August 28, 2008
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“why obama?” issues edition.
i have posted often about my respect for barack obama and why he is the candidate for me. i’ve shared with you my experiences with voting and caucusing.
however, i realize that i haven’t posted much on the issues, and what they mean to me.
so, i’ve picked out a few to share with you. obama:
strongly favors requiring the hiring of more women and minorities.
as a woman, this is uber-important. obama wants to fight job discrimination to give women EQUAL footing at work. he wants to better enforce our pay equity with the “equal pay act.” i have experienced first-hand that things just aren’t as equal as they should or could be for women. we get passed over for promotions and raises simply because of our gender. i am more accomplished than some of my co-workers, but because they are men, and have a “family” to provide for (read: no kids), they get paid THOUSANDS more than me.favors same-sex domestic partnership benefits.
i am PROUD to know several gays and lesbians — several in my own family. they deserve the same benefits of union between two people that i am lucky to enjoy. “homosexuality is not a choice, and it’s no more immoral than heterosexuality.” everyone deserves to have the same opportunities, so this is something i am definitely standing behind.strongly favors more federal funding for health coverage.
obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. its features include: guaranteed eligibility; comprehensive benefits; affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles; simplified paperwork and reined in health costs; portability and choice; quality and efficiency.strongly favors replacing coal and oil with alternatives.
obama plans to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 by implementing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program. most importantly, he plans to CRACK DOWN ON EXCESSIVE ENERGY SPECULATION. why did your gas prices DOUBLE since 2001? mostly because of the speculators. (when they were called out for excessive speculation last month, the price of gas dropped almost 70¢!!)favors a woman’s right to choose.
i am not posting this stance to begin a debate on abortion. i DO NOT personally agree with abortion. it is not for me, and again i say, i am not pro-abortion. i am, however, all for giving a woman the right to choose, and that’s what obama is for, too. who are we to definitively cut off a women’s right to choose what is right for her? if she wants to abort her unborn child, that is something she will have to live with the rest of her life, and will have to answer to in Heaven. the reasons are her own, the situations sometime extreme … simply, it’s not for us to decide.favors taking the US out of iraq.
i have had too many friends go overseas for months, if not years, at a time. two, three, four tours in iraq, and there’s no sign of it stopping under the republican’s “we’re in it til we win it” mentality. we need to get out. we are spending $12 BILLION dollars a month on the war in iraq, and for what? you could give me half-assed answers, but no one really knows anymore.strongly favors stricter limits on political campaign funds.
obama is the FIRST presidential candidate to refuse lobbyist and PAC money. he is blazing the trail to the white house with his own money, and with donations from his supporters. it’s commendable. he can’t be bought.as i’ve said before (particularly on stephaniemarie‘s site today), you can vote for whomever you want, as long as you’re informed!
you wouldn’t buy a car without researching it,
you wouldn’t get married without getting to know the person first,
and you wouldn’t take a job without learning about the company.if you do, then it’s your own fault, and you have no reason to bitch.
(i’m retaining my right to bitch, thankyouverymuch.)
learn more about obama here and here. | learn more about mccain here. (don’t say i’m not equal opportunity)
Comments (16)
i’m leaning towards obama more and more every day. i do know for a FACT that i’m not voting for mccain. i was so angry when i went to vote in the primaries and somehow i was registered as a republican. i was pissed. i HAD to vote republican. those poor ladies heard all sorts of nasty things from me. they did allow me to change my affiliation but it wouldn’t become affective until after the primaries… so i got it changed to unaffiliated so i could make my own choices from here on out. that pissed me off!! but i am in fact unaffiliated now. i checked!!!
@cre13 - at least you went to VOTE!! i get pissed off at people that just sit at home and “hope” for change. bleh. (i’m a “type A,” can you tell?!)
What do we know about Obama other than he was a community activist and a freshman senator from Illinois? We know he has some frightening associations with people who hate this country…
We know that he can’t speak without a teleprompter.
We know that he believes his own hype.
Be careful what you wish for…
@desertvet - we don’t know that he has associations with people who hate this country. we know what people are unfairly assuming based on his name and his father.
we also know that republicans have frightening associations with people who are against us, or simply for themselves.
we know that MOST public speakers with LONG speeches use a teleprompter or notes. that means nothing.
we know that if he didn’t believe in himself, we probably shouldn’t either. mccain believes his own hype; bush believed his … we shouldn’t mistake confidence for arrogance.
we need to look beyond what the media is feeding us. open our minds and LEARN about what it is they are reading, and try not to be so jaded (which we became, most likely, after eight years under bush).
@BarelyJen - Mark my words, you’ll have buyers remorse 100 days in…
@desertvet - well, based on the research i’ve done, i’m at peace with my decision. that doesn’t mean that he’s right for you, but that’s the beauty of democracy. we can agree to disagree.
good luck to your candidate.
and we’ll just see if buyer’s remorse sets in … i wish we could have returned bush years ago.
guess we lost the receipt.
@BarelyJen - lol. same here girl. my husband is one of those actually. he isn’t even registered to vote b/c he says his vote doesn’t matter anyway. we’ve had a ton of conversations about it. it makes me mad that he won’t exercise his right. but he doesn’t complain much. he just accepts the government as it is i guess! lol… not me!!!
@desertvet - have you ever read the book “Dude, Where’s My Country?” by Michael Moore? You really should. If you are convinced Obama has affiliations with dangerous people, you should read this book. Even IF Obama has friends in low places, there are worse evils out there. And this book tells it all.
@cre13 - Michael Moore is hardly an unbiased source of information and has been discredited by both conservative and liberal alike. No one book lays it all out.
I am not a Republican. I am a Nationalist. I have gone to war for this country and will do so again, regardless of who wins this fall. Democrats and Republicans are two wings of the same party that have agreed long ago to divide and conquer this country and eliminate the idea of Liberty that we were supposedly founded on. Bush was a disaster, as was Clinton and his father before him. McCain is only slightly less of a disaster than Obama will be. We are screwed any way we go.
@BarelyJen - Bush is gone either way, get over him, he has been a non issue to me for the last four years.
@desertvet - I commend you for serving our country. I truly do. My father served 30 years and my brother is now in his 2nd year. Thank you for your sacrifices. I understand that Michael Moore is a biased son-of-a-bitch (I personally don’t like him much) but this book brings up facts that are pretty interesting. I just thought it would be an interesting read in regards to the Bush Admin but since you’re pretty over him anyway, I guess it wouldn’t matter much. I’m just afraid that McCain will be Bush, Jr. And that scares the hell out of me.
As a Canadian outsider, I think Obama is your country’s only hope. McCain will probably keep you on the path to destruction with your economy and international image.
But I wonder about Obama’s reasoning skills that he’s supporting partial birth abortions. I mean, sure, give women the right to ‘decide’. But do they really need more than 3 months to do it?
meh.
@FifteenMinuteRule - that’s one of my only gray areas with him … any candidate we choose won’t be perfect, but we need to choose the one who will do the most good with what they’re given. i truly believe obama will be the one to bring the most positive change.
i really enjoyed reading this entry, and comments. ur truly correct when u say that people need to be informed before they vote! thats something i really need to keep in mind with this campaign. i am going to vote, i just need to get informed, and your entry was informative! Thanks!
You’ve done a terrific job of summarizing your reason for liking Obama. I don’t know how anyone can have listened, really listened, to his speech last night and not want to vote for him. Good job!
p.s. I’m a friend of Buckeyegirl and saw your Obama logo, & just had to see what you have to say! Nice site–I just subscribed & hope that’s okay with you.
@jojobaDESIGNS - oh of course!! welcome