On Obama: The Good and the Bad

I’ve been largely silent on politics for a couple of years now. Both sides are corrupt and partisanship is retarded. However, there needs to be some clarity about Obama. He’s not a liberal savior and he’s not a socialist Muslim (an oxymoron if I ever heard one). He’s a politician.

I remained pretty detached during the election. I didn’t join the whole “Obama will save us all” crowd. I was very much in the wait and see category. I’ve been around just long enough to realize that there is no such thing as an honest Presidential candidate. They will say whatever will get them elected.

Most of the nation was sick to death of the Bush administration, myself included. Of course we could do better. My main problem with McCain was that, despite having been a POW, he has always voted on the side of denying benefits to veterans, and was only begrudgingly supportive (after a long stretch of opposition) of continuing the hunt for remaining POW’s in Vietnam. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for veterans. They are the ones most fucked over and lied to by the government and their lives are used as mere toilet paper for the asses of politicians. They deserve every benefit they can get. Anyone who would turn their back on them, especially after having been a POW themselves must have no conscience.

I heard Obama say a lot of nice-sounding things, but I had a feeling in my gut that it was mostly for show. You don’t get to be that far up in politics without selling your soul in various ways, and greasing palms all the way up the ladder. Anyone without an inherent distrust in politicians is naive at best.

So, what do I think of Obama now? Well, it’s very mixed.

The Good:
I very much like his support of stem-cell research and science in general. We need far less religious ideology and far more beneficial research. I also like that he addressed people of all faiths and no faith as equal citizens. He is the first politician I’ve ever heard to not be against Atheists, and recognize us as valid and equal.

He froze the salaries of White House employees that make $100,000/year or more. If you’re making that much, you have every comfort you could ever need. If people making that much are bitching, they need a reality check, because the people making 1/4 of that are still way better off than most of the world. Don’t be greedy assholes.

He removed restrictions on abortion funding. Now, I think that abortions should never happen, but they will. They are a fact that must be dealt with reasonably. We don’t have to like it, but if someone gets raped, or even uses precautions but the condom breaks, or is financially or otherwise unfit to be a parent, then they should be able to have the safe, legal means to deal with it. Either that, or every pro-lifer should adopt all these babies that would otherwise be unnecessarily born. You want ‘em, you take ‘em. Of course, people should be responsible about sex, too, but that goes without saying.

He set aside $3 billion for renewable energy research. Oil is a finite resource, and our dependence on it is not only a weakness, but it gets us into global political trouble. We need alternatives. End of story.

The Bad:
He is maintaining Bush’s warrant-less wiretapping. He is actively seeking to quash lawsuits regarding it. No change here.

He opposed a “truth coalition” which would have investigated torture allegations. Furthermore, he continues to uphold legislation which denies habeas corpus rights to military detainees. Without that process, we have become our enemy.

He is protecting Bush’s documents and secrets.

Despite promises regarding the environment, he just opened up the sale of timber in the Tongas wilderness area in Alaska. It’s a temperate rainforest which houses several endangered species as well as native Alaskan tribes. You’d think every drum-banging, hemp-weaving hippie in the world would be up in arms over this.

He does not support equality in marriage for gay citizens. I figure, if you really want to put yourself through being married, go right ahead. I don’t see any non-religious argument against this, and don’t see how it is anyone’s business. I don’t see the harm in letting any consenting adults marry each other. Think of it this way: the marriage party organizers and divorce lawyers will get twice the business, thereby boosting the economy.

He opposes legalization of marijuana. You don’t have to smoke it to understand the vast industrial and medicinal benefits, as well as the extreme problems caused by the drug war, which has cost us far more than this little plant ever could. Anyone against it either hasn’t done their research, or they are politically pandering to some kind of twisted “moral” base. The boost in the economy from taxing and regulating it like alcohol would be tremendous. Just be sensible. Don’t let people do it on the job or with kids. Duh.

Helen Thomas, who was notorious for her unflinching questioning of Bush, has called Obama’s administration even more secretive than Bush’s. She called it “shocking” and says it’s the most secretive administration she’s ever seen.

The ridiculous:

The worst problem with Obama isn’t even Obama himself. It’s the media and the people. Now, I’m not too happy about him, but the things I’ve heard said about him fall into the category of straight-up insanity. Folks, listen up: forget what politicians say. Forget about their race, or religion, or what the media tells you. Focus on what they DO.

To hear the far right tell it, he’s going to hand over the country to the Taliban, make Islam the religion of the nation, and create a Socialist nightmare. He’s going to take away all our guns, make us pray to Allah, and take every cent we have. If you spend any time watching Fox, especially the batshit insane Glenn Beck, you’d think we should all join a militia (which was apparently a bad thing during Bush’s reign) or kill ourselves.

The conservative forums are spewing the most racist, hateful, insane gibberish I’ve ever seen…even worse than 4Chan.

First off, we can’t be both an Islamic and a Socialist nation. Think about it. Islamic nations are run by the extremely brutal and strict hand of Muslim clerics who will cut off your head if you so much as shake hands with a woman. They’ll cut her head off too. They aren’t into nationalized medicine; they think you should pray to Allah to heal any ailment. They are a theocracy. That’s not anything like Socialism, which tends to be very secular.

Obama is not Muslim. He’s not a friend to them either. In fact, the Taliban is openly distrustful of him.

He’s put gun control on the back burner and isn’t even thinking about it right now. Plus, he is very concerned with his PR and how the people perceive him, unlike Bush’s “I don’t give half a shit what people think of me, I’ll do what I want” attitude. With all the backlash that would ensue, he wouldn’t dream of it.

The left, on the other hand, are sticking their heads in the ground and praising him as a messiah.

Well, except for PETA. PETA has freaked out because he killed a fly that kept buzzing around him during an interview. Seriously, PETA? A fucking fly? Surely there are more important issues.

There’s a lot I disagree with Obama on and some stuff I agree with. However, the biggest problem of this administration isn’t this administration. It’s the stupidity and gullibility of the American people, as usual. There are nuts on both sides of the aisle which make me embarrassed to admit I’m an American. I love this country, and I find it unfortunate that we so willingly reinforce international stereotypes about us. We prove ourselves again and again to be ignorant, self-absorbed douchebags who care more about whose “side” is winning rather than actually resolving very important issues. People tell us what we want to hear and we lap it up without looking into any of it.

Wake up, folks. Get a passport and see what the world is really like. Turn off the news and spend time with those you love. Most importantly, don’t buy a thing that issues from the mouths of pundits and politicians. They want your money, your attention and your votes. Starve them. Feed yourself and your mind.

As long as we continue to squabble about race, religion, sexual preference, political leanings, etc, then we lose while those at the top, both left and right, are laughing all the way to the bank. So, focus on what matters: your dreams, your families, and your friends.

Obama will neither save nor destroy us. Only we can do that.