In the past on this blog, I’ve supported Ron Paul for President and Chris Dodd for fighting the FISA immunity bill. Throughout both, I’ve always realized that there was something uplifting and inspiring about Barack Obama, but have been unable to put my finger on it.
Thanks to Nick Harris of NewsGator’s Inbox product, I no longer have to wonder:
After you’ve enjoyed the motivating musical adaptation, I encourage you to watch the entire speech, given by Obama after the New Hampshire primaries: Yes, We Can.. The really good stuff starts at around 9:45…
While others constantly demonstrate how wrong our country is and point out the seemingly endless list of things that are broken in our society, Obama has spoken positively of the great things America has accomplished and that it has yet to accomplish. You don’t have to like all of his positions — when was the last time there was a candidate you did? — but how can you deny that this man has our best interests at heart after watching that moving presentation?
While I still think Ron Paul would make an amazing President, it’s clear he’s not going to win this election. Faced with the prospect of a McCain or a Hillary Clinton term, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama represents our best hope for changing the negative path we’ve been on for far too long. So with pride I say: Obama for President!
Yes, we can!
I listen to the “Yes we can†speech you referenced and I must admit, I don’t get it. We can do what exactly? Come together as a people and do what? Work toward a common goal as Americans; and that common goal is what again? Other than his statement that he can get the troops out of Iraq (which I highly doubt) did he make a single solitary concrete statement on what we might do (or not do for that matter). If you read his speeches rather than listen to his eloquent delivery (as I’ve done) there is no substance. Now maybe in the primary that’s OK, McCain doesn’t impress me either. Ralph Nader on the other hand is not a very good speaker, but read his speeches and there is content, often tons of content. I’ve seen our country survive Carter, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, the Bushes; so I think we can survive just about any president that can walk and chew gum at the same time (not sure about the Bushes on this one).
Ray: You’re quite correct. In his Yes We Can speech, he fails to target and specific goals that we can achieve. Rather, he puts forward the idea that we can unite and accomplish anything we put our minds to - and that’s important to me.
Think about elections in general. All these candidates throwing around huge ideas, claiming they’ll do this, this, and this if they’re put in office. In reality, they don’t have the power to unilaterally do any of those things - what they really mean is that they’ll try to introduce bills to get those things done and play the politics game toward that end.
Then, once they get in office, how often do they back-peddle on the very issues they campaigned on? Tax cuts is a big one here. How many times have you heard campaigning on lower taxes, only to get the person elected and find that your taxes don’t go down at all (and, often times, go up)? There are any number of similar instances, but money is one that sticks with people, so it’s a good example.
All that said, my point is this: His positive can-do attitude is refreshing. While all the other candidates are into smear campaigns and talking about the things we’ve screwed up or that other candidates would screw up, Obama is pursuing a positive can-do attitude. In effect, it doesn’t matter what goals he may put forward, because we can achieve any of them as long as we dedicate ourselves to that purpose.
Does he have all the answers? Of course not, and I don’t think he’s saying he does either. But he is saying that, as long as we work together, we can find the answers to any problem as one united forward-moving country. And that’s very important to me.
This man is an absolute idiot. He says three words and you fall for him like a girl falling for a rockstar. The man basically has no experience with politics and unless he has 300 advisors at his side or a teleprompter to feed him his crap the man can barely even form sentences. People who think this man is legit, are complete fools.
Even given the choice between McCain running Bush’s third term and Obama running around in circles clueless, I’ll still take Obama.
I’m not saying he’s perfect, nor that I agree with everything he says, but he’s already proven himself a hell of a lot better than McCain at uniting the American people.
The bottom line, to me, is that the Republicans (damn near all of them) have, in my opinion, screwed us in too many ways to even count. If nothing else, I’d like to get screwed by the nanny state for a decade instead of by the paranoid police state we’ve grown into over the last one.