My husband posted this along with a few other thoughtful posts regarding the election. Check out his blog here.My friends who voted for President-elect Obama...please, please, please tell me that this woman is an anomaly and this is not what most of his supporters think is going to happen.
And would someone please tell me what he plans to do - or what people think he is going to do...besides change everything? Give me some specifics...please. I really want to know. You can post a comment or email me separately and I will not respond, except to say thank you, so no worries about getting into a big political thing over email. A friend and I have already figured out this week that doesn't work very well - too much lost in the medium.
I listened last night to conservatives and liberals both agree that no one really knows anything about him. And one guy, who I think is liberal, so he was not being negative at all, just making an observation, said that, "Barak Obama is probably the least known man to ever be elected to the Presidency of the United States. We really just don't know anything about him." And he went on to say so therefore a lot of hope is riding on his presidency.
When I heard that, I just thought, wow. Hope based on what?
Well, I have hope as well - that he will lead the American people not according to an idealogical agenda, but lead us according to the principles that made this country great and keeps it the place where anybody can do anything, even become President of the United States. So I will continue to pray for him - to lead and guide us with wisdom and grace.
7 comments:
One clear change would be a desire to dialogue with the rest of the world versus Bush's unilateralism. That has huge implications for our relationships with both our allies and our enemies.
Another is a political agenda that will focus on the middle class rather than the business class, making taxes and relief packages more favorable for the former than the latter.
This article from the Economist did a great job summing up Obama earlier in the campaign: "Explaining the Riddle," http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11959309.
Since that article, he's taken a lot of specific policy positions, which he's mentioned in the debates and his 30-min. infomercial. But it's too early to tell which of his initiatives he'll prioritize and actually be able to afford.
Hey Heather,
One thing that helped me understand Obama's stance on many issues is his website, www.barackobama.com, and the section "issues." It is much more specific and in-depth than the McCain website, although I guess we knew more of where he stood from his past political involvement. The website does a good job of giving a lot of information on his views on a wide range of topics, domestic and foreign. I especially was intrigued with the "foreign policy," "urban policy," and "family" sections.
I agree with Clara's first point of dialoguing with the rest of the world. Joe is currently interning with the Washington Office on Latin America, and his job has been to chronicle all the human rights violations in Latin America- a pretty depressing job. He thinks that Obama's stance on free trade agreements to use them to address some of these human rights issues will help bring some change and expose some of the horrific acts that are going on. This is similar to the work of the International Justice Mission to put economic and legal pressure on nations to make them stop injustices and human rights violations.
But, like Clara said, we don't know what he'll prioritize and what there will be money for. That bailout was pretty expensive.
He said in a speech before Planned Parenthood, "The first thing I'll do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."
Do you remember what the Freedom of Choice Act is? According to Senator Barbara Boxer who is a co-sponser of the bill: "The Freedom of Choice Act supercedes any law, regulation or local ordinance that impinges on a woman’s right to choose. That means a poor woman cannot be denied the use of Medicaid if she chooses to have an abortion."
So, basically if he does keep this promise, the fed govt trumps any states attempt to restrict or make abortions rare. Plus taxpayers pay for abortions.
That is his promise. Let's hope he breaks that promise.
Yes, I agree with you John and hope he breaks that promise. I also hope he sees how California, Arizona, and Florida voted on propositions for marriage and realizes that people who voted for him for president, may not agree with his political views regarding same-sex marriage.
CHANGE always comes with a new President--perhaps this time more than most. Ronald Reagan was change, Jimmy Carter was change,--sometimes change is a good time, sometimes not so much. Yet we survive.
Is that young woman in the video typical? Sadly, in a lot of ways, probably. The morning I heard about his plan to give $1000 tax cuts to 95% of Americans, I called Julie and told her the election was over. When people think they are getting $1000, they stop listening to details and start thinking of what they can buy. That young woman "heard" that her troubles are over, all she had to do was elect the man with the persuasive rhetoric.
Unfortunately, most of those people don't have an understanding of economics to know the deeper implications of $1000 checks in the mail, income redistribution and national debt.
All politicians make campaign promises to get elected. They know they can't fulfill them, even if they want to. Getting elected is figuring out what the public wants to hear and telling them you'll give it to them. Once elected, campaign promises are non-binding, but it doesn't matter because they are already in office.
There are, however, some very important issues that, with the cooperation of a liberal congress, will probably be passed into law--beginning with the Freedom of Choice Act (we'll see how Obama feels about that when his daughters are a little older.) And the Supreme Court appointments he is planning will affect our nation for generations to come.
