Back in 2008 I wrote, “I’m voting for the candidate that will deliver less war and more freedom. The hippies had it right when they said make love, not war. I’m voting for Barack Obama.”
I guess he delivered less war and more freedom than a McCain administration, but I had higher hopes than that.
Obama was dealt a shitty hand. An economic disaster not of his making and an obstructionist Congress made his job harder than it needed to be. However, he did a pretty piss poor job of playing that hand. He has done some good. He did get health care reform passed, although it is a bastardized compromise that is unworkable long term. Getting something in place and fixing it later may be an ok strategy. I’m not really sure. DADT is dead, which should have happened a long time ago. He did keep the economy from really cratering, although he did it in part by massive corporate bailouts of criminal enterprises whose leaders he first hired to run US economic policy. Funny how that worked out.
On civil rights he has been an absolute disaster. The most transparent administration in history is mostly the opposite. For the most part the Obama administration has just continued the trajectory of the Bush administration. We continue the slow march to a police state, losing more freedoms just about everyday. Obama signed off on killing a US citizen without due process, and we continue to kill innocent people in the Middle East with drones. Does it not ever occur to anybody in the Government that maybe they don’t like us because we keep dropping bombs on their women and children? Kids are jailed for downloading music, while the movie companies claim with a straight face that films that grossed $400 million on a $100 million production budget lost money, thus they don’t owe profit sharing to the actors and directors. Our government is a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporations that pull its strings via bribes, err campaign contributions.
And with all that, 4 more years is still a much better option than a Romney administration. The Republican Party has continued it’s slow march to irrelevancy by allowing it’s most extreme elements to run the show. Jon Hunstsman was their most qualified candidate by far. We all see what an acceptance of science and reality is worth in the Republican Party. Also, as a general rule, I don’t trust people that want power as desperately as Romney wants the power of the Presidency. No good can come of that. I’d love to have a small government, pacifist, science focused President. Neither party is going to nominate that guy in my lifetime.
So I still haven’t really answered the question. Romney and Obama are both corporatists. The corporate takeover of our government will continue unabated regardless of who gets elected. Hostilities in the Middle East will continue either way, although Romney will probably accelerate them and get us involved with Iran. The erosion of civil rights will continue under either one. Certainly women are worse off under Romney, and since I like women there is some reason to side with Obama. The Supreme Court thing is overplayed. Any nominee has to get 60 votes in the senate, which means we are going to get a relative moderate either way. The economy is screwed either way, although it is screwed worse under Romney because he will follow the Reagan playbook. Slash taxes immediately, then never get around to cutting spending while he prays for the Laffer Curve to be something other than a fantasy. It’s a fantasy at our current historically low tax rates. Cutting tax rates from 70% to 40% probably did create revenue in the long term. Cutting rates from 40% to something lower can not, and will not, increase revenue.
I can tell you I’m not voting for Romney, or any Republican. The party has been taken over by extremist whack jobs, and if they want my support back they can earn it by cleaning house and joining the rest of us in the real world. I live in a swing state, so I’ll probably vote against Romney by voting for Obama. But I’m still considering a third party vote. I actually like Rocky Anderson the best of the third party candidates. However, he isn’t even on the ballot in VA. That leaves Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. I could go with either one and not hate myself in the morning.
But I’ll probably vote for Obama.
How is it that the greatest country on earth turns out such poor choices as the people we have to choose from to run the country?
{ 3 } Comments
I mostly agree with your analysis, but I think this may be not quite accurate:
“Any nominee has to get 60 votes in the senate, which means we are going to get a relative moderate either way. ”
That’s true if Obama is president. Dems have shown much less inclination to play the filibuster game. So, I’m guessing Romney could nominate another Scalia and still get his pick through the confirmation process. One more reason to vote for Obama. We don’t need another Scalia on the Court. One is one too many.
I too, used to be a Republican, but the small-government party that I liked is long gone. Every time I have to show a driver’s license and have my info written into a three ring binder just so I can buy allergy medicine, I seethe at the bozos who supported the Patriot Act and those who have extended it. It sounds so trivial, but I bet none of them have ever had to do something as mundane and everyday as buy allergy medicine.
I won’t vote for Romney, first and foremost because I am a woman and I believe that women’s health and career viability will be adversely affected by a Romney administration. There are other reasons, but my X chromosomes are enough for me. I live in New Jersey which will likely go to Obama, so I might toss my vote to Johnson. I am a registered Libertarian now (talk about a party with an image problem…I certainly can pick ‘em, can’t I?) and while I’m not 100% lockstep with their platform, it’s closer to what I believe than (D) or (R) are.
“How is it that the greatest country on earth turns out such poor choices as the people we have to choose from to run the country?”
Seriously. I can think of at least five acquaintances off the top of my head who I sincerely think would do a better job of running the country than any candidate who’s come up to bat in the last I-don’t-even-know-how-many years. America is full of SO many people (and so many amazing people at that) and I never cease to be amazed at what floats to the top come election year.