Posted on 11/07/2008 10:40:35 AM PST by Traviswf
Hi there. I voted for Obama, but have been reading a lot of Freerepublic lately to see how the other side is reacting. I'm not trying to troll here - honestly - but if you feel I am, that's understandable. I just wanted to offer a perspective on this that I think may be interesting to some of you. Oh, and this is much longer than I intended. And I'm fairly certain I'm not posting this the right way...for which I apologize.
When Bush was elected in 2000, I was upset. And yes, I whined about him "stealing" the election. I don't really think that's true anymore - it was just a painful way to lose. Sure, we can whine about the popular vote vs. the electoral vote, but you can't change the rules in the middle of the game. Then I watched the movie Recount and realized just how awful the democrats were at trying to win the damn thing. Gore seemed like he didn't really want it.
When Bush won in 2004, I was absolutely devastated. I thought the world was going to end. I didn't think we should be in Iraq, I agreed with Kerry that we had to finish the fight in Afganistan. I was worried about the courts. And frankly - I just didn't like Bush. I didn't like the way he governed, the way he spoke, and the way he talked as if we on the left were less American.
On 9/11 I happened to be in Toronto on business. When the towers fell, I knew I had to get home. A colleague and I wanted to go to New York, to help in some way. But we were told nobody was getting anywhere close. Our next instinct was to get home - to California. We didn't just want to be with our families, we desperately wanted to be in our country. That day was rough because my colleague thought his wife might have been on one of the planes - her travel plans were very similar. It took hours of agony before we, thank God, found out she was safe.
So we rented a car in Toronto and drove across the country. It took a couple hours to get across the border in the middle of the night. We stopped in Omaha, and then Colorado. I can't even tell you how much I loved my country driving across its beauty in those days after the attacks. And there were no jokes about "we're in enemy territory" because we were in "red states." We were in America. Everywhere we went people said "How are you? Is everyone safe?"
I know everyone has similar stories of those days. And certainly many, many people have stories of real loss - not just "we thought we lost someone, but it was a happy ending." Then, fairly quickly, I felt my patriotism coming under attack because I had a difference of opinion about how to fight back. I didn't think Iraq was the right choice - it made no sense to me, and I certainly wasn't alone. But people questioned my love of my country. And that was very, very hard to forgive.
When 2008 came up, more than anything, I wanted to win the White House back. I wanted to punish the Bush administration for what I felt was not just a failure to be competent, but a failure to keep the country united. I inititally supported Hilary, but I had this feeling in my gut that she was just going to be Bush - but for our side. She'd be a partisan warrior, a polarizing figure (which Bush wasn't when he started, but Hilary already was...). It made me sick to my stomach.
I wanted to go back to feeling like an American in those days after the attack - where our disagreements were things we laughed about over a beer and the real threat was far, far more serious.
I'd written Obama's candidacy off as a dry run for 2016 or later. Or maybe he was running for VP. I thought - hey, dude, at least finish a term in the Senate. Then when he said "we're not a collection of red states and blue states, we're the United States of America" it hit me like lightning. It had nothing to do with him - it had to do with the country, and my love for it and this feeling deep down in my gut that we were fighting over the placement of the deck chairs while the ship was sinking.
Wow, this got really rambly. Sorry about that. Here's why I posted initially. I saw this thing on here about Obama's "national defense force" and some posters commenting about the coming civil war or some such. I'm pretty sure Obama was just talking about funding for police. I mean - are you guys really worried he's going to do this? There was a rumor on the left that Bush was bringing a military brigade trained in "riot control" home from Iraq before the elections. People were convinced Bush was going to take over the country in a military coup. I'm sure you think that's laughable - as do I. Obama is not going to raise a civilian force of brown coats. First of all there's no money for it, nobody would go for it, and he'd be laughed out of the White House.
He's also not a socialist. And he's not coming for your guns. If he did either of this things, he can basically just go home now. Those are not realistic positions for any president to have. He will likely appoint liberals - at least too liberal for you guys - to the courts.
But here's the thing. He's going to try and be a good president. I think they all do. And Obama ran on uniting the country, on being bipartisan. That's sort of ALL he ran on. It's how he won 60% of independent and brought home so many of the Clinton voters. So if he doesn't deliver on this - I imagine he'll be fairly easy to beat in 2012.
So that's my two cents. Obama was always going to get my vote as the nominee because I'm a lifelong democrat and a liberal. But I'm not a socialist or a pacifist. I believe in the 2nd amendment and favor the idea of most issues being decided by the states. I'm not a religious man, but I respect those who are and I think the Dems over reach in pushing religion out of the public square. I believe global warming is a serious problem, but I also think Al Gore enjoys it WAY too much.
And here's another caveat. I know it's easier to be bipartisan and talk about "togetherness" when my guy won. I was where you guys are now in 2000 and 2004. I mean, my party ALMOST ran Howard Dean and then said "No wait! John Kerry is a much better idea!" Or in this election to have a friend say "You've GOT to read Alec Baldwin's latest piece on HuffPo." I mean...really? He doesn't count as an "Obamacon" you know, he only plays a republican on TV...(you guys ever notice that our most annoying Hollywood liberals end up playing republicans? what's with that?)
