Why I support Barack Obama

Let me first say that I don’t put my hope in Obama or our political system. My hope is in God in all things, well at least I try to put my home in God in all things. I just think Obama offers the best hope in a broken system.

Let me then tell you some of my history. My dad was and always will be a politician at heart. He was a State Representative in Ohio for 3 term and held various other local offices while I was growing up in their household. He still helps candidates he believes in get elected to local offices through ingenious grassroots campaigning. My dad knows what he is doing on the local office and I mean that. If you ever want to get elected at the local level you need to give him a call.

Because I was raised in that environment I not only have a deep interest in politics, but also a deep hatred of it. I think my dad was the best politician I ever met and I wouldn’t trade the experiences I had because of it for the world. But I also saw the evil side of it up close. I saw how negative campaigning not only hurts the candidate, but also hurts their kids. Calling a candidate “Tax Man Peterson” becomes really personal to the candidates fifth grade son. Watching your dad lose party support and money, in other words getting abandoned by them, because he votes his conscience on one vote makes one to be very cynical about the whole process. Politics is dirtier than dirt and I saw it first hand.

So why do I like Obama? He seems to be above so much about what I hate. Yes, he is critical of his opponents at times, but more often than naught he talks about what he is for and not what he is against. He is trying hard to speak to all people, not just Democrats. I voted Republican in the last two elections (I’m sorry) so you know some of the hot button issues I believe in. But to be honest he probably doesn’t even agree with me exactly on those issue, but I think he hears me (or people like me) on those issues and will somehow have the ability to bring us together to figure stuff out.

What I hated about the Bill Clinton years (and this is not a slam on Hillary) is that there was always so much divisiveness between the parties when he was president. And then these last eight years with W there has been nothing but divisiveness between the parties. All they do is fight with each other because they represent their power bases on the far extremes and so they never work together and refuse to compromise or even really discuss the issues. They demonize the people on the other side of the aisle and use the power of fear to get things done.

Obama, true enough, sees things more from the left and if you believe some, maybe even the far left. But I don’t care. Heck I wouldn’t care if he saw things from the far right. When I hear him speak and act and by looking at his record he really seems as he wants to listen to all people and work for all people. The last eight years W’s strategy, as lead by Rove, was to play to his power base – the Christian Evangelicals. Even thought that may fit me, that’s not what this country needed. We need someone to play to the entire country as much as possible. Now I know most of you are thinking I’m dreaming when I say this stuff and maybe I am. But I honestly think he has the desire to do this and even a good chance at getting it done.

Obama really seems to be post partisan and post racial. I think if he gets the nomination he’ll win the general in a landslide and be able to have the mandate to actually bring people together across party lines. He is a black man, which I think we would be good for America, but he doesn’t seem to want to be a president just for blacks, but for all of us. That’s because he operates out of a spirit of hope and not guilt.

And of course in all of this I do realize he could be full of hot air, but in all honesty this is the first presidential candidate I have ever been excited about. I’m actually even considering a small, very small, token amount to his campaign. And that’s with having sworn long ago never to give money to a politician.

So am I saying issues don’t matter? No, cause I seem to agree with him more than I disagree with him and I agree with him more than I agree with anyone else. But you know sometimes your style of leadership is truly an issue. From a pastoral point of view you can preach priesthood of all believers all you want but if your church only sees you doing priestly stuff then what are you really communicating? The way you lead truly tells what you believe in your gut.

Miscellaneous things I like about him:
-He turned down a Supreme Court Clerkship (very prestigious and very hard to get) out of law school so they he could go work for the poor in Chicago.
-Only recently did him and his wife get out from under student loans. This guy’s really got to understand my situation!
-I love listening to him speak.
-Martin Luther King’s Dream is starting to be realized in him: He’s not being judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.
-I think He could represent to the world the America I believe we are or at least could be.

And in all things as we get to know more about him I hope I will keep my mind open to change if necessary. But I really like this guy. I really hope he becomes president. He could be a bust, I realize that, but sometimes you see somebody and really believe he could be a different kind of leader and you can’t allow yourself to be cynical forever.

Well those are my rambling reasons why I’m supporting (at least for now) Barack Obama for President of the United State of America. I hope you all do the same, but if not we can all still be friends and work together to make the world we find ourselves in a little bit better.