Convince Me To Vote For Your Candidate

In My Humble Opinion
1

My vote is meaningless because I live in a solid red state. As I have done in the past, I intend to turn in a blank ballot for president (and some other posisitons) because my state does not allow write-ins. So, just for the heck of it, tell me how things will change/improve if your candidate wins. It might make good practice for converting undecided voters in states where it actually matters.

Please give concrete reasons (not hope or experience) how everybody, not just Americans, will be better off with your guy as president. I will repay the side wth the best arguments by voting for your party-appointed millionaire. Also, if your reasons involve things that are outside the president’s powers (like changing tax rates), please explain how he would do it. Thanks.

2

I find it amusing that you’ve politely asked for concrete reasons, and in over 3 hours now there’s not a single response!

So I’ll start: vote for my guy because he’s way cooler.
:wink:

3

Well, if you want the same old bullsh*t of the past 8 years take the red pill. If you want some semblence of change for this country and our standing in the world take the blue pill. And who cares if your state usually goes red. Change Baby - that’s what this election cycle is about!

4

CCYMan: Ah, but do I want a president who’s cooler than me? Historically, what kind of track record do cool guys have? Tony Blair was widely considered cool when he became PM, how did that work out for the average Briton?

Phlosphr: Surely some things will change, no matter who wins. What will change and how? Change can suck. Neither candidate has specifically endorsed a “kick Furious_Marmot’s ass” policy, but it certainly would be a change and would suck, for me at least.
Also, I will give you 1000 to 1 odds that Oklahoma will go to the Republican presidential candidate come election day. It’s as inevitable as fireworks on the 4th.

5

I should be working now, but here’s my short list:

  1. Judgement

Obama took a political risk to speak against the Iraq war before it started. He spoke out against it anyway. He was right.

Every bar tender, cabbie, commentator, and blogger has advice for the president. The president needs to be able to tell good advice from bad, accept good advice, and act on it. Obama has done this.

  1. ‘A’ players pick ‘A’ players. ‘B’ players pick ‘C’ players

Obama picked Biden as his running mate. If Obama dies on January 21, 2009 the country will be in competent hands. Yes, Biden fills in political gaps on the ticket, but Obama fulfilled his constitutional obligation to provide a good president if needed in a time of crisis. Even as VP, Biden can fulfill his duties as president of the Senate.

Palin - not so much. Well, not at all.

By picking Palin as VP, McCain showed that he might not pick the best person for a job if someone else can provide political advantage. That’s “Me First” not “Country First”.

  1. We need an inspirational leader now

We are looking at tough times ahead. Our foreign policy is a mess. World opinion is against us, and our international credibility is shot. Projected federal deficit for next year is half a trillion dollars. The housing market - the one bright spot in the economy in the Dubya years - is in tatters. We need someone who can inspire us to get through the hard times. We need someone who can re-establish America’s credibility on the world stage. Advantage - Obama.

  1. Experience - Obama has more than enough to be a credible president. So does McCain. But Obama is definitely over the bar.

  2. The Company He Keeps

McCain is going full Karl Rove in this campaign. That is not good, and not what this country needs.

  1. Guts

Obama took on the issues of gun control and abortion in his acceptance speech. Please read the following sentence slowly, because I can’t write fast: A Democratic presidential candidate talked about abortion and gun control in his acceptance speech. That is a first in my memory. Most other Dems have avoided the issue all together.

Obama spoke about these issues in a way that was an attempt to reach across the political aisle. In what way did speakers at the RNC reach across the aisle? Deriding community service? Blaming the media? Looking down their nose at “elites”?

  1. Clear Thinking

Read Obama’s books. I read The Audacity of Hope and remain very impressed. Obama had no ghostwriters for his books. (This puts him one up on JFK.) He writes clearly, which tells me he can understand issues and thinks clearly. Obama will answer questions from the press - even routine questions - by thinking about the answer before speaking. Most politicians just play back the boilerplate answers. With Obama we could have a president who has a brain and is not afraid to use it.

  1. “When there are no consequences for poor performance or bad behavior, it will not change”

Do we want the same party who screwed up the last 8 years to run the country for the next 4? Even if McCain changes things - will he change them enough? Will he deal with the hard problems, or will he continue to use the Rove playbook and accuse those who disagree with him of being traitors who hate America? :rolleyes: x 2008

  1. I stand with the Constitution

Obama will close the prison at Guantanamo. He will end torture. He will not claim that if the US does to its prisoners what the Viet Cong did to McCain that it’s OK because we are the party of the revolutionary workers - er, I mean because we’re Americans.

