For Whom Do We Vote This Time?

My mind is pretty much made up. It has been for nearly a year. In all honesty, I've been leaning Democratic for about six years. But I maintain my independence of one party or another. I have been independent through the incompetence of the Democratic party during the Bush power grab. I've been independent through the corruption and incompetence of our current Republican crop. I maintain that I look at the candidates, not the parties; I will never vote a straight-party ticket. In some areas, you simply have to be a Republican to win. In others, you simply have to be a Democrat to win. We have pro-choice Republicans and pro-life Democrats. We have good and bad candidates from both parties.

With that out of the way, though, a vote for Obama this year seems like a no-brainer.

The most important things to consider when voting for president are policy issues. But we need to also be realistic and realize that policy issues will be shaped through media debate, congressional debate, and public input. To realize that a president isn't simply going to decide policies, we need look no further than the Bush Social Security proposals or the Clinton health plan. A president can almost doom an initiative automatically by making it known to his opponents that it's important. I am looking for a president that has a grasp of both sides of each issue, that has the guts to inform the public about the reality, and that has the vocabulary and presence to do it with dignity. Bush had none of the above. McCain has pandered to Bush's base so much over the last year that I don't know if he has an opinion or just reads his political consultants' lines. I used to believe the Maverick label, but no more. And if McCain knows the difference between a Shia and a Sunni and a Kurd and what their positions are, he doesn't let on. Barack Obama has moved left in the primaries, moved more center during the general, and has changed a few positions. But he has been eloquent enough to acknowledge that he is actually changing, make his case for doing so, and maintain his dignity in the process. Every candidate must play politics. I try not to hold that against them. But how they do it is important. Obama clearly has the mental faculties to pull this off.

I hope that either candidate will push hard for a long-term energy plan geared toward sustainability. Both candidates are talking about addiction to oil. They've both changed their previous positions and decided to allow off-shore drilling. The real difference will be in the subtleties. I believe that Obama has more smarts to understand the complexities. McCain may be a fighter and may have once been a maverick and may have been a POW, but he can't operate a computer; he doesn't understand economics; and his brain can only decline as he gets older. This isn't meant as an insult, but a statement of fact.

Regardless of position, is the candidate a competent leader? Barack Obama ran a successful campaign so far. He managed hundreds of millions of dollars. He orchestrated thousands of volunteers and employees. He stayed on topic most of the time. He understood the strategy and the tactics of the campaign. And he was successful. Hilary Clinton made a lot of mistakes in her campaign. Many of them can be blamed on people who worked for her, but why weren't Obama's employees making the same mistakes? Why was McCain's campaign dead in the water a year ago? He was out of money. His chief strategist left. He was done. By the misfortune of others, he was able to work his way back into the think of things as Romney and Huckabee and Thompson fought their way out of credibility. By looking at the campaigns, Obama is the best manager of people and resources in the field. I have been hungry to see a competent manager in the White House for years. It's definitely better to be lucky than good, but I'll vote for good and hope for luck.

Honesty and integrity are important in a candidate. Realistically, again, every president and every candidate lies. It's hard to tell who is telling the truth. Obama has seemed to be more consistent, but that could just be my own bias wanting to trust him. McCain has completely changed what he has fought for to earn the trust of conservatives. I don't trust him a bit.

It's tough to find real information during a political campaign. Both candidates are spending millions to project a positive image of themselves and a negative image of their opponents. We're bombarded with pre-spun information. Two sources that have been valuable to me in my quest to find the reality beneath the spin are Annenberg's site and Snopes.com. Enjoy the read. Sometimes it's fun just to see how each candidate is playing the issues.