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.
Travisswf:
Thank you for helping restore some of our unity today. Nothing unifies our side more than disingenuous pleas for us to now come help you rebuild what you have torn down - national unity and the economy.
You are on your own.
You get the idea. That’s a taste of things to come. We can play your silly game, and we’ll play it until you admit you and your Democrat Policies of Division - are wrong.
You Democrats may want to do some deep soul searching and atonement for the DECADES of division you have purposefully installed in this nation for which you are now reaping the fruit of your labor.
Not nearly as sorry as you and your descendants are going to be.....
Think Germany with their Hitler...
Think Italy with their Benito...
Think China with Mao....
Think North Korea with the Pia Pet...
Think Cuba with Castro...
Think El Salvador..
Etc, etc.....
All the above hailed their charismatic "leader"......who gave great speech and led them into dispair...
It's simply a matter of time -- but in the modern global economy -- a dumb ass can cause untold grief very quickly..
The Democrats have proved many times - they are up to the task of being World Class Dumb Asses...
You are right, Obama is not a socialist, he's a Marxist! He is already planning to confiscate the profits of oil companies because they make "too much money!" Do you think 7-10 cents return on a dollar invested is too much money!
And Obama does plan for forced community service. Those words are from his mouth and not from some conspiracy theory.
And once Obama expires the 2003 tax cuts which had lowered the entire federal income tax rates, everyone's taxes are going to be raised: low income, middle income, high income. Obama has LIED to you!
No domestic drilling, no nuclear energy, no clean coal energy, just the confiscation of the profits of energy companies! YOU THINK THAT IS AN ENERGY POLICY! LOL! You have been bamboozled so hard you can't even think straight.
The Founding Fathers fought the British because they were a heavy handed central authority that controlled the economy -- just like Obama wants to do. You cannot be a Patriot and want a larger controlling federal government.
The Founding Fathers built a federal government that was limited in what it could do. We Conservatives fight for that principle.
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic!" - Ben Franklin (Founding Father)
By the way, we live in a Republic, not a Democracy. Learn it!
The fundamental, moral and practical imperative for bringing the fight to Iraq is undoubtable.Wow. Well, somehow I'm magically able to doubt something undoubtable. I guess I'm special.
It all comes down to a simple question in this instance: do you feel that priority targets (be them Al Qaeda or Taliban in nature) are essentially useless to go after because more will just "spring up in their place"?This is a straw man argument. I never said that or even implied it.
In Fallujah and Baqubah we killed literally thousands of Talibani recruits and stifled a dangerous and burgeoning arm of extreme militant Islam.What are you talking about? No one in either of these locations had anything whatsoever to do with the Taliban. This is just plain fiction.
The progress and the within Iraq for the name of protecting liberty is all the evidence you need to justify the invasion...Iraq used to be a place where the was water and power and innocent people could walk the streets without getting blown to pieces. It used to be a place where you could be openly Christian without being murdered. I'm not saying that it was better under Saddam — no, that opinion comes from Iraqis themselves. Iraq is a mess. You have an awfully ignorant definition of "progress." Your baseless claims are propaganda. The truth on the ground is not as you describe it.
I don't really care what you believe. The American public doesn't buy this line anymore. Frankly, they don't really know what's going on either, but they just want it to stop. I'm saying it never should have started in the first place.
Bookmarking your wonderful post!
You claim to have voted for Bob Barr, but want to give the socialist a chance to turn the country in a "better direction."
Why don't you give us examples of what the steps toward this "better direction" would be?
IF Obama suddenly decides he loves traditional America and her people, without consideration for skin color, and pursues a course for her benefit while holding our founding documents and principals sacrosanct, you're DAMN right I will.
Bookmark this and nail me if I don't.
However, if he CONTINUES with his (and his party's) divisive style of racial politics and class warfare, and subordinates EVERYTHING for the sake of the political fortunes of the Democratic party, I will despise the man every bit as much as the left dispises republicans.
I don't take kindly to those seeking to destroy my country.
That bore repeating.
Nice rant!
Nice rant!
You claim to have voted for Bob Barr, but want to give the socialist a chance to turn the country in a "better direction."What's my other option? Is there another President-elect that's being kept a closely guarded secret? Is there some legal and moral way for me to prevent Obama from assuming the duties of President and execute them? Since you're such an expert on our republic, I anxiously await your answer.
American troops raided the home of the mastermind of Saddam Hussein's biological weapons lab on Wednesday and discovered a sprawling, recently abandoned terrorist training camp south of Baghdad as they dug for secrets from a dead regime.
So much for your BS propaganda.
Bookmark this and nail me if I don't.Deal. Please feel free to mercilessly taunt me if I'm wrong.
After all, if things turn out as badly as you predict, it may be the only fun thing you have left. :)
When I read posts like your's and then consider how my kids have been harrassed in the classroom for having opinions which differ from the - theres no other name for it - anti-American beliefs of their teachers' and majority of their peers, it really breaks me up.
You mean, if things radically change from their current condition...
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