I just finished serving on a jury for a criminal trial. I can’t say I enjoyed my experience, but I am glad to have participated in the American judicial system.

Bush said we can arbitrarily grab people, declare them “illegal combatants”, treat them with no rights, and improvise a “trial” “system” for them. Even if they are US citizens arrested on US soil. We must stop this extra-legal approach before it becomes routine.

I didn’t enjoy spending two and half days looking at someone else’s financial statements. I didn’t like convicting a fellow human being of breaking the law. But if I am ever charged with a crime I would rather be judged by people like the jurors I served with - intelligent, thoughtful, careful, serious people who were driven by the evidence - than some Army first lieutenant with orders to find me guilty no matter what.

I’m getting into Godwin territory here, so I’ll stop now.

6

Brilliant. Do you mind if I repost that on another forum to your credit?

7

Furious_Marmot, I’m sorry. Re-reading my post, I think I just talked past you (too much of that already going on this election season!) and violated the conditions of your OP. I blame my puny human brain.

If the novel I wrote doesn’t “do it” for you, please give me some time to think of concrete definite ways Obiden/Bama will improve things.

Here’s one thing: Obama has responded to questions from Science Debate 2008. McCain hasn’t. Science matters for our health, defense, economy, and environmental future. Apparently the McCain campaign disagrees.

8

Wow, really? Thanks! I can’t tell if it’s good or bad - I’m still fuzzy from 2.5 days in (the good side of) the legal process.

Sure, use it. Anything I can do to help McRove and Caribou Barbie keep in their current jobs come January 20th.

But keep the typos intact! (I am the Knig)

9

I believe that, no matter who wins this November, we are headed for a bad recession, that will probably last at least two years, and possibly four. So whoever is in the White House, the other party will probably win by a landslide in 2012.

So, vote for my guy. That way, your guys have a better chance next time. :smiley:

10

Typo: You make good philosophical points, nonetheless.

mbh: But which candidate is who’s?

11

I’m sorry this took so long, but that pesky work thing keeps getting in the way of my SDMB’ing. (Well it ultimately pays for my SDMB’ing, and my pricey food and shelter habit.)

I took a gander at the Obama and McCain campaign web sites. Both candidates have web pages on health care. Obama has a separate page devoted to disability issues (linky). As the father of a (mildly) Autistic teenager, I think it’s a good thing his campaign put that kind of thought into disability issues. I await the day that Palin’s staffers add a disability page to the McCain web site. (Subtlety is the hallmark of good writing, no? OK, for this posting, no.)

Both McCain and Obama even have statements on their web sites about autism. That really surprised me. Yes, autism is a large and increasing problem, and nobody knows why, but I didn’t think it bubbled up to Presidential campaign levels. I don’t mind that “my” issue has gotten to that level, I just didn’t expect it.

On autism: McCain and (warning - PDF!) Obama.

Concrete reasons to vote for Obama? Well, Obama’s disabilities page exists - Advantage: Obama. McCain has a paragraph about autism. Obama has more than a page and a half. A very thoughtful, supportive, creative, considered piece, in my admittedly biased opinion. Advantage: Obama. With points off for using a ratsen-frassen PDF instead of a good old html file.

To generalize, this fairly arbitrary example shows to me is that Obama and his campaign are thinking about issues in a deeper more detailed way, IMABO, than McCain and his campaign. Obama demonstrated time and again that he has a brain and uses it every day. That would be a welcome change in the Oval Office.

12

Jack Layton has decades of experience in Parliment, and the NDPs have a long record of

  1. environmentalism
  2. concern for the middle class
  3. interest in modernizing health care, and keeping it socialized, as Tommy Douglas intended.
  4. equality in the eyes of the law, regardless of creed, colour, gender or sexual preference.

plus

  1. they’re likely to be pretty aggressive regarding sovereignty.
  2. they are likely to be the most proactive on climate change.

So - Vote Jack Layton and the NDP!

What?
We’re having an election too, y’know. :smiley:

13

Yours is more polite than ours. Even if you were a nation of drunken eurotrash football hooligans, yours would be more polite than ours. :rolleyes:

14

Actually, I think we’re a nation of polite hockey fans.

That said, I’m a bit of a ringer, since I can still vote in the US. Your comments would have convinced me, if I hadn’t already been convinced.

15

I won’t argue against anything above because this is IMHO. If you feel need to argue with my points please take it to GD and let me know.

This time around it’s who I’m voting against. There’s so much information about how bad Obama is that you could write a book about it, in fact at least one journalist has done that.

