Why I Will Vote for Barack Obama

I have made up my mind to vote for Senator Barack Obama. Like many Americans, this wasn't an easy decision for me.

As I have stated before, I am an independent voter. A child of a Democrat and a Republican, I have never been registered with either party. Early in my presidential balloting, I never voted for a Democrat or a Republican (you probably don't remember John Anderson). Soon enough, I realized casting these type of presidential votes usually helped elect one or the other of the lesser of "two weevils." I've always considered myself too conservative for the Democrats and too liberal for the Republicans.

During this election season, I supported and voted for Senator Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Hillary Clinton's position on many issues including health care and the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, best mirrored my own views and opinions. In the primaries, Barack Obama was the unknown.

Once both Senators McCain and Obama had accepted their parties nominations. Mostly because Obama had beaten Clinton in the primaries, I was leaning toward McCain.

I thought Barack Obama's speech accepting the nomination at the Democratic Convention was very charismatic. But, his speech wasn't charismatic enough to sway my lean to John McCain.

John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his VP running mate. I had never heard of Governor Palin, but it wasn't her inexperience that bothered me. I became very aggravated the McCain campaign could believe because I supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries, I would automatically vote for the McCain/Palin ticket because it included a woman. This strategy costs the McCain campaign points. (Please see http://www.pdfrazier.com/2008/08/politics-women-voters.html)

I was truly impressed with Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention. I really liked her freshness and charisma. Although it would have been easy to blindly follow the ticket with a female's name on it, I needed to do some research to find out about Governor Palin and the McCain/Palin ticket. Oh, that awful thing called research - something I believe all politicians must really dislike when constituents doggedly overlook rhetoric for real facts.

My first bit of research was to find out about Governor Palin's Alaska. I compared the populations of cities, counties and states across the country and included Palin's home state of Alaska. Imagine my surprise to find out the City of San Francisco has more residents than the State of Alaska or to find out my own county has about 100,000 less residents than the State of Alaska. No points here for the McCain/Palin ticket. (See http://www.pdfrazier.com/2008/09/populations-election-data.html)

In her defense, Governor Palin has been an avid hunter since she was young. (CNN reported she shot her first rabbit when she was just 10-years-old.) If the McCain-Palin ticket wins, you can be assured one thing - it would be very unlikely a woman VP who hunts moose in Alaska would accidentally shoot one of her own hunting party. Okay, the McCain/Palin ticket gets a point for this one.

At almost every political rally, I heard John McCain say, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." I didn't need to research this one very hard. I knew better. Within a couple of blocks from my home at least 75 houses now sit empty with dead grass lawns marking their foreclosures. A friend calls them "ghost houses." They are everywhere. Our grocery, gas and electric bills have almost doubled while our income has taken a nose-dive. Then Wall Street crashed, taking with it the American economy. A $700,000,000,000 bailout later and our economy is still in a dire, precarious place. Nope, the fundamentals of our economy aren't strong. McCain loses points here. (See http://www.pdfrazier.com/2008/09/700000000000.html)

How did we get here? A little more research was needed. My research led to one place, the deregulation of our markets. The starting point of this deregulation - Senator Phil Gramm. Until July of this year, Gramm was the lead financial advisor to Senator John McCain. McCain, in the Wall Street Journal, referred to Phil Gramm as his "financial guru." This information was not a good point for the McCain side. (See http://www.pdfrazier.com/2008/09/important-info-financial-meltdown.html)

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of blame to go around with our economic debacle. At fault are our Congress (including Obama, McCain and Biden), the President and Wall Street greed. None of the candidates win points for the state of our economy.

McCain made his second erratic decision here (the first being selecting Palin as his running mate). In a matter of 24 hours he went from "The fundamentals of the economy are strong," to suspending his campaign (and threatening to boycott the first Presidential Debate) to return to Washington to help solve our economic financial woes. His return did not stop the Republicans in the House from voting down the bailout. McCain lost points here.

