I wanted to vote for Barak Obama. Here’s why. Of the two major party candidates he is on the surface different and has a lot going for him. He is articulate unlike our current president. He seems to be outside the status quo of the establishment in DC. His mixed ethnicity is a page right out of the story book of American diversity and opportunity. The idea of voting for a new kind of politician really does appeal to me. I liked the purple states comment the Obama made back in the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I had hoped that Obama was a new type of Democrat who would work to build bridges between cultural conservatives and cultural liberals. Sadly I had hoped that same thing eight years ago when I back George Bush who was suppose to be a new kind of Republican. He after all ran as a “Compassionate Conservative.” The Republican party as a whole under GWB really didn’t impress me much. I was looking for something new and hopefully more inline with my values. Sadly what I see in Obama is what appears to be nothing more than a well rehearsed empty rhetoric that is designed to do nothing more than get him elected. I think he will be the Democrats version of GWB. All flash and no substance of being a bridge builder. I am far more afraid than just being a democratic version of Bush that he is a far left progressive that wants to change America towards a progressive agenda.
There is something so appealing about electing a black president that does embody a large part of the American dream. I grew up in the South and I have seen racism in my own family and also in the culture around me. It disgust me to see that it still exists in the 21st century. Obama is a articulate and well spoken man. He first seemed to be someone that could lead well. That would definitely help heal some of the wounds that run deep between the races, parties, and ever changing social landscape of America.
Yet in the end I could not vote for the man. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “I have a dream of a day when people will not be judged by the color of the skin but by the character of their heart.” I try my best to each day follow that God inspired advice. I try to discern to the best of my limited ability what a person’s true character is. With that in mind there are two major reasons I could not vote for Barak Obama based solely on his moral character.
First I don’t like his policy on human life. Simply put it is callous. The most important issue to me by far is the sanctity of human life. Obama is radically pro-choice (that choice by the way always is murder). His words on the subject are callous. Referring to his daughters in a hypothetical situation of being found pregnant he said: “I wouldn’t want my daughter punished with a kid.” That is beyond callous. As a Christian there is no way that I can vote for a guy who thinks children how ever they are conceived could ever be considered a punishment. I have a daughter and if she one day had a child outside of wedlock I wouldn’t consider her having the child as a “punishment.”
Second, the day before the general election I still have no idea who Barak Obama really is. What are his religious views? I’ve heard him say that he is a Christian but what does he mean by that? It seems from the church he was a member of for 20 years that he believes in black liberation theology which is nothing more than afrocentric quasi-religious Marxism. Why wasn’t that explained in the mainstream media. Are the guys at
What is his understanding of fairness? I don’t understand how 40% of the 95% of people he is promising a tax refund can even qualify if they don’t pay property taxes. Those who don’t pay property taxes should not get a tax cut. There is nothing to cut. I don’t like it when politician or anyone plays the semantic game. It simply is welfare under the auspices of “fairness”. How is that fair? How does his religious views effect this?
What about the concept of equal sacrifice? I think the fair tax is far more biblical than wealth redistribution. By the way the fact that Rick Warren had Obama for a hour answering questions about his faith and policy and never asked these questions is seriously disturbing to me. Shame on you Rick for not helping clarify these issue for your fellow Christians like me who really wanted to know where this man stands apart from well crafted political rhetoric on the stump.
I think Barak Obama may win. Yet he will do so because the media as a whole dropped the ball and didn’t really seek to show who this man is. To be honest I don’t think any of us really know. He could be a really great guy or he could be the worst candidate to ever become president. The mainstream media simply didn’t challenge the man or his history. The media was and still is in love with the idea of a charismatic black man that could atone for all the sins that America has done to black people in America. By the way a nonwhite guy named Jesus did that about 2000 years ago on the cross. He was ethnically from one of the most oppressed people groups in world history.
I really want to know more about Obama’s relationship with the people in his life. What about Resco, Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and what about leftist groups like Acorn? Why hasn’t the media helped clear this up? Where has he traveled to, how have those experiences shaped him, and what is his view of how to create a fair and just society.
Regardless of who wins I will be praying for them. If it is Barak Obama I hope some of his positions change and that the change he brings to America curries the favor and blessings of God. If it is McCain I will pray for the same thing. It is about all I can do for now.