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.
"It's merely a flesh wound!"
And a belated welcome to Free Republic.
I'll try to read the thread over the weekend.
Cheers!
If you voted for OBamBam, you are deluded. You will have buyer’s remorse within a year or two. The ecomomy and the stock market are already falling like an avalanche because the market and business planning look to the future, and they know that Obozo is going to destroy the US economy and the world economy along with it, with his increased taxes, and his gargantuan spending he has planned. I predict he will plunge the country into a depression, which will plunge the world into a depression.
The problem is, the 57 million of us who did not vote for this fraud, have to suffer along with you do-do brains while you learn what a terrible mistake you made and foisted on the rest of the world.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
We didn’t lose because CONSERVATISM was not on the ballot, only a RINO republican. If we had had a CONSERVATIVE on the ballot, we would have cleaned your Marxist clock.
His own persona civilian police force of 26,000 with as much power as the Army..? HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOO
You seem like a nice enough person. If you believe what they are telling you, youre being duped. The Obama Biden ticket is the most antigun ticket ever run by the Dem party, fact.
Juicy (aka Obama) is a socialist. If Juicy was a politician in enlightened Europe, he would be proud to call himself a socialist.
Come inauguration day, I will be referring to my Juicy supporting acquaintances as “Comrades,” as in, “Good morning, Comrade” and “How is your family, Comrade?”
Why do I call Obama “Juicy” you ask? Because he is a brand name like Juicy Couture and nothing else — hip, popular, urban, causal, fleecy, a provider of instant gratification.
Awww, lookit the kitties...
Looks like you’ve been around a while. Obviously you feel comfortable posting something like that here on FR and you are still here.
How well do you think Freepers fared when they posted the same kind of thing on DU or KOS? These are already in the past so all we need to do is check. What does that say about conservatives compared to liberals? I think it shows we’re more open minded.
Finally, I’d like to get your honest answer about the birth certificate issue. Why didn’t Obama just release his BC to whomever asked, the same way McCain did?
Gee, Trav... help me out. In the headline vanity, you said "I think he's talking about the police." Now, you admit that he's talking about national service, and go on to say you've read all his positions.
Evidently, then, you did know he wasn't talking about the police. Or else you didn't know, because you hadn't actually read what Yerboys plans are. Either way we have to surmise that you are in fact a troll, and worse are in fact, a liar.
Now get this through your tiny little brain: The Constitution of the United States empowers the Congress (not the President) to raise armies and navies. There is no Constitutional authority anywhere for the President to draft citizens for peacetime purposes. Whether we have problems or not, we don't have any that are large enough that allow a man sworn to support, protect, and defend the Constitution to piss all over it, and that is what this proposal is, plain and simple.
Since the 0bama volunteers won't actually be regular Army, presumably you "progressives" will have no problems with them being quartered -- on a "volunteer" basis of course -- in peoples' homes? What other depredations of our basic rights are you willing to waive in exchange for "fixing our problems?"
Hopefully the young John Roberts and his merry men will have the stones to strike this anti-Constituional claptrap down -- hard.
So where did it all go if it were truly undisturbed?The yellowcake? It was still there when we invaded and now we've moved it to the US.
Great graphics! Why oh why did you have to raise my blood pressure by putting that Commie Markos on there!
You didn’t even read my post accurately.
He doesn't worry me as much as the asshats in congress! They scare the crap out of me!
Congrats on your win, I hope you are correct in your analysis, if not, we will bring a major change in two years.
Blah blah blah. Obama is a steaming pantload and so are you.
Hopefully, he’ll be just as boring.
This isn’t meant to be snarky, but I think I lost the thread of what you’re talking about. Lived what? What did you see?
Isn’t all good policy about spreading prosperity?
Wasn’t that what McCain and Bush wanted with tax cuts?
I’m still not sure what you guys think he will do as a socialist, other than raise taxes on those making $200-250,000. And yeah - I noticed that one day they were saying “$200,000” instead of “$250,000” - but I think it was Biden. His mouth is like a constant clerical error.
Do you simply considering social program spending to be socialism? Let me ask you this:
Do you think Obama will be more socialist than Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and LBJ? Or, for that matter, FDR? I guess sometimes democratic or “progressive” policy is considered socialist (and in part, it is) at its core. So is that what you’re referring to - or is there something else more...sinister that people think he’s going to do?
Do you think kitty zombies are slow and lumbering original Night of the Living dead zombies or super fast Dawn of the Dead re-make zombies?
I think I signed up in 2005 to reply to something after the 2005 election. But maybe I never did. I haven’t been around much since then, but I check in every now and then. And I was curious to see the state of things after Nov. 4th.
I might be confused as to the meaning of “troll.” Trolling, I thought, was attempting to provoke a response by being obnoxious with no effort towards real discourse.
I understand that there are fundamentals we’ll never agree on - but I am doing my level best to give my honest perspective on this. I’m not trying to come in and throw eggs - this is your house, and I respect that.
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