I have a feeling that these so called “Obamacans” are liberals in disguise. I also believe that a lot of those people writing LTE’s and calling in to talk shows claiming to be Hillary supporters for McCain are Conservatives in disguise.

Ok, I guess it’s time to come out of the closet and admit that I’m supporting Obama. Yes, I am still a Republican, and yes, I am still a conservative, and no, it’s not something that decided to do on a whim because I was wowed by rhetorical skill. It’s most definitely a decision that I did not make lightly.

I’m supporting him knowing full well that he’s a liberal and that there are a lot of policy areas where I disagree. I was fully intending to support and work for McCain and voted for him in the primary; I even defended McCain when people claimed that he wasn’t a real conservative. If it was any other time, I would be voting for McCain, but this isn’t just any other time and when push comes to shove, I believe that we’re at an important point in this nation’s history and this election is about more than just liberal vs. conservative. It’s about whether or not we’re the kind of country that believes that it’s OK to torture prisoners, whether we’re the kind of country who believes that it’s OK to find loopholes to hold our prisoners outside of the purview of either the Constitution or the Geneva Convention, whether we’re the kind of country that believes that we can tap phones and read emails without a warrant, whether we’re the kind of country that believes we can hold prisoners indefinitely without charges suspending habeas corpus, and I could go on but that’s the quick rundown. I voted for McCain in the primary because I thought he agreed with the positions that I hold on those issues. Five months ago, his policy positions on those issues were ones that I could agree with. Over the last 5 months, he’s changed his position, and the day he voted against the torture bill was the day he lost my vote.

I’ve had problems with Dubya’s policies in pursuing the war on terror for a long time. I’ve had serious reservations over the Patriot Act from the beginning, and have been concerned for a long time that it looked like we were heading in the direction of taking away Constitutional rights in the name of security, but despite the reservations that I’ve had, I’ve defended the Bush Administration and their actions. John McCain has now changed his positions so that he’s in agreement with Bush Administration policy in those areas where I am most opposed to that policy. Over the last few years, it’s been harder and harder for me to defend what the administration has done, and I can’t defend it anymore. I’m at the point now where I cannot support that which I cannot defend, and that means that I cannot, in good conscience, support McCain.

In the end, I agree with Obama on those issues that I believe are most important THIS ELECTION. If I’m going to err in my vote, I’d rather err on the side of the person who supports freedom and liberty, not the person who pays lip service to the constitution while supporting policies that lay waste to the constitutional protections against tyranny. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that George W. Bush is a tyrant, not anything of the sort. What I do think is that in his attempts to protect this country from attack, he’s taken us down a dangerous path, a path that’s at odds to the Constitution, and I don’t want a president who’s going to take us further down that path.

I recognize that not everyone agrees with my views on the situation, and I’d fully expect those who disagree with me that it’s a threat would still vote McCain–it doesn’t make sense to cross party lines otherwise. But, you asked why Republicans, even conservative ones, would go for Obama, and most of the people I’ve come across who have decided to support him have done so for some mixture of the reasons that I just gave.

(There are also reasons that I happen to like Obama that have nothing to do with him being not-McCain, his positions on openness in government and his views on technology policy and copyright issues are ones that the geek side of me quite likes–I was quite impressed that he brought in Lawrence Lessig to advise him in developing his policy positions on technology. Those aren’t the sorts of things that on their own would have convinced me to cross party lines, but they did help contribute to my generally favorable opinion of Obama even when I wasn’t supporting him).

Anyway, how’s that for an essay answer?

essay: “A” for textbook persuasive essay form, and tone. “C” for logic. At best.

GWB has been very poor at explaining his actions, and nearly incompetent in carrying them out. His domestic policy initiatives are only “conservative” where that means “less fascist than the liberals.”

But to vote for Stalin because the Fabians bother you is … not the part of an intelligent and reasonable person. However well-spoken.

I think I’m going to write a whole entry in response to Kathryns misguided essay.

Kathryn, Kathryn, Kathryn, please report to re-education training. See you in class!

uhh…

Susan Eisenhower
Francis Fukuyama
David Ruder
William Donaldson
Lincoln Chaffee
Lowell Wickert
John Anderson

There are more and there will be more. OBVIOUSLY no elected official would endorse someone outside of his or her party (unless you’re crazy Zell Miller). In the list up there there are already 4 people from the Reagan administration.

The least you could do is a google search before you post something for everyone to read.

Joe, you said: “Kathryn, Kathryn, Kathryn, please report to re-education training.” That’s what the Communists in Vietnam called it, re-education training, when they sent anyone who opposed them to prison without listing the charges against them and with no benefit of a trial. I know, you were attempting a joke, but I just read “The Sacred Willow,” an autobiographical history of 4 generations of a Vietnamese family.
There were family members on both sides of the issues. It’s still fresh in my mind.

I love the notion that a list including Lincoln Chafee and Francis Fukuyama would influence conservatives. That’s like suggesting that John McCain would be a Republican standard-bearer. Er, uh, oops.

Torchbearer, I think perhaps Joe’s humor missed a bit, but it was a common trope across the Communist world, and fortunately is much less common these days. As the humor was self-deprecating, I hope you’ll take it in stride.

If you can’t, I might have to call up Hugo Chavez to borrow a goon squad.

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