Some of you may have read my previous posts as I tried to sort through the fog around the two candidates. Especially two candidates that were not my first choice for President. For me this is not about democrat or republican. I am independent and like it that way. I try to vote for the best in every election. Having spent a lot of time researching the claims, counter-claims and Internet fairy stories of the two I have reached my conclusions, and here are the reasons why:
1.Obama WILL raise taxes on the middle class. He said he would let the Bush tax cuts expire. That alone will raise taxes on all middle class incomes. He proposal to increase taxes on everyone over $250,000 has since been lowered to 200,000 then by his running mate to 150,000. Do I believe it will stop there? NO. The bottom line is all of his proposals cost money and someone has to pay for them. Right now 40% of Americans don’t pay taxes so that means the remaining 60% will pay more. It might be wonderful to think let the rich pay, but they have the same right to the money they earn as I do. Why should I steal more from them. Let everyone pay their share. Taxing corporations more only drags down the economy and more people lose their jobs, end result – fewer tax payers. So playing the shell game doesn’t work. WE WILL PAY MORE TAXES.
2. People say they trust Obama more on the economy… Based on what? A smile, a debonair attitude. I can find nothing in his back ground that shows me anything that says he knows anything about the complexities of the economy. What I have seen is either naive ideas about how the taxes will be lower and the programs more. But in the end nothing in his legislative back ground shows me that he is prepared to take on the economic reform that is needed. Mc Cain has a long track record of trying to reform government waste, pork barrel politics and he was an early whistle blower on the Freddie Mac, Freddie Mae problem while Obama (a freshman senator) was taking political money from them to keep things going as they were.
3. We live in a world that is dangerous and is getting worse day by day. Our President must understand the true nature of the world we live in and do what is best for the United States. Obama’s approach to diplomacy is naive to say the least. This is a real world with real problems and with real enemies that have SWORN to see the United States destroyed. That is not a joke or propaganda that is a fact – something that the next President has to be prepared to confront from day one of his Presidency. Obama is not ready and he has absolutely no real life experience to base his Presidential decisions on. Being a good speaker does not make you a good president. One can point to the abundance of counselors that he might have around him, but in the end the President must make the decision. Experience counts in this job like no other.
4. When it comes to Vice Presidential picks I fault them both. There are a lot better and qualified people out there that could have been a better pick. However I look at the two of them, Sarah Palin or Joe Biden. Sarah is a novice and like all novices out of her league. But Biden, a man who shows up drunk at a Rally and has a long history of being a buffoon is worse. Why, because you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Palin can learn and adapt as she has already shown these last few weeks. Biden remains the same. So given the worse case scenario, which one would I put in the oval office. One who reaches for the bible or one who reaches for the bottle. No matter where you stand on faith, the one who reaches for the bible is looking for council, the one reaching for the bottle is looking to escape. I don’t need the escapist with bad judgement with his hand on the trigger.
5. I used to be a Union Shop steward and later I was in management. I have seen abuses on both sides of that fence. But one thing I do know, that the secret ballot for union elections is the only way to prevent fraud and insure that the workers are free to choose how they will work without intimidation from either side. I don’t know any worker who would want to be exposed to either the company or the union during elections. That system was put in place to protect the workers. Now I see that Obama supports taking that away. THAT will DESTROY WORKER’S RIGHTS.
6. I don’t know what the deal is with Obama’s records, like his birth certificate and his medical records. But to me it is simple, if you are going to be MY PRESIDENT then you had better start with open and honest especially on the small little things, if you can’t do that then how in the world can I be expected to trust you on the big things? Perhaps it is the lawyer in him that says, “Sue Me” and tries to litigate every request. I don’t know. But I do know that this behavior puts you waaaay up on my “I can’t trust you list”.
7. I take great exception too with the Obama campaign fund raising. First I think it was deceitful of them to say they would take public funds and limit their fund raising, like John Mc Cain did, then turn around and go the other way. End result they had several times the funds of their competitor. That might be a smart strategy in a win at any cost election, but shows a lack of honor and integrity. Honor and Integrity are two things that are paramount in a President. The second issue I have with their fund raising is that they have deceitfully allowed anyone to contribute. Meaning first on the Internet credit card donations it has been shown by several independent investigators that you can use phony names and addresses and contribute to the campaign. YET all they had to do was turn on a standard verification feature that is AVAILABLE TO ANYONE ACCEPTING CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS and it would have prevented accepting phony names and wrong addresses for credit cards. The only reason then that this happens is because they want it to happen. The second thing was that they promised transparency on campaign funding. It hasn’t happened, anything that is not REQUIRED BY LAW they don’t do it. John Mc Cain on the other hand put all the donors on line where I can see for myself who donated how much. How hard is that. It is not, they have the database anyway. So it all just points to more deception. Not a way to reassure me that he is a man of integrity with nothing to hide.
8. RACE – I don’t care if he is black, red or spotted. I live overseas in a multicultural environment. I married a person from another race. Race is not a factor for me. Seems to be for Senator Obama, after all he keeps talking about it. Moreover he thinks that somehow we Americans must somehow compensate for it too. But to me that is wrong, equal is equal not more than equal. One of the bills that he sponsored (one of the few that I could find in the congressional database where he was a primary sponsor) was to give more grants to colleges that are more than 50% black. Why not more than 50% Hispanic or Asian? Why just black? To mean that is racist pure and simple.
9. Friends are important. I choose my friends carefully. I don’t know if Obama does or doesn’t. But he has some friends that I wouldn’t have. His are, by their own admission, communists. For some today that is just a word, the external threat of communism is not as real as it was in previous decades but it still exists. I have worked in communist countries doing relief work. I know what it is to be followed by the secret police, have supplies confiscated and being shaken down while you are there trying to help their own people. The people living under communism are poor, controlled and afraid. Yet the bosses live like kings and act like it too. Obama has associated with communists (his father was one) since his youth. No false accusations here, just facts that I can find easily and you can too. Is he a socialist or communist ? I don’t know, but I do know that birds of a feather tend to stick together. So I don’t get a very good vibe from this despite the denials from his campaign staff.
So the end of the story, Obama doesn’t get MY vote.
Tags: biden, campaign 08, Election '08, fund raising, mc cain, obama, palin, president, Taxes, unions, vote
