Sunday, November 2, 2008

Obama as a Threat

Last Wednesday night I posted my vote for President: Barack Obama.  As a Republican (with a lot of Republican friends and family members) I expected to hear some heated responses.  Actually, I big reason why I posted my opinion was to stir up some controversy and conversation... it looks like that mission was accomplished.

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I know many of my friends and family were disappointed to see me make such a public claim for Barack Obama.  As I mentioned in my blog, there are a lot of issue with which I disagree with the Jr. Senator from Illinois, however I have come to respect the leadership qualities he has displayed so far.

There were 2 major themes to those who disagreed with me: "How can I support Obama's policies" and "Obama presents a threat to this country as we know it".  In this post I'll make comments on the latter category and then focus on Democratic policies in subsequent posts.

Attacking Obama as a radical socialist, a supporter of terrorism or as a disingenuous 'wolf in sheep's clothing' all sounds like desperate attempts to scare voters into supporting McCain.  I think the one claim that upsets me the most is that Barack Obama is a racist (or supports racists) because he attended Jeremiah Wright's church.

Here is a quick example of how this logic breaks down: I went to Liberty University.  Liberty is founded by Dr. Jerry Falwell.  He was very active and vocal during my years there including comments about how the "Teletubbies" were promoting a homosexual agenda to children.  Many legitimate voices in America accused Dr. Falwell of being homophobic.  Therefore, Jason DeStratis is also homophobic.  

If I were running for President reporters may ask me, "Jason, how can you support the fair treatment of same sex couples via civil unions even though you attended Jerry Falwell's school?" My response would probably be similar to Barack Obama's response about his connection to Jeremiah Wright, "There were many things that Dr. Falwell said that I cannot and did not support, however I do respect the inspiration he was to many people in the Christian community."

Spending energy claiming that Barack Obama is planning on promoting Jeremiah Wright's "Black Libertarian" agenda is a clear sign that Republicans are gasping for air.  We've lost our way.  By voting for Obama I am saying, "Ok Democrats, tell us some of your ideas... we are clearly out of fresh ideas over here."  

In my next post I'll begin to discuss some Democrat ideas with which I struggle the most.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad your mission was accomplished, I wish people would care about this much more than just every 4 years..so good job on steering up the controversy. Glad you voted too btw! Obama doesn't have as much power as people think; he can't be as big as a threat that people would like to say. I heard today that he was the antichrist lol..for the millionth time. Gag me! I just happened to know that his place as president will bring change that I'm dyeing to see happen. The change that Pelosi has been ready to put into action with the promises she made when she was named speaker. In two years they have passed mostly crap. All the new "change" they want can't be paid for by just the top bracket of tax payers, the Bush cuts are about to expire and than like the Clinton years the tax break we are promised will be different. The same promises than are in this candidate and I don't buy it.

I'm not putting my faith in govt but for the past two years neither party has done there job manly pelosi's congress.

Here's the good thing... Congress will actually pass something, instead of waisting our tax money with annoying filibusters. With the 1-3 Judicial nominations Obama will get to do a heck of a lot more with the country than I would like to see. With The O as president there going to be tests like Biden said, his foreign policy scares me, the UN will be in control, our troop funding will be cut, which after that troops will be cut, we'll get that tax break were looking for but it's just a quick fix all while no one will care about the deficit because this is a "time for action" everything is needed in a crisis. He keeps saying it's about how much better we'll be off in 4 years. We'll have more lines for health care, (funny we want to be more like Europe and they want to be more like us) ...I'm rambling with out facts...my bad. So the racial thing, people think he's playing the race card that only happened in the primaries...it was the Bill Clinton comment that started it all and than Obama said something like"I know I don't look like the man on the money"...American's should be better than that to say that he's playing the race card. The NAACP is playing the race card and Jesse Jackson played the race card; they wanted him to be the black candidate to get there agenda out. Obama's advisers are smart they distanced him from these people in the general election. NAACP got mad when Obama said black fathers should be fathers, black (Oh wait sorry- African American..I have to be "politically correct")people should get jobs and be determined to be educated and work hard..pretty much what Bill Cosby has been saying (good stuff)..that's not what the NAACP wants to hear

I wish people would vote on the issues, you had your issues with the past president so you voted that way. But with people bringing up affiliation of Jeremiah Wright..it's not affective. Only when you total all the shady affiliations he has than that makes you wonder, why he has these people advising him. Jerry founded your school he didn't advise you unless you paid attention in every Wed. convo and sat at his feet in advice and guidance, than the comparison doesn't work. (Obama just didn't attend his church, he was his spiritual adviser, baptized his kids, he was scheduled every two months to meet with him when he first was elected in Chicago). They had a similar relationship liking to Regan/B. Graham -ok I exaggerated that a lil

Obama's campaign is wicked smart the DNC is smart in making him their puppet. He's a brilliant politician. He hasn't done a press conference since Sept. all we see or hear is what they want us to, he never answers to policy questions or any "bad press".