Just from today’s news, you have Obama’s support for Freddie Mac, the agency that got us into the whole mortgage mess, right up to the end. Also, lots of big campaign contributions from the troublemakers.

Or his refusal to fully condemn Bill Ayers, who still wishes he had made and set off more bombs.

Or his interference in Iraq, willing to put more American soldiers and Iraqis at risk in order to further his chances in the election.

For instance I just got this email, which is a list of some of Obama’s recent lies and distortions.
1.) Selma March Got Me Born - NOT EXACTLY, your parents felt safe enough to have you in 1961 - Selma had no effect on your birth, as Selma was in 1965. (Google’Obama Selma ’ for his full March 4, 2007 speech and articles about its various untruths.)

2.) Father Was a Goat Herder - NOT EXACTLY, he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan Government.

3.) Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter -NOT EXACTLY, he was part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had.

4.) My Family Has Strong Ties To African Freedom - NOT EXACTLY, your cousin Raila Odinga has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007, in Kenya. It is the first widespread violence in decades. The current government is pro-American but Odinga wants to overthrow it and establish Muslim Sharia law. Your half-brother, Abongo Obama, is Odinga’s follower. You interrupted your New Hampshire campaigning to speak to Odinga on the phone. Check out the following link for verification of that…and for more.
Obama’s cousin Odinga in Kenya ran for president and tried to get Sharia muslim law in place there. When Odinga lost the elections, his fo llowers have burned Christians’ homes and then burned men, women and children alive in a Christian church where they took shelter… Obama SUPPORTED his cousin before the election process here started. Google Obama and Odinga and see what you get. No one wants to know the truth.

5.) My Grandmother Has Always Been A Christian - NOT EXACTLY, she does her daily Salat prayers at 5am according to her own interviews. Not to mention, Christianity wouldn’t allow her to have been one of 14 wives to 1 man.

6.) My Name is African Swahili - NOT EXACTLY, your name is Arabic and ‘Baraka’ (from which Barack came) means ‘blessed’ in that language. Hussein is also Arabic and so is Obama.
Barack Hussein Obama is not half black. If elected, he would be the first Arab-American President, not the first black President. Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother’s side and 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro from his father’s side. While Barack Hussein Obama’s father was from Kenya , his father’s family was mainly Arabs. Barack Hussein Obama’s father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father’s birth certificate even states he’s Arab, not African Negro). From. …and for more…go to… (Note: Arabic a race?? Maybe they mean Semetic…)

7.) I Never Practiced Islam - NOT EXACTLY, you practiced it daily at school, where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years, until your wife made you change, so you could run for office.
4-3-08 Article ‘Obama was ‘quite religious in islam’’ Home - WND

8.) My School in Indonesia Was Christian - NOT EXACTLY, you were registered as Muslim there and got in trouble in Koranic Studies for making faces (check your own book).
February 28, 2008. Kristoff from the New York Times a year ago: Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.’ This is just one example of what Pamela is talk ing about when she says ‘Obama’s narrative is being altered, en hanced and manipulated to whitewash troubling facts.’

9.) I Was Fluent in Indonesian - NOT EXACTLY, not one teacher says you could speak the language.

10.) Because I Lived In Indonesia , I Have More Foreign Experience - NOT EXACTLY, you were there from the ages of 6 to 10, and couldn’t even speak the language. What did you learn except how to study the Koran and watch cartoons?

11.) I Am Stronger on Foreign Affairs - NOT EXACTLY, except for Africa (surprise) and the Middle East (bigger surprise); you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have NO experience with our closest allies.

12.) I Blame My Early Drug Use On Ethnic Confusion - NOT EXACTLY, you were quite content in high school to be Barry Obama, no mention of Kenya and no mention of struggle to identify - your classmates said you were just fine.

13.) An Ebony Article Moved Me to Run For Office - NOT EXACTLY, Ebony has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.

14.) A Life Magazine Article Changed My Outlook on Life - NOT EXACTLY, Life has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.

15.) I Won’t Run On a National Ticket In '08 - NOT EXACTLY, here you are, despite saying, live on TV, that you would not have enough experience by then, and you are all about having experience first.

16.) Voting ‘Present’ is Common in Illinois Senate - NOT EXACTLY, they are common for YOU, but not one other member had 130 NO VOTES.

17.) Oops, I Misvoted - NOT EXACTLY, only when caught by church groups and Democrats, did you beg to change your misvote.

18.) I Was a Professor Of Law - NOT EXACTLY, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.

