A [Republican] friend of mine (I have a bunch of those!) recently sent me an email stating his thoughts on some of the things Obama covered in his acceptance speech. When I read the email - which was not one of those widely circulated piles of shit, but was my friends true feelings - and though about it a bit, I realized something. It is not profound, but it is important to me. Here is what I replied:
"Once I get home I'll try to write my opinion on each of your points below. For now, I'll just say that I believe a new course is desperately needed, and I believe Obama will try to establish one. I am sure McCain will not. All other considerations aside, that is my bottom line."
And it is the bottom line for me in this election. I can easily ignore the specifics of any position on any individual issue. I don't, but I could. My country (yes, John, it is my country too, and it does come first) has been redirected over the last eight years onto a course that is totally unacceptable. John McCain has been on-board with over 90% of the redirection, and there is plenty of reason to expect that, if he were to be elected, the country would continue on the current path. I cannot accept that.
2 comments:
Okay, you have two months or so to change the tone of support for Obama to a positive, fresh one, like the new direction you're predicting he will take the country. No more repeating the old, stale lines similar to "going along with Bush 90% of the time." Lines like that are for non-thinking people swayed by shallow one-liners. Obama went along with Pelosi and Reid nearly 100% of the time with his votes, and they're less popular than Bush. Please appeal to thinking people by describing exactly what Bush did to hurt America and the world and exactly what Obama is going to do as president, within the constitutional role of his position, to fix that. We swing voters still have open minds, but repeating the Carville-type lines won't cut it. That does nothing to ease the worried minds of Obama's so-called socialistic ideas being put into effect and his lack of experience. We need red meat. (I'm trying to wake you up. Trying to help.) By your logic, Obama's only success is that he's different from Bush, and if Kerry were president now instead of Bush, Obama would have no positive value. Obama's virtues have to stand on their own when not compared with someone else -- actions, not reactions.
Aaron the Menace
Aaron, I appreciate your comment, and I agree. In a near future post I will try to appeal to thinking people. I believe thinking people will try the Obama approach for any number of positive reasons. In future posts I will attempt to identify and discuss some of these. Again, thanks for the feedback. - Doug
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