The socialist attacks have been overdone I'm with you on that, but it's taken my friend from Romania to tell me she sees the same trends in his policy and left her country because of it, wigs me out.

I have respect for your choice in voting and know you can have your disagreements with the party that you voted for. I'm ready for your next post! I have my disagreements with the candidate I'm voting for..Nader..jk McCain but for some people this year isn't about voting issues, there's too many distractions, too many people's wallets have been effected to look at policy people want more from there government! ...A Kennedy quote comes to mind but you know it.. "Ask not what your country is going to do for you... (etc.)"

point is..both of us don't agree with everything about our candidate, but I think a vote for whatever guy is giving him our trust, prayers and faith and hope that he will lead us the way we want to. The way we want the next generation to live. It's a vote to elect and to support...Obama's no threat & people need to get over that, he just scares me...I'm still weirded out by our system because Hillary lost, even with more votes.. she scared me less..OH well - I like reading your stuff Jason! keep it coming,,,,sincerely, an Independent registered friend Pris

Kim said...

Jason, I respect your opinion and I appreciate you sharing your choice for president, not everyone is as bold. However, I find a slight disconnect with your metaphor for Obama's ties to a radical preacher. You chose to attend a university mainly for your education and also because of your faith. I could be wrong, but I think you'd agree with me that your decision for a church was much more of a faith based decision with high regard to how your beliefs align with the beliefs of the pastor, elders, and other members. Sure every once in a while you leave feeling unfulfilled after a message that failed to strike a cord, however if this happens more often then not, chances are you'll be looking for a new church soon. A college is a lot more difficult to just decide to leave and is generally only a decision you've committed to for 4 years, give or take. I personally find it really hard to believe that Obama attended that church for 20 years with none of the attitudes, prejudices, or radical ideas becoming his own, in whatever form or severity that looks like. There is always the possibility that his church attendance was for noting more than a seat warmer, but I don’t think you can discount the relationship he has with certain people just because it may be an unfair association. That, for better or worse, is politics; as it well should be in order for the American people to make an educated decision.

So, as you probably guessed, I voted for McCain, unfortunately another election where my decision comes down to who I believe to be the lesser of two evils rather then the best man for the job. Honestly, going into the process I tried to be as open minded as I could for being a Republican raised by Republicans, but the more I listened to Obama the more I heard him promise the world to people (better healthcare, fighting poverty, better education, lower taxes, etc.) and still claim he wasn’t going to raise taxes for the majority of the population, the more I viewed him as either someone completely out of touch with reality or a downright liar who isn’t interested in telling the truth but rather what he thinks you want to hear.

Now that the election is over, and democrats have secured a hold on pretty much the entire government I have to admit I’m a little concerned for the morals, values, and safety of this country. We’ve elected a man who thinks it’s okay to murder babies, wants to pull troops out of Iraq in 18 months when those in combat say it’ll take at least twice as long to finish the job, and who wants to tax hardworking people and small businesses so we can spread the wealth around to people who haven’t earned it. I won’t even get into Biden’s talk about Obama being tested by our enimies.
Right now I am so thankful God is bigger then politics because otherwise I’d be downright frightened for what the next 4 years holds for this country.
Kim

LPeterson said...

wow jason. That was truly disappointing to read. Not based on your candidates choice but on your other comparisons. I thought you were way off the board.

Jack Dogg's Blog said...

Hey LPeterson? Why is that?

Unknown said...

Jason, as a fellow non-yankee fan, I would expect better from you. In all seriousness, what you wrote about Jerry Falwell is not true. I went to his school for 4 years and he taught us to love them, yes hate the sin (as the Bible and God does),k but the love the sinner (which would include all of us). As far as McCain's age, I know Moses wasn't disqualified from leading the people because of his age. God certainly used him too! So when any of hit 80, we can be encouraged we can still be used by God. ;)

On a lighter note - kudos to your Red Sox for getting as far as they did. I as a Met fan am in hiding.