Monday, February 04, 2008

Yes We Can



Tomorrow is either going to be a really good day, or a really bad day, for me and other Obama supporters.

But I *want* to believe it's possible that there's going to be a candidate I'm excited about for the first time ever. And for right now, at least, I do.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

6 comments:

growlitheforever said...

Randy,

You shouldn't give up hope if Obama loses. If Hilary wins and becomes president there's a good chance that Obama will be vice president, giving him a good shot at the presidency in the future.

I'm curious, if Obama runs with Hilary as Vice would you vote for Hilary. Personally I don't see anything wrong with Hilary. Obama's and her politics are very similar.

On another note I would NEVER vote for a republican. The two parties have complete opposite agendas at least when it comes to the economy which in my belief is their top responsibility. It boils down to this for me. Republicans believe in trickle down economics. Buy giving the money to the rich they hope to hire more people. This strategy doesn't work, look at Bush. Democrats believe in trickle up economics, giving money to the poor which would find it's way to the rich who would then hire more people. Trickle up makes a lot more sense to me, because the poor almost always spend the majority of their money, while the rich take off to islands hording their stash.

Regards,
Wartortle

12:31 PM
growlitheforever said...

One last comment. Why is the economy most important, because most other problems, like capital punishment and abortion become much less problematic when the economy is good. A good economy stops abortions and prevents crime.

Wartortle

12:35 PM
joker said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1:35 PM
Randy Lander said...

You shouldn't give up hope if Obama loses. If Hilary wins and becomes president there's a good chance that Obama will be vice president, giving him a good shot at the presidency in the future.

I think an Obama/Clinton ticket or a Clinton/Obama ticket is a pipe dream. I don't see it happening, and I don't think that either one of them would benefit from the other one on their ticket.

I also don't really want Obama as vice president. That might give him a chance at the presidency in the future, but it's more likely to marginalize him, which is what tends to happen to Democratic vice presidents.

I'm curious, if Obama runs with Hilary as Vice would you vote for Hilary. Personally I don't see anything wrong with Hilary. Obama's and her politics are very similar.

I will most likely vote third party if Obama doesn't get the nomination. I don't like or trust Clinton (she's a good policy-maker and politician, but I'm not convinced she'd be a good leader) and any appreciation I had for McCain vanished when he kept buckling under to Bush Administration craziness instead of standing for principles.

As for Obama and Clinton being very similar, I disagree. They may want some of the same things like more widespread healthcare, but the way they go about their politics is very different. I don't have the rabid dislike of Hilary Clinton that some on both the right and left do, but as I've watched her campaign, my mild goodwill has turned to dislike and distrust. Her political style is one I'm not a huge fan of, and her support of the war, her willingness to accept campaign contributions from lobbies even while claiming that she doesn't pay any attention to them and some of her policies (specifically a mandate for health care) make me extremely nervous.

11:40 PM
growlitheforever said...

I personally think your being very unfair to Hilary. You use too many vague words describing her and seem to be judging a book by the cover rather than the contents. Here are three of your comments about her, "They go about their politics in a very different way", "my mild goodwill has turned to dislike and distrust", and her "political style is one I'm not a huge fan of". I'm a big fan of your sites, but I've always kept my mouth shut concerning your rants on Hilary. Until you give me more "proof" of Hilary's bad politics I'll stand behind her 100%. Like I said, most of your criticism seems very vague and unjustified especially when your throwing in words like "distrust" and political "style"
Do you know that almost always the taller man running for election wins. I think that your sort of guilty of the same thing here. I too like Obama, but bashing Hilary for what appears to be no good reason bothers me. You have a right to your opinion though, but I know a lot of people disagree with you, and their voice should be spoken too.

Regards,
Wartortle

12:49 AM
Randy Lander said...

Actually, the vagueness was intended to be sort of a light touch, I have very specific reasons I don't like Hilary.

1) She voted for the war. I know a lot of others did too, but during debates during this campaign, she was still talking about troop presences and more aggressive tactics in Iraq. I want a candidate who sees the whole thing as a blunder not just because of execution but because of intent, and who intends to do their best to get us out of Iraq as quickly and safely as possible.

2) When asked about campaign contributions and finance reform (in a segment that I posted on this site, you should still be able to find it on Youtube), while Edwards and Obama agreed that reform was necessary, Clinton said that she would continue to take money from special interest groups, but that they didn't influence her. This seems wildly naive or willfully misleading. I'll give her points for being honest about her beliefs regardless of their popularity, but that doesn't mean I agree with them.

3) Her health care plan includes universal mandates that everyone must buy healthcare. I want the system fixed, but I don't believe forcing people to buy insurance (kind of like we force people to have car insurance) is the answer. Seems more like a way to enrich an already broken and bloated corporate insurance industry than a way to fix healthcare.

4) She's a polarizing figure that many on the right dislike. Whether that's fair or not, it's going to make it harder for her to accomplish things unless the Democrats manage to take control of both houses of Congress as well as the Presidency (which seems unlikely).

I've read Obama's book, which outlines a lot of his policy ideas and where he's coming from. I've listened to his speeches. He's not perfect, no politician is, but I like what he says he wants to do, and I believe that he'll try to accomplish those things.

It's considerably more than "he's taller," and my dislike of Hilary Clinton (not as a person, as a candidate for President) is based on considerably more than a vague dislike.

Hell, when she was the First Lady, I actually thought she was unfairly pilloried by the right, and I think she'd be excellent in a policy role or cabinet position. But her policies and positions on everything from health care to the war to campaign finance are positions I don't agree with.

I'm not trying to bash or demonize anyone. But I'm not going to say that I think Hilary Clinton would be as good a Democratic candidate as Barack Obama, because I don't believe it. I believe he would be a better President, and I believe he has a better chance of being elected against John McCain.

1:32 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)