Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama

This a response to my friend Right Winger. Instead of me giving you my Lib/Dem reasons I give you one of your own. Not that it will change any minds.

The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama



10. A body blow to racial identity politics. An end to the era of Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton in black America.



9. Less debt. Yes, Obama will raise taxes on those earning over a quarter of a million. And he will spend on healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan and the environment. But so will McCain. He plans more spending on health, the environment and won't touch defense of entitlements. And his refusal to touch taxes means an extra $4 trillion in debt over the massive increase presided over by Bush. And the CBO estimates that McCain's plans will add more to the debt over four years than Obama's. Fiscal conservatives have a clear choice.



8. A return to realism and prudence in foreign policy. Obama has consistently cited the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush as his inspiration. McCain's knee-jerk reaction to the Georgian conflict, his commitment to stay in Iraq indefinitely, and his brinksmanship over Iran's nuclear ambitions make him a far riskier choice for conservatives. The choice between Obama and McCain is like the choice between George H.W. Bush's first term and George W.'s.




7. An ability to understand the difference between listening to generals and delegating foreign policy to them.



6. Temperament. Obama has the coolest, calmest demeanor of any president since Eisenhower. Conservatism values that kind of constancy, especially compared with the hot-headed, irrational impulsiveness of McCain.



5. Faith. Obama's fusion of Christianity and reason, his non-fundamentalist faith, is a critical bridge between the new atheism and the new Christianism.



4. A truce in the culture war. Obama takes us past the debilitating boomer warfare that has raged since the 1960s. Nothing has distorted our politics so gravely; nothing has made a rational politics more elusive.



3. Two words: President Palin.



2. Conservative reform. Until conservatism can get a distance from the big-spending, privacy-busting, debt-ridden, crony-laden, fundamentalist, intolerant, incompetent and arrogant faux conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years, it will never regain a coherent message to actually govern this country again. The survival of conservatism requires a temporary eclipse of today's Republicanism. Losing would be the best thing to happen to conservatism since 1964. Back then, conservatives lost in a landslide for the right reasons. Now, Republicans are losing in a landslide for the wrong reasons.



1. The War Against Islamist terror. The strategy deployed by Bush and Cheney has failed. It has failed to destroy al Qaeda, except in a country, Iraq, where their presence was minimal before the US invasion. It has failed to bring any of the terrorists to justice, instead creating the excrescence of Gitmo, torture, secret sites, and the collapse of America's reputation abroad. It has empowered Iran, allowed al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan, made the next vast generation of Muslims loathe America, and imperiled our alliances. We need smarter leadership of the war: balancing force with diplomacy, hard power with better p.r., deploying strategy rather than mere tactics, and self-confidence rather than a bunker mentality.



Those conservatives who remain convinced, as I do, that Islamist terror remains the greatest threat to the West cannot risk a perpetuation of the failed Manichean worldview of the past eight years, and cannot risk the possibility of McCain making rash decisions in the middle of a potentially catastrophic global conflict. If you are serious about the war on terror and believe it is a war we have to win, the only serious candidate is Barack Obama.

7 comments:

Right Winger said...

Okay, fair enough. I asked and you gave.
Thanks for the post. There are a few things I'd like to rebut on there but as you said, I don't think anyone's minds will be changed at this point. But let's hope no matter what the outcome is, tomorrow morning we will all accept it and move on with the dialog we've all opened up with each other lately.
I would love to see your next poll asking the question of "what was your adult beverage of choice while watching the election results?"
:-)

Gort said...

LOL. After the PA polls close I will put up the question. I'm drinking Yuengling Lager.

For all the scare talk on both sides I think that President Obama will have to try to govern from the middle. Whoever wins this the next President is going to spend most of his time cleaning up the mess that Bush made.

Anonymous said...

Gort and right winger,

I also have to claim that I am drinking lager like Gort.

Right Winger said...

I started with vodka and tonic. With the shape of things so far the amount of tonic is being reduced with each new glass.
Once it gets to the point of all vodka, I'll have to chase it with a Lionshead Lite.

Anonymous said...

Right Winger,

Watch the vodka. After drinking too much a little Russian guy with a hammer crawls out of the bottle and smacks you in the head with it. That's what causes the hangover.

prsent said...

That's why I drink Polish vodka. No Russian guy with a hammer hitting you over the head. Belvedere and Chopin are my choice drinks.

Anonymous said...

GO FUCK YOURSELF GORT