Posted on 11/07/2008 10:40:35 AM PST by Traviswf
Hi there. I voted for Obama, but have been reading a lot of Freerepublic lately to see how the other side is reacting. I'm not trying to troll here - honestly - but if you feel I am, that's understandable. I just wanted to offer a perspective on this that I think may be interesting to some of you. Oh, and this is much longer than I intended. And I'm fairly certain I'm not posting this the right way...for which I apologize.
When Bush was elected in 2000, I was upset. And yes, I whined about him "stealing" the election. I don't really think that's true anymore - it was just a painful way to lose. Sure, we can whine about the popular vote vs. the electoral vote, but you can't change the rules in the middle of the game. Then I watched the movie Recount and realized just how awful the democrats were at trying to win the damn thing. Gore seemed like he didn't really want it.
When Bush won in 2004, I was absolutely devastated. I thought the world was going to end. I didn't think we should be in Iraq, I agreed with Kerry that we had to finish the fight in Afganistan. I was worried about the courts. And frankly - I just didn't like Bush. I didn't like the way he governed, the way he spoke, and the way he talked as if we on the left were less American.
On 9/11 I happened to be in Toronto on business. When the towers fell, I knew I had to get home. A colleague and I wanted to go to New York, to help in some way. But we were told nobody was getting anywhere close. Our next instinct was to get home - to California. We didn't just want to be with our families, we desperately wanted to be in our country. That day was rough because my colleague thought his wife might have been on one of the planes - her travel plans were very similar. It took hours of agony before we, thank God, found out she was safe.
So we rented a car in Toronto and drove across the country. It took a couple hours to get across the border in the middle of the night. We stopped in Omaha, and then Colorado. I can't even tell you how much I loved my country driving across its beauty in those days after the attacks. And there were no jokes about "we're in enemy territory" because we were in "red states." We were in America. Everywhere we went people said "How are you? Is everyone safe?"
I know everyone has similar stories of those days. And certainly many, many people have stories of real loss - not just "we thought we lost someone, but it was a happy ending." Then, fairly quickly, I felt my patriotism coming under attack because I had a difference of opinion about how to fight back. I didn't think Iraq was the right choice - it made no sense to me, and I certainly wasn't alone. But people questioned my love of my country. And that was very, very hard to forgive.
When 2008 came up, more than anything, I wanted to win the White House back. I wanted to punish the Bush administration for what I felt was not just a failure to be competent, but a failure to keep the country united. I inititally supported Hilary, but I had this feeling in my gut that she was just going to be Bush - but for our side. She'd be a partisan warrior, a polarizing figure (which Bush wasn't when he started, but Hilary already was...). It made me sick to my stomach.
I wanted to go back to feeling like an American in those days after the attack - where our disagreements were things we laughed about over a beer and the real threat was far, far more serious.
I'd written Obama's candidacy off as a dry run for 2016 or later. Or maybe he was running for VP. I thought - hey, dude, at least finish a term in the Senate. Then when he said "we're not a collection of red states and blue states, we're the United States of America" it hit me like lightning. It had nothing to do with him - it had to do with the country, and my love for it and this feeling deep down in my gut that we were fighting over the placement of the deck chairs while the ship was sinking.
Wow, this got really rambly. Sorry about that. Here's why I posted initially. I saw this thing on here about Obama's "national defense force" and some posters commenting about the coming civil war or some such. I'm pretty sure Obama was just talking about funding for police. I mean - are you guys really worried he's going to do this? There was a rumor on the left that Bush was bringing a military brigade trained in "riot control" home from Iraq before the elections. People were convinced Bush was going to take over the country in a military coup. I'm sure you think that's laughable - as do I. Obama is not going to raise a civilian force of brown coats. First of all there's no money for it, nobody would go for it, and he'd be laughed out of the White House.
He's also not a socialist. And he's not coming for your guns. If he did either of this things, he can basically just go home now. Those are not realistic positions for any president to have. He will likely appoint liberals - at least too liberal for you guys - to the courts.
But here's the thing. He's going to try and be a good president. I think they all do. And Obama ran on uniting the country, on being bipartisan. That's sort of ALL he ran on. It's how he won 60% of independent and brought home so many of the Clinton voters. So if he doesn't deliver on this - I imagine he'll be fairly easy to beat in 2012.
So that's my two cents. Obama was always going to get my vote as the nominee because I'm a lifelong democrat and a liberal. But I'm not a socialist or a pacifist. I believe in the 2nd amendment and favor the idea of most issues being decided by the states. I'm not a religious man, but I respect those who are and I think the Dems over reach in pushing religion out of the public square. I believe global warming is a serious problem, but I also think Al Gore enjoys it WAY too much.
And here's another caveat. I know it's easier to be bipartisan and talk about "togetherness" when my guy won. I was where you guys are now in 2000 and 2004. I mean, my party ALMOST ran Howard Dean and then said "No wait! John Kerry is a much better idea!" Or in this election to have a friend say "You've GOT to read Alec Baldwin's latest piece on HuffPo." I mean...really? He doesn't count as an "Obamacon" you know, he only plays a republican on TV...(you guys ever notice that our most annoying Hollywood liberals end up playing republicans? what's with that?)
So yeah - we've all spent some time in the woods. I just hope we can all agree that we're just as American as the other, and we're passionate about what we believe to be the right path to take. There are real problems with the economy, and Islamic Terrorists aren't going to take a vacation for four years.
That's about it I guess. Sorry you guys lost.
Is this kind of comment really necessary? Man, you sound like the hate-filled nuts on DU.