So yeah - we've all spent some time in the woods. I just hope we can all agree that we're just as American as the other, and we're passionate about what we believe to be the right path to take. There are real problems with the economy, and Islamic Terrorists aren't going to take a vacation for four years.
That's about it I guess. Sorry you guys lost.
Most sincerely,
Josef Goebbels
Troll. May the Mods zot you.
If you don't want to do something about the people who threatened her life then you can't possibly care all that much about her. In Buddhism that's called Idiot Compassion. It's phoney as can be.
A lot of US wanted to punish the Bush administration (for different reasons). However, the alternative typically appeared to be worse (Kerry vs. Bush or Obama vs. Bush’s successor), so most of us ended up voting Bush and McCain.
In full disclosure, I voted for Michael Peroutka (Constitution Party) in 2004 and for John McCain on Tuesday.
As far as I can see, from here, Barack Obama is indeed a Marxist and should be regarded with the utmost suspicion by all Americans.
“it’s innocent and Patriotic to dissent...”
Not only do I remember, I plan on being more patriotic in the next 4 years than I have ever been in my entire life.
“Hi there. I voted for Obama, “
Idiot.
He’s a socialist tool, in case you didn’t figure that out from his ‘spread the wealth’ speech.
People making roughly 40K a year will get socked because they’re ‘rich’.
Guess what, here in NY, you need to make 40K a year just to meet cost of living!
The world and the leftists only loved us when we were dying on 9/11.
I like Squantos’ tagline.
From what I’ve read, Rahm Emanuel had a big hand in recruiting pro-RKBA Democrat candidates to run for Congress, and making sure they won. His presence as White House Chief of Staff, and ties to pro-RKBA congresscritters he helped put in office, may ensure that new and more onerous “gun control” laws remain the pipe dream of a small, weak minority.
I will not let you and your kind cheapen the sacrifice of the millions who built this country with blood, sweat and tears.
The election of Obama means the WAR is on and the left thinks they will be on easy street. I and many like me will try to block every move Obama makes and when he comes for our guns we will see who wins.
"Elections have consequences!" San Fran Nan - she is right they do.
>The ULTIMATE vanity. Now the situation is so bad the Obamatrons are doin’ em. Just shoot me.
Dude, I _can’t_... my guns were confiscated. ;)
He’s also not a socialist.
No. He’s a communist like his mother and all his friends
Notice several newbies that want to make peace with Hussein.
We have another coup underway.
Will you please run for Congress...just asking.
*******************
Good point. Anyone who didn't learn from 9/11 isn't capable of learning. Regardless of how many trolls express false sympathy regarding the election of a Marxist, racist president, they're still America-hating trolls.
That is my warning to you from Europe.
It seems here that so called leftist liberalism is fast morhping into something akin to faschism.
I certainly fear the day, where you follow our path.
I am so worried about the draft. I don’t think it will affect my kids even though they are 14 and 12. I also figure Obama will draft girls.
I don’t think either of my daughters would ever get drafted because one has a brain injury and epilepsy and the other has pretty bad asthma.
My son actually would like to join the military but I don’t know if he will be able to because of scoliosis. He’s right at the cut-off point. I think that’s good for a draft and he wants out, but bad if he wants to volunteer for the military.
Obama will pour gas on the fire, drive the world into a global depression and ultimately start WW3.
I ask God to help us, but then I look at our country right now and ask myself if this isn’t happening for a reason.
When 3 billion people in the world make less than $1000 a year, we collectively sit around and complain about how bad our lives are and elect a man who supports the murder of unborn children. Who are we to ask God for help?
You FEEL that Obama is not a socialist. The facts, well reported on so many threads here and other blogs and books, say otherwise. Not only socialist, but Marxist. Just the facts.
You FEEL that Obama will not take away guns. Well, the clear inference from his voting pattern and most of his public statements says otherwise. Those are facts, not feelings. The facts weigh to that he WILL ban many guns, perhaps most, and he may TAKE as well. Likewise the facts of his associations, his strongest political allies -- so many staunch gun banners like Mayor Daley.
When you describe your experience of 9/11 -- it was all feelings. What are the facts? Did YOU lose any dear friends or family?
When you express your objectives, your political objectives -- they are all FEELINGS. You want to feel GOOD, to feel that others are good-feeling about you, that you can feel good about them.
Well, Travis -- feel as GOOD as you want! That is nearly ALL to you you have total control of that!
And you have total control of how you feel about others too! Feel GOOD abouit us, about them, about us and them! I gift you total permission to do so, fwtw.
But here's something you can't ask for by any right, nor is it something Obama can demand from any of us. That others feel good about YOU.
I mean, you can WORK towards the goal of having others like you. But you can't demand it, even if you were Emperor of the Universe.
In any case, you need work on facts. Put your "feelings" aside, until you can take in facts as they are, in all their inherent factiness.
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