Well, with the whole presidential election only in a few weeks, I would like to tell you of my experience with this election, all the way back into the summer of ‘07, when the campaigns started, and I will slowly push forward through the months of accusations, apologies, and everything else you would find in politics.
So, back in ‘07 when the election started, I knew nothing of pretty much all of the candidates, other than John McCain, Rudy Guiliani, and Hilary Clinton. First of all, anybody who will say that since I have heard of John McCain before, makes him better is DEAD WRONG. I hated John McCain from the first time i ever saw him on TV, in the morning. He was another old, rich, right wing, Bush-loving republican, whom every time I saw him on telecision, was agreeing with whatever dumbshit move that GWB was signing off on. So, from the start I hated him, and that hasn’t changed. To move onto the other 2 candidates. Hilary Clinton I never really liked too much, but I would take her over John McCain any day. I don’t know what it is about her, but i don’t like it, it could be because she is a woman, but if it is, it is completely in my subconscious. And Rudy Giuliani, I knew from the movie Anger Management, where he yells in a scene “You can do it David! Give her a five second frencher!” I got good vibes from him, but he was republican, so i kept him in the back of my mind, to save for further research later.
But, when I first saw Barack Obama, I liked him. He spoke clearly, he had a nice voice, and was very calm and had couth onstage, when I would be sweating off my body weight. I had yet to know more about him. The election progressed, and candidates began dropping out of the race, one by one. They all dropped out after the caucuses, except for Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
This was the first major battle in the whole election this far. The accusations, the apologies, everything was flying all over the place, and hard to keep track of. But Obama got ahead, and got farther, and farther ahead. I would also like to mention that during this time, Obama came to my city, Boise, Idaho. Now Idaho is primarily a Republican State, as most people know, and will probably remain that way for a while, but when he held the rally, I am not sure the exact number, but I heard he had the highest attendance to the rally, this far into his trip around the USA. I am not sure if this is true or not, but is interesting.
Soon Hilary Clinton also dropped out of the race.
Now we were really started up. We were down to the real nitty gritty part of the presidential race. This is where I really started understanding the two candidates beliefs/ethics/policies/ideas/visions whatever you want to call it. I really understood who I liked more, when my mom brought me a packet of paper with both the candidates ideas for all the main issues at stake. Economy, Education, the War, etc. And every time I liked Obama’s plan better. A couple of things I liked the most was the fact that he would provide a $4,000 dollar tax rebate for college students who perform 100 hours of community service a year. This helps alot. First off anybody who says that this is merely a way to pass out tax dollars to people, they are wrong. Lets say that 1,000 students at BSU (Boise State University) do 100 hours of community service in a year. The $4,000 dollars is a small amount of money to pay for someone helping the community for a collective 4+ days.
Also, the energy plan. McCain wants 45, you read it, 45 nuclear power plants built by 2030. What’s wrong with wind/solar power? I do realize that nuclear energy is a good resource, but 45? What happens if an enemy country has cruise missiles, and bombs the f*ck out of them? We’re talking Chernobyl all over again times a lot. Of course Chernobyl had other issues, but who’s saying that our power plants won’t have any problems? We’ve already proved to the world that America is far from perfect. Obama would like to mostly depend on solar and wind power, which is something I like the sound of.
Last but not least Education. McCain encourages people to send their kids to go to private schools. Well, I’ll tell you from experience, that our schools, for the most part, suck compared to China, and other places. We are sending trillions of dollars overseas, and to the war. Support the troops also, but that’s not what I am talking about. Obama would like to take out a very expensive government grant to the NASA Constellation Program, which is 18 billion dollars, and put it into public schools. Sounds pretty damn good to me.
Now, the VP selections. Barack Obama:Joe Biden. John McCain:Sarah Palin
The Joe Biden choice I think was a wise one. He is a close friend of McCain, which is attractive to McCain supporters, looking to switch, also he has tons of experience in government, whic halfway makes up for Barack Obama’s lack of experience. I get good feelings from Joe Biden, but I am not a huge fan…..yet.
The Sarah Palin choice was, I think, both the best choice, and the biggest mistake in the McCain campaign. She was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (pop. 5000) so she had real responsibilities, like whenever a cow took a sh*t in the road, she had to call someone to go pick it up. Also, the whole thing about Obama being a community organizer makes me very mad. Do you know what other famous people were community organizers? Ghandi. Mother Teresa. Jesus. Wow. She’s right. Community Organizers absolutely have no effect on the world. And this is also overlooking the fact he graduated from Colombia University with a degree in political science, with a specialization in foreign relations. Also, that he graduated from Harvard Law with a Juris Doctor’s degree, MAGNA CUM LAUDE. Yeah, all this coming from a woman who is the governor of 2 years of one of the lowest populated states in the U.S.
Now, on to the debates. I don’t really watch the debates to learn about the candidates ideas, I watch them to see what kind of person they are. All I saw was that McCain never could look at his opponent, constantly interrupted Obama, and always tried to have the last word. I didn’t like him at all. And when the second presidential debate came around, I couldn’t even bear to watch that old man hobble around the stage. The VP debates were so-so, nothing very interesting happened in them.
In the end I take Barack Obama over McCain, and if McCain wins, we all better head for Canada.
Thank You, mcavoybn.