After the first Presidential Debate, the bail-out passed. To add insult to injury, as both Obama and McCain debated and campaigned on earmark and pork barrel spending reform, they and Joe Biden voted for the $700,000,000,000 bailout including the pork barrel spending they all were vowing to reform. Again, they all voted FOR the earmark spending they all so vigorously oppose! At this point, I was mad at all of them and really didn't want to give my vote to any of them. Both parties lost points. (See http://www.pdfrazier.com/2008/09/700000000000.html and http://www.pdfrazier.com/2008/09/fed-up-with-bailouts.html)

I made my decision to vote for the Obama/Biden ticket after the Vice-Presidential Debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. I really liked Joe Biden's answers and his experience. I like the Obama/Biden economic plan, but Joe Biden really knows foreign policy. I guess my hope is if they are elected, Obama can focus on the economy and Biden, to the best of the ability of a VP, can somewhat oversee our foreign affairs.

Before the economy crashed, my top concerns for the next administration were Iraq/Osama Bin Laden, the economy, and health care, in that order. (I do believe our dependence on foreign oil directly affects our economy.) Since our economy is in dire straights, my priorities have changed to the economy first, then Iraq, and health care.

Economy
Like a majority of Americans, I've never made $250,000 a year. I am scared we are becoming a nation of the haves and the have-nots. Our middle class is disappearing. Under Obama's tax plan, my federal taxes would be reduced by a little more than $2,000 a year. Under the McCain plan, my taxes would go up a couple of hundred dollars. But, what is really striking between the two plans is for those making more than $250,000 per year. Under Obama's plan, those making more than $250,000 would have an increase in taxes of a little more than $7,000. Under the McCain plan, those making more than $250,000 would get a tax cut of more than $2,000. The Obama/Biden ticket gets points. The McCain/Palin ticket loses points.

Obama says he will put the budget on the Internet for all Americans to see where our money goes. I really like this - of the people, by the people, for the people. Transparency in government may be something like the movie line, "You can't handle the truth," but I'd like the chance to see it and form my own opinion.

I like rebuilding our infrastructure AND providing jobs to Americans. I like using all forms of alternative energy to provide new jobs and to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels.

Iraq/Bin Laden
First, I don't understand how and why Osama Bin Laden still walks this earth and has not been caught, killed or tried for the atrocities committed on U.S. soil on September 11, 2001. McCain said he would find him. He's had that opportunity since 2001 and Bin Laden has not been captured or killed. I don't like the fact that we are in Iraq. We were misled, dare I say lied to, about weapons of mass destruction. I don't like the fact that we have lost more lives of young Americans in Iraq than we lost on 9/11. I don't like the fact we spend billions of dollars in Iraq. I don't like the fact we are losing ground to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, where our resources should have been deployed. McCain talks about the surge and victory in Iraq. It's hard to see victory or surge success when you believe we should have never invaded Iraq. What wasn't relevant when I voted for Hillary, is now very clear - Obama voted against going into Iraq. Obama earns points here and McCain loses them.

The situation in Iraq has hurt the U.S. and our reputation worldwide. We need a President who will protect America and rebuild how the rest of the world regards us. We cannot afford to be the bully on the playground of the world. We can't afford it socially and we surely can't afford it economically.

And by the way, for all of the McCain talk of taking care of our veterans, the truth is a leading veteran's group gives John McCain a grade of D for passing or not passing legislation aiding veterans. Barrack Obama gets a grade of B. I think neither receiving an A when it comes to legislation aiding our veterans is rather disturbing for both of them.

Health Care
John McCain's plan would give me a $5,000 tax credit. My insurance costs more than $12,000 a year. Younger, healthier individuals might be able to purchase healthcare for the $5,000 tax credit. Older or less healthy Americans, and those without enough income to file income taxes would gain no advantage in McCain's plan. Ultimately, it could be more expensive for those less healthy to find affordable health insurance. I do believe all Americans should have health care. Other countries, which are not socialistic, make nationalized health care work. Why can't we?
The idea that Joe the plumber could have the same health care plan as members of Congress is pretty appealing. You can bet Congress has a great health care plan. Point for the Obama/Biden ticket on healthcare.

My final point, it is un-American to purposefully incite hate and divisiveness. As leaders, you should be held to the highest standard of accountability. When you make comments that incite hateful discourse directed at any other American, let alone a presidential candidate, you are being anti-American. We must never ever forget 9/11 but we need the spirit of unity displayed by the entire country on September 12. Negative ads about real issues are one thing. Negative ads that promote hate and divide our nation are simply wrong. The McCain/Palin ticket loses points here.