As for the OP, I have to disagree with your assessment of Obama. He is not a unifier.
I will pray for our country and hope that he doesn't pass FOCA and that the (so-called) "Fairness Doctrine" doesn't take away our Constitutional right to free speech.
I will also pray that we don't suffer through another 9-11.
As much as you hate President Bush, you have to admit that keeping us safe, since 911, is a great accomplishment.
MOLE TROLL
IBTZAB
If Obama doesn't want a Civilian Security Force "better armed than the military"--why did he say such a shocking and alarming thing? Why were he and Biden hinting that they'd bring back the draft?
And if he's a good guy, why did he lie so blatantly about being so radically pro-abortion? If he is farther to the left than NARAL on the subject, why lie? Why not just be proud of his pro-choicery?
Obama is not a human being to you--he's your inkblot. I'm sure in post-racial America you won't fly off the handle and insinuate a slur. He's a Tabula Rasa. Blank slate. You paint your own picture on him, and the picture you want to paint is a liberal who will govern center-right.
But if you were to read about his thin history with any objectivity, you'd find a doctrinaire Marxist. Maybe he won't be able to implement a Marxist agenda, surely those on my side will stand in his way if we can (maybe you counted on that when you voted for him?), but when he speaks in an unguarded way he sounds like a Marxist. In between all that eloquent stammering.
This has been one of the frustrations of the right when dealing with people like yourself: When will you start BELIEVING what Obama says and not trying to spin it to mean something he didn't say?
When the SOB says he wants a domestic military he damned well meant exactly that or he'd have said he wanted more funding for the police. When says he wants to raise taxes he means just that. When he says he wants to redistibute the wealth he means exactly that.
He's YOUR candidate and you people never seem to believe him when he says anything so where that's the case then why did you support a man that YOU obviously think is either prone to gross exaggeration or outright lies?
Then why are you a Democrat ? Socialism and pacifism DEFINE the Democrat party and liberalism. They are the two most fundamental building blocks.
“That’s about it I guess. Sorry you guys lost”.
...you’ll be equally sorry once your spiral eyed, kool aid drinking, zombie ass sobers up. You and millions of others acted like this was just another episode of “American Idol”. No thought put into it, no knowledge of history, just walked into a poll like a scene from “Dawn of the Dead” and voted. Pathetic.
That's where you are wrong. I've lived under a socialist government and he's definitely one. Luckily for us the economy is in such a bad way that he will be unable to implement his schemes for tax increases etc before the Republicans make a comeback in Congress in 2010.
Also I never understand all this we need to be "bipatisan" -that's what elections are about. One side has a particular vision and the other side has another. The winner gets to try out their ideas and if they don't work they get kicked out. It's like a Trial in a court of law - it's an adversarial procedure. Where Repunlicans get suckered is believing that Democrats want a "Bipartisan" approach. Luckily the House Republicans look as if they're not going to fall for that again. They've immeiately gone on the offensive which is where they should be, they have to work twice as hard as the Democrats as they have the Dem politicians as well as the Media to contend against.
This is a thoughtful post and I appreciate it. Welcome to Free Republic.
My main issue is the people Obama associates with are not good for America or Americans. I have learned in life that if you associate with bad or evil people then you are as bad as they are. Obama stole the nomination from Hillary with the MSM. He used his thugs to rig the caucuses. Ask any honest Hillary supporter. The primary nomination was like a third world election.
No candidate should ever be treated like that and it never happened in American history. Anyone who voted for Obama is condoning what he did to Hillary and her supporters. Mnay Hillary voters agreed and voted for McCain.
IBTZ!!!! Amazing.
Send lawyers, guns and money, Dad, the shit has hit the fan.
If obama raises taxes like he has promised you will get to find out what it’s like to go hungry. carter taught that lesson to us. He taught us what it’s like to go hungry. And carter taught me what it’s like to spend a whole Ohio winter with no heat and how to use oil lamps to light my home.
Remember obama told you in his speech that you aren’t going to eat as much as you want and that you aren’t going to be able to keep your house as warm or as cool as you want. Guess you weren’t listening.
Enjoy obama while you can because if he does what he has promised then you will end up hating him just as much as we hate carter.
“He’s also not a socialist.”
From those according to their ability to those to those according to their needs!
You’re right, he’s not a socialist, he’s a communist!
Ignore the insults.
You are so certain of what 0bama is and isn’t. How so? No one else is, because no one knows him well except perhaps William Ayers, who is rumoured to have ghostwritten 0bama’s “memoirs”. Have you studied history to learn how the Communists consolidated power in Russia after 1917 and in Eastern Europe after 1945? Freedom wasn’t destroyed in one day.
What we know is that your hero thinks the U.S. Constitution is inadequate (to put it mildly), that he keeps company with self admitted terrorists, with America and Israel haters, that during the campaign he stated that if he is elected “you won’t be able”, etc, etc, whatever. That’s dictator speak, “you won’t be able”! And that’s a moment of truth and quite enough, thank you very much!
Wrong. It's likely to be even worse than we can imagine.
Hey Bud..good luck with that indoctination camp...I’m mean forced community service. I sure hope you like it. I know I will enjoy watching you sweat for a change.
Obama Zombies-1 USA-0
But the game ain't over yet.
Trust me, if the likes of you and I are ever united, it ain’t gonna be because of Bambi.
And yet anyone who dared challenge McCain, who likes to "cross the aisle" and support those "Commies," was vilified in the run up to the election.
Such a pity.
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