19.) I Was a Constitutional Lawyer - NOT EXACTLY, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.

20.) Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill -NOT EXACTLY, you didn’t write it, introduce it, change it or create it.

21.) The Ethics Bill Was Hard to Pass - NOT EXACTLY, it took just 14 days from start to finish.

22.) I Wrote a Tough Nuclear Bill - NOT EXACTLY, your bill was rejected by your own party for its pandering and lack of all regulation - mainly because of your nuclear donor, Exelon, from which David Axelrod came.

23.) I Have Released My State Records - NOT EXACTLY, as of March, 2008, state bills you sponsored or voted for have yet to be released, exposing all the special interests pork hidden within.

24.) I Took On The Asbestos Altgeld Gardens Mess - NOT EXACTLY, you were part of a large group of people who remedied Altgeld Gardens. You failed to mention anyone else but yourself, in your books.

25.) My Economics Bill Will Help America - NOT EXACTLY, your 111 economic policies were just combined into a proposal which lost 99-0, and even YOU voted against your own bill.

26.) I Have Been a Bold Leader in Illinois - NOT EXACTLY, even your own supporters claim to have not seen BOLD action on your part.

27.) I Passed 26 Of My Own Bills In One Year - NOT EXACTLY, they were not YOUR bills, but rather handed to you, after their creation by a fellow Senator, to assist you in a future bid for higher office.

28.) No One on my campaign contacted Canada about NAFTA - NOT EXACTLY, the Canadian Government issued the names and a memo of the conversation your campaign had with them.

29.) I Am Tough on Terrorism - NOT EXACTLY, you missed the Iran Resolution vote on terrorism and your good friend Ali Abunimah supports the destruction of Israel.

30.) I Want All Votes to Count - NOT EXACTLY; you said let the delegates decide.

31.) I Want Americans to Decide - NOT EXACTLY, you prefer caucuses that limit the vote, confuse the voters, force a public vote, and only operate during small windows of time.

32.) I passed 900 Bills in the State Senate - NOT EXACTLY, you passed 26, most of which you didn’t write yourself.

33.) I Believe In Fairness, Not Tactics - NOT EXACTLY, you used tactics to eliminate Alice Palmer from running against you.

34.) I Don’t Take PAC Money - NOT EXACTLY, you take loads of it.

35.) I don’t Have Lobbyists - NOT EXACTLY, you have over 47 lobbyists, and counting.

36.) My Campaign Had Nothing to do With the 1984 Ad - NOT EXACTLY, your own campaign worker made the ad on his Apple in one afternoon.

37.) I Have Always Been Against Iraq - NOT EXACTLY, you weren’t in office to vote against it AND you have voted to fund it every single time.

38.) I Have Always Supported Universal Health Care -NOT EXACTLY, your plan leaves us all to pay for the 15,000,000 who don’t have to buy it.

39.) My uncle liberated Auschwitz concentration camp - NOT EXACTLY, your mother had no brothers and the Russan army did the liberating.

16

OK, I’ll add one good thing about McCain. His chocice of Sarah Palin was a clear sign of no more politics as usual. It definitely took guts and judgement. Great day for women and everyone.

And while we’re at it, the amazingly incompetent response of Obama to McCain’s choice of Palin. Made such a big fuss about it that 40 million people saw her acceptance speech. And the vile rhetoric brought lots of swing voters over to McCain.

17

“John McCain 2008 – At Least He’s Not Hitler!”

18

Please check Snopes before you post forwarded email glurge in its entirety and claim it as fact.

19

So far we’ve got:
Obama 2-3
McCain 0
Your Guy 2
Jack Layton 1

If I could write in, I’d vote Jack Layton (CAN), just because 100% of the Canadians I’ve heard from want him as PM. I mean, it’s your country, if you want him, you should get him. It’s a sample size of one, but it’s better than nothing.

I don’t see how anything in Plan B’s laundry list addresses the question, plus cut and paste emails with a distinct lack of truth are not a good way to choose a candidate. Any other contestants? My worthless vote is still up for grabs! Your millionaire’s face here! (Imagine a photo of the White House)

20

While I understand your frustration and feeling of uselessness when voting Democrat in a “Red State”, it really does make a difference in that it shows that not everyone in that state is in agreement. I look at those results and think, for instance, “Well, what do you know…39% of the people in Alabama got it right!”

Why Obama?

The most basic reason is that McCain proudly admits he has voted, on average, about 90% of the time with Bush. So if he thinks Bush was right 90% of the time, what makes you possibly think anything is going to change if he gets elected?

Four more years of this shit? No thanks.