I have never
believed in government. I grew up with a step-father
who was at the Kent State shootings and you can
imagine how his view of things shaped me. Government
didn't work, politicians were crooked and having faith
in any of it was foolish. That view has never changed
in my entire life. I always voted Libertarian as a
"none of the above" option (until 2004 when I had
to vote Kerry as a "none of the above" to George
Bush). Even during the primaries this year I really
didn't believe Obama was that different. I
connected with him emotionally and knew what he meant
to our standing in the world if elected - so he had my
support. At no time did I believe he could really
change anything. However what I've witnessed this year
has not only impressed me, it has shown me that
anything is possible. And for the first time in my
life, that means a functioning government.
The greatest thing
about observing presidential campaigns are that they
really do function as mini-administrations. Several
people within the campaign usually end up with roles
in the administration, and they're under presidential
type scrutiny. It leads several campaigns to crack, to
in-fight, to lose members, to lose volunteers, to lose
support, to lose money, to go negative, to leak
information... take a look at both Hillary and
McCain's campaigns for literally hundreds of
those examples. In an interview just 2 months after
his announcement, Obama was asked if he had the
leadership qualities to be president, and he
responded: "Watch how I run my campaign --
you'll see my leadership skills in action."
A ballsy thing to say that early because nearly
every campaign is pretty chaotic and frantic, but he
knew something we didn't: he was different. Moreso
than any candidate who has ever run.
-1.5
million volunteers.
Are you
freaking kidding me.
-3/4
of a billion dollars raised with over 3 million
different donors.
All the
McCain campaign can do is try and paint this as a
negative, because the truth is - that's
spectacular. Through the help of the internet he
changed American politics forever. Now if you can't
inspire and organize? You're not running for
president.
-Understands
the Internet like no politician in history.
Imagine an
administration and government run with the tech
saavy of google and facebook. McCain doesn't know
how to send an email. Bush actually called it "the
internets". Obama knows it, understands it, and
uses it. More efficiently and with such astounding
competence that they may have to "change the rules"
of campaign finance. Unreal.
-Not
one leak.
Think of the amount of things we know about the
McCain and Clinton campaigns because of pissed off
staffers.
-Not
one story about any
blow-ups.
His temperment isn't for show. If it was, we'd
know.
-Consistent
theme the entire campaign.
You listen
to his early speeches, to his latest "closer", he's
always been on message and doesn't
waiver.
-An
organized get out the vote effort
unmatched.
You see these early voting lines? I didn't even
know you COULD early vote except for absentee
ballot until Obama, and I actually follow this
shit.
-The
Primaries.
While
HIllary was resting on her name, Obama got his
volunteers focused on the caucus states and his
"every state counts" strategy won him the
nomination, even though her name won her the bigger
states. Probably the most brilliant political story
I've ever witnessed.
-The
General.
Stretched the electoral map so wide that McCain is
forced to spend what little money he does have
playing defense. Brother had to campaign in his
home state of Arizona. 'Nuff
said.
-Didn't
attack. Any
idea the amount of things he could've thrown at
Hillary Clinton? Had she won the nomination,
believe me, you would've. I believe Clinton
actually means scandal in Swahili. Obama
stayed cool, stayed on message. Drove many
supporters nuts for not being more aggressive
(including me), but he said - no, he wouldnt' do
it. In the general, McCain has thrown everything at
him but Obama has stayed cool. Is it because McCain
is scandal-less? Nope, it's because Obama really
has been above that. The only caveat was one
commercial about The Keating Five when the economy
melted down and in their defense, they were both
bank scandals and so incredibly relevent it
couldn't be avoided.
-The
Race Speech
mid-campaign.
There has never been a bigger show of
leadership in the history of campaigning.
Every single candidate before this man
would've swept this under the rug. He made
Wright BIGGER with a 40 minute speech
teaching us about race and it ended up
making Wright a non-issue in the general.
Wow. He also wrote that speech. Wow x2.
Watch it. Seriously, please, please,
please even if you watched it 6 months ago
- knowing what you know now, watch the
risk he took and how incredibly he spoke
for every single person in this country.
That guy, right there, could be our
president. It boggles my mind even 2 days
away.
-Hardly
any
gaffes.
Other than Biden's "tested" comment (which is
why I believe he's locked in the campaign's
bathroom right now) there's been nothing. The
"bitter" comments when he didn't know he was
being recorded certainly qualifies, but only
because he should've known that there's never
privacy during a campaign. But publically? Almost
nonexistent. Even with the surrogates! That's
unheard of. There isn't enough room on the internet
to list the McCain campaign's gaffes even in the
last month.
-Instant
response
time. It
took John Kerry almost a week to respond to the
Swift Boat Ads in 2004 and I believe it cost him
the election. This time? Instant. Obama responds to
McCain's speeches or ads, literally minutes after
they're made in his speeches. It is uncanny to
watch something highlighted on CNN, and then turn
to an Obama rally an hour later and have Obama
mention it. They redefine
"well-oiled-machine."
-A
crisis during the campaign (economic) handled
perfectly.
He spoke
to advisors, learned as much as he could, calmly
proceeded to make the right steps as a Senator and
came off presidential in the process. McCain went
apeshit, cancelled his campaign cancelled the
debate, made a serious situation into the mst
tranparent political move we've seen in modern
history. He even pissed off some Senate Republicans
during the proceedings to boot. Sweet holy hell
man.
