About midway through the day today I was able to quantify why Barack Obama will get my vote over John McCain. To me McCain represents the arrogant sureness of falsely assuming you have all the answers to life's big questions. He will act quickly and assuredly and ultimately, likely, incorrectly, just like George W. Bush did before him. There's no humility, just a sense of entitlement, of righteousness. The feeling of superiority is amply demonstrated in the way both use fear-mongering tactics to try to cow the public. If you don't do exactly as they say bad things will happen.
Barack Obama represents trust and hope. Trust that he can speak to the public as adults and we will understand, humbly asking for our trust in him to guide our nation, trust that we as citizens of this nation can work together to pull out of our current predicaments and progress and prosper in the years to come. Hope that our nation has repented of it's past sins and is ready to celebrate the nomination of the first black president.
It takes a certain amount of hubris to believe you can lead a nation, and Barack's squeaky clean image has some political smudges on it, but he still gives hope for what is possible. McCain still reeks of the ethnocentrism America should have left behind long ago.
3 comments:
Agreed. Nice post. It is hard to put your politics out there.
OBAMA 08!!!
Well said, Jer. I've been surprised how much I like him despite my usual jaded cynicism for politics. I think it's because he's convinced me he really values tolerance, honesty, intelligence, humility and reason. I love all those things so I'm happy about our next president.
I've liked Obama since '04, and I'm somewhat more conservative than he is. I love watching political chess-matches, and I've been very impressed by the way he conducted his campaign (fucking brilliant), and was surprised at the shitteous McCain and Clinton campaigns. I like John McCain, but he was fated to lose, I think, but he called his judgment into question on large, high-profile decisions, and he managed to conduct himself in a way that confirmed the scuttlebutt from his fellow Republican Senators about his temperament.
I agree that he talks to America like we're grown ups, and it hasn't escaped me that Obama's mantra was "yes we can," while McCain talked about what he, John McCain, would do as President. I don't think that makes Obama any more humble than McCain is--the man has incredible personal ambition, and some arrogant snottiness pops out of him on rare occasions--but I do think he will govern in a more humble manner than Bush has or than McCain would.
Post a Comment