Way To Take A Stand There, Dude

I'm not voting for John McCain.

That doesn't mean I'm completely convinced Barack Obama is the best man for the job. I won't go into all the reasons why, but I do have a list of pros and cons. Suffice it to say, I don't think there's a politician out there that could inspire in me a deep and abiding faith. As always, for me, it comes down to the lesser of two evils.

Obama has some strong qualities. I wouldn't hate him in the White House. And really, that's about as good as it gets for me. I have an inherent dislike of politicians and their ilk. I have an extreme aversion to politics in general.

It's all a bunch of gladhanders doing their best to bullshit whomever they can into endorsing and then voting for them.

Embittered, much?

Maybe not so much embittered as...jaded. I was alive when Nixon was nearly impeached, and the resulting backlash imprinted a healthy suspicion upon my psyche, I suppose. I remember the adults talking. I remember the shock and the outrage. I remember the profound sense of betrayal. I think it was the end of a more innocent age.

I was very young, but I remember realizing, from the snippets of conversation that I overheard, that what happened was a very, very bad thing.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES committed a crime. He lied. I could think of nothing worse. Because, if THE PRESIDENT can lie, then who in all the world can you possibly trust??

It was then that my sense of mistrust in regard to politicians was spawned, I think. Years later I would learn, of course, that Watergate was an even bigger political clusterfuck than I could have ever imagined and that the seeds of corruption were sown very deeply, which only solidified my distaste for the entire enterprise.

Anyway...as I said, it's come down to the lesser of two evils for me and Barack Obama falls firmly into that slot.

I've known for a while that he would be my choice, and my list of complaints against McCain has been slowly growing.

Today, it's the fact that the man is distressingly wishy-washy.

"McCain opposes gay marriage but also a constitutional amendment against it and has expressed limited support for the rights accorded couples in same-sex civil unions. Apart from opposing a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, he is against most abortion rights and says he would favor overturning the Supreme Court decision affirming those rights."

Wow. Now that's a man who is committed to his beliefs.

Yech.

Those are two of my deal breakers, and I think the same can be said for a great many Americans. So instead of taking a real stand and risk alienating a sizeable percentage of his constituency, he has chosen to flirt with liberalism while married to conservative idealism.

I suppose some people appreciate his seeming willingness to see both sides of the respective issues and his ostensible sensitivity to the very strong emotions that they elicit.

But me? I'd have a hell of a lot more respect for the man if he would just pick a philsophy and stick with it. I know the same criticism has been made of Senator Obama as well. So just where does the distinction lie between diplomacy and lip service?

I don't know.

What I know is...my position does not waver. And I'd like a candidate who can say the same.