“Why I am supporting Barack Obama for President” by. Dr. J. Michael Finn

[Joanne98]

My good friend and chair of the York-Poquoson Democratic Committee, Mike Finn sends along this update: “we continue to have success in drawing large crowds to our Obama events. We had a full house for the Veterans and Citizens for Obama forum this week. Bobby Scott and General Dave McGinnis were the featured speakers and did a great job. I was asked to give a few words expressing why I plan to vote for Barack Obama. Allow me to share them with you:

In 1969 and 1970, I served as a Combat Infantryman with the Second Battalion of the Eighth Infantry Regiment of the Fourth Infantry Division. Operating in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, our unit was a blocking force along the Tri-Border Region with Laos and Cambodia. We were assigned to interdict the main North Vietnamese battle forces moving down the Ho Chi Minh trail and infiltrating into South Vietnam. We formed but a small part of the tip of the spear given by the heavy combat units that bore the brunt of the casualties in a war of attrition that we could neither win nor afford to lose. Afterwards, I returned to school under the GI Bill. Today, I am a Professor of Physics at the College of William and Mary. I have always been proud to have served my country. I still consider the men I served with in Vietnam to be the finest people that I have ever met.

I am voting for Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States because I think that he has the temperament and judgment to become an outstanding President. The last eight years have demonstrated the consequences of putting a rash and impulsive man in the White House. Having no foundation in history, nor any clear vision of leadership, George Bush has sown the wind, and we have reaped the whirlwind. When the leaders of a country lack wisdom, it is the people that perish. Unfortunately, that is what we have seen all too literally, from the needless loss of lives during Hurricane Katrina to the senseless waste of life in the Iraq War.

I am not sure: Did we fight in Iraq for oil? or for dreams of empire? or for simple hubris? I know we didn’t fight there to avenge 9/11: The Iraqis had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on our cities. Nor did they possess the weapons of mass destruction that our government claimed they had and were prepared to use against us.

The truth is that no one wins a war anymore. War has become too deadly and too destructive. War is a final resort to be undertaken only when all other options have failed. We don’t need another cowboy president, petulant and unrepentant. We need a leader with a vision for the future and the best interests of the people at heart. I believe that Barack Obama is that man. I plan to vote for Barack Obama for President of the United States of America on November 4. I urge you to join me in doing so. It is in your own best interests and in those of your children.

Thank You, and May God Bless the United States of America.



http://virginiadem.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/why-i-am-supporting-barack-obama-for-president-by-dr-j-michael-finn/

[Hope And Change]

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