What worries me about Obama is his "slickness." He says he'll "consider" something, or "look into" something, and people hear that he "favors" it. "I'll consider off-shore drilling" is about eight years away from "drill here, drill now."
I probably sound jaded to you younger readers, but I've seen a lot of history. It is a sad testament to today's society seeing the amount of money raised and spent on campaigning and "election celebrations" that could have been used to ease poverty, or rebuild the hurricane ravaged cities, or revamp education or help critically ill children. Although I believe in free speech, I think the majority of our media displayed so little integrity by slanting the news that everything they report is propaganda.
Wouldn't our country would be better off if real people, not wealthy politicians, were running our govenrment? People with common sense, people who are not puppets for Wall Street and lobbyists, people with integrity. It has been a very long time since we truly had a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."
OK. I'll come down off my soap box now, knowing that God has his reasons and it is not up to me to worry, just to pray and trust in God.
He's been doing a bit of a tightrope act between Christian pro-lifers and hardcore pro-choicers in the Democratic party. Here are his words from the transcript of the 3rd debate, and let every man judge for themselves:
"The last point I want to make on the issue of abortion. This is an issue that -- look, it divides us. And in some ways, it may be difficult to -- to reconcile the two views.
But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, "We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby."
Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that's where we can find some common ground, because nobody's pro-abortion. I think it's always a tragic situation."
Clara,
Thanks for your thoughts. I’m going to proceed on two assumptions: (1) you know that I love you and respect you; and (2) we can have strong, vigorous disagreement and that will not affect (1).
Having said that, I can’t accept your defense of Obama on this point. You want me to judge Obama on his words when he’s trying to get people to vote for him. Politicians must be listened to, but also must be judged by their actual records.
Here, there is a huge disparity between what he said in this debate and what he has said elsewhere, AND done. When I judge him by his actions, I don’t believe he’s walking a tightrope between two camps, but rather between who he really is (i.e., pro-abortion) and how he must sell himself to potential voters.
His record tells us who he really is:
1. Fact: In 2002, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act was signed into law by Bush after passed by the US House (only 15 unconsciously voted against it) and it passed unanimously in the US Senate. Even Hillary voted for it. Identical legislation (Induced Infant Liability Act) was introduced in the Illinois Senate, and the committee led by and chaired by Obama killed it in committee and kept it from coming to the floor. By voting against this law, Obama refused to grant rights to babies who survived botched abortions and thus allowed abortionists to refuse medical attention to them (not that they would, but if a child survives and the mother wants him to give the infant medical treatment, the abortionist is not obligated to do so).
2. Fact: Obama’s stated position is that abortion should be allowed in all 9 months of a pregnancy for any and all reasons.
3. Fact: Obama voted against a ban on partial birth abortion (even Hillary voted in favor of this). This is not an issue of the life of the mother being in danger, contrary to Obama’s rhetoric. This is a procedure that never involves the health of the mother. It is cold-blooded murder.
His Freedom of Choice Act will mean that we cannot vote in our state to ban partial birth abortions or restrict it in any way. Please let that sink in.
4. There is nothing placed in the democratic platform that Obama mentioned that wasn’t in it before. Even Bill Clinton espoused that abortions should be safe, legal and rare. Options for adoption already exist as does aid to poor single mothers.
Clara, do you believe his contention that nobody is pro-abortion? How can someone with his record not be THE definition of pro-abortion. What would someone who is pro-abortion look like differently?
Please watch Obama's Planned Parenthood Speech to see his true colors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUl99id2SvM
Note especially his condescending arrogance. Note his opening: “Thanks for your work… for men who have the sense enough to know you are helping them” [what is this but a reference to abortion as birth control? Note the cheers and laughter go through the crowd].
What is the measure of a candidate, what he has done as a matter of record, or what he says in a national debate when he’s trying to win votes. He was less than forthcoming. Why not man-up and step up to the plate and stand on your record?
That is his record, let everyone judge for themselves. His record is so black and white that it is not even open to debate, let alone defense.
Christians may disagree about Obama’s position on the war, taxes, etc., but this is not even on the table for debate. He’s not been walking a tightrope between two parties, he is a radical pro-abortionist that makes the Clintons look conservative on the issue.
I know this is an important election for you and you feel strongly about it. I’m not a one-issue voter either. And I’m certainly not under the delusion that McCain would have been a champion for pro-lifers (though he has consistently voted pro-life). But Obama makes a bald-face promise to make it his very first action in the office to pass a law that trumps states rights to determine this issue. As you can see from his words in this video, he wants to make it so the abortion debate is something of the past that is no longer an issue for debate.
That’s not the change that we need.
Now, re-read my first paragraph. I love you and hope to see you soon.
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