My argument/endorsement for Obama (which will run in the paper tomorrow)

[dem629]

And yes, I know this is a Democratic website, so hang in there through my admissions of being a potential swing voter. :)

exceprt:

But there was still the John McCain of 2000, lurking, if nowhere else, in my memory. I watched the Republican convention, waiting for the reformer, the maverick. That John McCain never emerged.

Instead, we saw a cynical, bitter John McCain. We saw a John McCain who not only placated, but welcomed the extremists in his party—the very people he challenged in 2000. We saw a John McCain beholden to the economic and cultural conservatives who have been wrong about nearly everything over the last eight years, at least. They push an economic philosophy proven to be detrimental to the country. They stubbornly cling to a failed foreign policy that has the United States mired in a war that should have never been waged; meanwhile they have all but forgotten the necessary war in Afghanistan. And, just as these conservative ideologues always have, they stand in the way of social progress.

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{The Obama/Biden ticket is} attracting endorsements from prominent Republicans; some have served in government, some are respected conservative writers and columnists, and one is even a neocon, former aide to Cheney. Clearly these people are not endorsing Obama because they are suddenly in the progressive camp.

No, what they see is a transformative figure, someone who just may be right for the times. We have made these faithful leaps before, in Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and Ronald Reagan. Desperate times call for big change.

Much of this has more to do with who Obama is, rather than his policy proposals. Obama is someone who is not tethered to the past, specifically the Baby Boomer generation whose 1960s culture wars still haunt us. Obama is someone who, just by his appearance and optimism, could cause the rest of the world to view us differently than they have since George W. Bush made us the nation of go-it-alone cowboy justice.

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No one—not a single person—who voted for Lincoln or FDR the first time knew they were casting their vote for greatness. But they knew what the time called for, they saw the chance, and they took it. How American.

Read the rest here if you're interested. All opinions welcome: http://jefftompkins.blogspot.com/2008/11/choice.html

[Roland99]

1. Bravo!