, in my estimation, more wisdom in his decision-making than McCain. I think you can see it play out in how each has run their campaigns. Obama's big campaigning decisions seem prudent and well-reasoned while some of McCain's decisions have seemed rash or impulsive. 2. Ethics: I trust Obama more to do the moral thing. I once had a lot of trust in McCain as well, but his equivocation on torture really shook my confidence that he'd put ethics first. 3. Leadership and Discipline: From what I've seen of the two of them, I trust Obama more to run a team and get productive work out of his direct reports. I think he is more likely to seek out and implement good advice from knowledgeable people. I think we've seen some of that in the campaign as well. He's run a very effective and disciplined campaign and doesn't seem to let too many balls drop. 4. "Change": I think all the stuff about change is a lot of campaigning bs. I nevertheless expect he will be better able to shake things up (which is needed right now). Because he's a Democray, he won't be beholden to the incumbent Party ideals or be accused of trechery for undoing anything Bush has done. He also has a Congress that will help him implement things. And, I think he and his team have a vibrancy for generating ideas that McCain's group does not. 5. However, I'm very concerned about most things he says about the economy. His rhetoric tends to be short-sighted protectionism. I'm hoping they are false promises to help get elected and he'll take a more enlightened approach when he has to actually govern. Regardless, I trust his decision-making and expect he could at least execute well, even if I don't agree with the idea.
If the election were held today? Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin. I'm giving McCain-Palin a chance to win back my vote, but I'm pretty angry about McCain's behavior this week, by threatening conservative House members instead of standing up for them.
Obama: 1) Intelligence. I want someone who thinks and evaluates. No more "truthiness". 2) Foreign policy. Pragmatism, diplomacy, and a return of American respect abroad. 3) Civil liberties. Depsite his FISA vote, Obama is miles ahead of McCain on this issue. 4) Economy. While Obama (like every politician these days) is not fiscally conservative, his plans are still better for the vast majority of americans. Given McCain's acknowledged ignorance on the economy, coupled with his employment of Gramm, there is no doubt in my mind that McCain would be the absolute worst choice for resurrecting our deflated economy. 5) Energy. Drill drill drill is dumb dumb dumb.
Homer wants to vote for Obama, but he's voting for McCain, over and over again: http://www.wjno.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=244038&article=4338967
I'm voting for Obama because... I very much like the way Obama thinks about and approaches problems. He uses intelligence and logic, he prefers diplomacy over aggression, but is willing to use strength when necessary. I have seen this in his policy proposals and his actions in the campaign. The policies proposed by Obama sound better to me overall. In an ideal world I'd prefer smaller government and equal percentage of income taxed across all classes, but I don't think that's the wisest choice in our society right now. I was originally happy that McCain was the alternative, but then his campaign began to remind me way too much of the tactics of Bush that I really hate. At this point I'm pretty disgusted with the "Get elected first, then put Country second" style of campaigning and decision making of McCain. I was not a fan of Bush in either of the last two elections, and his administration has made so many mistakes and really done damage to this country over the last eight years that I honestly want someone vastly different in the White House. McCain is certainly different from Bush, but he's way too close for my tastes (and especially compared to Obama). I'm not a policy wonk, an economic expert, a politician, or anything else. I do consider myself to be pretty logical, though, and all the logic of this election seems to point to Obama being the better choice.
All Democrat except my Rep in the House, probably will go either third party or Republican not that it matters. Reasons: 1. My vote doesn't matter, I live in Texas 2. At least he was somewhat honest about being a gun grabber, and hopefully has other things to do first. 3. Comedy will be better than "Hey this guy is OLD!" 4. I'm tired of people trashing McCain's vietnam service. 5. Voted all Dem last two elections, why stop now?
Obama: 1) Would waste less money on unnecessary wars. 2) Would have sensible financial regulations so we won't keep floundering economically. 3) We would not have 7 Alito-Scalias on the S.Ct. More freedom and civil liberties. 4) Less drilling off the coasts; more solar, wind. 5) Better economic growth and better distributionof wealth as we almost always have with Democrats. 6) More people with health care. Less pain and despair for those without access. Lower premiums and deductibles for those with insurance.
Color me legitimately surprised. Kudos to you for proving me a remarkably bad judge of internet political leanings.