And, for the most part, there you have it. The reasons I will be voting for the Obama/Biden ticket on November 4.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

This morning on NBC's Meet The Press, former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Senator Barrack Obama.

Powell said, "And I come to the conclusion, that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities, and we have to take that into account, as well as his substance, he has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage and onto the American stage, and for that reason, I will be voting for Senator Barrack Obama."

During his opening remarks concerning this endorsement, Powell complimented both candidates as "distinguished Americans, patriotic, and dedicated to the welfare of Americans."

Powell discussed his reasoning on several issues as to how he came to this decision to support Barrack Obama.

Concerning the current economic crisis, Powell said, "In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems that we are having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me. Sensing that he did not have a complete grasp of the economic problems we had."

The former Secretary of State also questioned John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential candidate. "And I was also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin, she is a very distinguished woman and she is to be admired. But, at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she is ready to be President of the United States which is the job of the vice president. And, so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made."

Powell went on to talk about the McCain campaign and the Republican Party in general. He condemned the recent McCain campaign's focus on the very tenuous relationship between Barrack Obama and Bill Ayers as "inappropriate" stating that this type of political campaigning "goes too far." He further condemned the Republican Party for allowing the inaccurate rumors of Senator Obama being a Muslim to even be spoken. "Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

What does it mean when a Republican who served two Republican Presidents endorses the Democratic nominee for president? At first glance, this endorsement shows the deepening rift splitting the Republican Party. As the McCain/Palin ticket has moved further right, many Republican centrists have found their own views in conflict with the GOP, thus being left out of their own party.

This endorsement will hurt John McCain's campaign. Large military populations in several toss-up states (Virginia, Florida, North Carolina) may take Powell's endorsement as their reasoning and best excuse for voting for the Obama/Biden ticket.

On a much larger scale, Republicans whose views are no longer aligned with the views of the McCain campaign or with the Republican Party may decide Colin Powell has made the only decision they can make on election day.

Here's the link to the entire Colin Powell Meet the Press interview: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490

Palin & Fey on Saturday Night Live

For those who may have missed the entire Saturday Night Live Sarah Palin skits last night, here are links for both:

Palin and Palin (Tina Fey)
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/

The very, very funny Sarah Palin campaign rap
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-palin-rap/773781/

"My country tis of thee, from my porch I can see, Russia and such . . ." - Absolutely hilarious!

Dividing America By Spewing Hate

Imagine answering your home phone and hearing this:

"Hello I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barrack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barrack Obama and his democratic allies lack the judgement to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee."

Imagine attending a American presidential campaign rally in 2008 and hearing shouts of "Bomb him!" or "Kill him!"

Imagine the Secret Service investigating threats made by attendees at American presidential campaign meetings.

Imagine the candidates for the highest offices in our nation inciting and dividing our great country.

Imagine presidential candidates in America utilizing words to promote fear, division and hate.

On September 12, 2001, we were a nation united. We had a President and Congress who joined together with the American people to heal our nation and vowed to capture those responsible for the heinous acts of September 11.

The man elected President on November 4 will have a very, very difficult job. And, because of election campaign "tactics," his toughest job may be to unite the United States of America.

To Everything There Is a Season

Admittedly, I have become quite the news junkie. Daily, you can find me surfing news websites and channel hopping the television news channels.

A week ago Monday, as I started my "regular" day of Internet and channel surfing, the phone rang. Within a few minutes, the computer and television were turned off and we were out the door. At about 2:00PM, Baby Bobbie was born.

The economy, elections, bailouts - all became very trivial topics with the birth of a child. Trust me, Bobbie didn't care one way or the other what was going on in the world. The simple, pure joy on the face of exhausted new parents cannot be taken for granted.

New life can change your perspective. To everything, there is a season . . .

Saturday Night Live - VP Debate

Less than thirty days from the election and in the middle of the worst financial crisis in our history, humor may be difficult to find. During these turbulent times, only Saturday Night Live could make the VP Debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin so funny.

To watch the entire Saturday Night Live Biden-Palin debate sketch, click here: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/