-And
finally, the VP
pick. From
the vetting to dominating the news cycles leading
up to and announcing the pick - Obama made a boring
pick exciting. As well he also made the right pick
to govern. Joe Biden won't hold back with
Obama and that'll be the biggest help as he starts
his administration. McCain made a knee-jerk
decision with someone he'd only met once in his
life and who couldn't stand up to a freaking
google search. I'm so sick of people saying
the media is being hard on her. Maybe if the McCain
campaign HAD been hard on her, they wuld've
realized what a disaster she was. Forget more
cracks in the glass ceiling, that woman has
repaired HALF of it. An absolute
insult.
These facts have
literally changed my idea of how a government can be
run if the right person is leading it. Most exciting
of all is the embracing of the internet and what that
could mean for the future of our country. I've been on
the internet for 15 years now and it has
revolutionized every aspect of my life. If even a
fraction of that can be applied to the government
I believe we actually can solve some of these
problems. It's an evolutionary crossroads that may
make the years before Obama seem almost archaic. More
than anything, it makes the policies of "bigger
government" that Obama professes, not drive me
crazy like they have in the past. Because big
is only a problem when it's inefficient. Not one thing
about Obama is inefficient and in turn he's made me
believe that if anybody can pull it off, he can. And
then there's the candidate himself:
-Blazingly
Intelligent.
Maybe it's just because Bush is, well, Bush - but
after reading his books and watching countless
interviews his breadth of the issues is actually
challenging to keep up with. He's a
constitutonal scholar and went to Harvard
Law.
-He's
committed to alternative energy.
And I mean
committed. He said and has repeated we will not
only be off foreign oil in 10 years, we're gonna
rebuild our economy AROUND alternative energy and
green jobs. I thought he was completely full of
shit but now? I actually think he's gonna do it. He
has no ties to oil. He has no reason not to
literally mandate that this happens.
-He's
pro-science.
How sad is it that this has to be a character
trait? How the fuck could you be anti-science? He
understands that those "stupid grants to study
fruit flies" that Palin made fun of were part of
the research for ALZHEIMERS and something tells me
Obama will take that into consideration. What an
outrageous gaffe that was from Palin. She makes me
sick.
-He's
pro-technology.
Hell, he understands what the word means. You say
technology to McCain and he probably thinks of the
Apollo missions. Seriously. I mentioned the
internet and what it meant to his campaign but
really, sit for a second and imagine a government
that had the ability to use the organizational
power of the internet to solve problems and work
better. Strike that, imagine your office or
business NOT using the internet and how well
your shit would run. Exactly.
-He
puts the best at each
position.
Every single person around him, is not only an
expert at what they do... most are regarded as
the best. Far smarter than him and he's
brilliant. You can say what you want about his ego,
but I believe ego is putting a fucking horse
trainer in as the head of FEMA and putting your
GODDAMN SECRETARY up for the
MOTHERFUCKING SUPREME COURT! AHHHHH.
HOW HAVE WE MADE IT for
EIGHT YEARS1!?!?!?!4@#^((*!
-He's
positive. If
any party should be using "Fear" as a tactic it
should be the democrats. Yet every time Obama
mentions the economy or the other disasters of the
past 8 years he actually downplays them like a
father would downplay his kid fuckin' something up.
Paraphrasing: "This is the worst crisis since the
depression, but the greatest moments come from hard
times. That's the American Spirit." Meanwhile
McCain who should be offering hope after such a
ridiculously bad 8 years, simply points to Obama
and fear mongers. "He's gonna hurt you!" You don't
hear many ideas, you don't feel hopeful... at best
you feel doubtful. Or at worst you feel
HATEFUL because he's a baby-killing muslim
terrorist. We don't need that.
Now, everything
I've said has nothing to do with policy. At all. As I
mentioned before I don't really agree with a lot
of his domestic priorities (other than alternative
energy, which, duh - anyone without ties to oil see
that), but the leadership he has shown the last 21
months is breathtaking. We've lacked a true leader for
so long. So don't choose on policy. For once choose on
competence. Voting blindly your whole life for one
issue, like abortion for example, hoping the next
president will make it illegal is really nearsighted.
If Bush couldn't do it, what makes you think anyone
could? If you want less abortions get involved with
education, adoption - help lower the unwanted
pregnancies in the first place, don't just bitch a lot
and vote for people that oppose abortion yet kill and
maim people all over the world daily for
"peace". Common sense people.
And of course all
the other stuff I said when I first saw him
still applies. He's the realization of the civll
rights movement, he's staunchly against the Iraq War
and quite simply, I like him. But everything
above is why I actually believe in him.
And I have never believed in a politician in my entire
life. Even if you disagree with his policies, consider
the above points and tell me that it's not somewhat
refreshing to imagine someone like that operating our
government. Now, will he?
It makes me sick
that these will be the last words I write before
we know what happens Tuesday and I'm completely
schizophrenic about it. On the one hand, every sign
points to a landslide. Over 350 in the Electoral
College. 353-185, and around 7% nationally (probably
53%-46%) if you follow all the trend lines and take
into account the outrageous early voter turnout.
However we'd be completely naive to act like this is a
normal candidate that can follow normal trends. He is
a black man named Barack Hussein Obama. Those
undecideds? They're scared. And when Obama fills his
cabinet with Al-Quaeda members and gets sworn in on
the Khoran everyone wants to be able to say "I knew
that shit." (sigh). That level of stupidity can't be
polled. And youth turnout in early voting is low.
Annnnnnnnnd the battleground states are tightening
with each day - McCain ahead in 3 just today. It's all
terrifying to me. I will be alone on election
night, no IMs, no cell. My gut tells me he'll win, my
heart tells me to curl up into a ball. The importance
of this election can't be underestimated and now that
I actually believe he could change this
country? I mean really transform it? My anxiety level
is off the scale.
I want this
to be over. No matter the line, no matter the weather
- VOTE. Every vote adds to his mandate if he wins even
if you're in a state as safe as mine.
