Thoughts about Obama

I was sent this chart in an email from my grandpa, and it is really interesting to me that a chart meant to make me think twice about support for Obama, only served to solidify my vote. Many of the issues that Obama is against/ or for, are things of major importance to me! For example:

MCCAIN VS. OBAMA


Comparsion Talking Points


Favors new drilling offshore US


Yes -McCain
No-Obama : Obama's plan is to decrease our dependence on oil, and find a renewable source of energy, and for that reason I think it is important not to spend billions of dollars finding oil on our homeland, but find a renewable substitute.



Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it: This question is based on opinion anyway, so I am not going to give it a moment of further thought...
Yes - McCain
No - Obama



Served in the US Armed Forces: I know that military service is important to some people, but I am not one of them. I think that McCain's choice to enter the military is no more valid or important that Obama's choice to become a civil rights attorney
Yes - McCain
No - Obama



Amount of time served in the US Senate
22 YEARS - McCain
3 - 1/2 YEARS - Obama



Will institute a socialized national health care plan
No - McCain
Yes - Obama :Socialized health care is one of the most important things to me in this current election. We are the ONLY industrialized nation that doesn't have universal health coverage, and I think it is PATHETIC.



Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy
No - McCain
Yes - Obama: I am a firm believer in a woman's right to choose what happens to her own body. I also think that the government needs to but out of the private decisions that women make for their own lives. Which is not to say that I think that abortion is right.



Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately
No - McCain
Yes - Obama: THANK GOD! Support our troops, Bring them HOME!!



Supports gun ownership rights
Yes - McCain
No - Obama: This is categorically untrue, Obama supports licensed gun ownership, and more strict controls on who obtains guns. I think that this is a smart approach, especially in the light of all the current gun crime in out cities.



Supports homosexual marriage
No - McCain
Yes - Obama: I think that we should support love and family, even if it takes a form that is not "ordinary", I think that banning gay marriage is just another way for America to deny a group civil rights.



Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase:


No - McCain
Yes - Obama: The tax increase will be for the rich, and businesses who outsource to other countries. Both groups are currently proportionally under taxed. (In my opinion)



Voted against making English the official language
No - McCain
Yes - Obama



Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals
No - McCain
Yes - Obama: I also support Obama in this category. The US has been built on the backs of slave and immigrant labor, and for that reason I think that they should be able to share in the benefits of the help that they give this country. I can't even fathom what would happen if undocumented workers were forced out of the country, good-bye agriculture, textiles, and the entire restaurant industry.





I have to admit that I am about as liberal politically as a person can be, and for that I won't apologize. But I also respect that many people in my family have vastly different opinions about how the country's future should look, and I will always value and respect the differences in opinion! And here is a little more information in response to several emails that I have received.

Obama's plane does have an American flag on both sides.....

SMEAR EMAIL
From Dreams From My Father: 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'
FACT
Nothing close to this quote appears in Dreams from My Father

SMEAR EMAIL
'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
FACT
FULL QUOTE From Dreams From My Father:
"He offered to start me off at ten thousand dollars the first year, with a two-thousand-dollar travel allowance to buy a car; the salary would go up if things worked out. After he was gone, I took the long way home, along the East River promenade, and tried to figure out what to make of the man. He was smart, I decided. He seemed committed to his work. Still, there was something about him that made me wary. A little too sure of himself, maybe. And white--he'd said himself that that was a problem." [Page 142]

SMEAR EMAIL
'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'
FACT
FULL QUOTE From Dreams From My Father:
"All my life, I had carried a single image of my father, one that I had sometimes rebelled against but had never questioned, one that I had later tried to take as my own. The brilliant scholar, the generous friend, the upstanding leader--my father had been all those things. All those things and more, because except for that one brief visit in Hawaii, he had never been present to foil the image, because I hadn't seen what perhaps most men see at some point in their lives: their father's body shrinking, their father's best hopes dashed, their father's face lined with grief and regret.
"Yes, I'd seen weakness in other men--Gramps and his disappointments, Lolo and his compromise. But these men had become object lessons for me, men I might love but never emulate, white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela. And if later I saw that the black men I knew--Frank or Ray or Will or Rafiq--fell short of such lofty standards; if I had learned to respect these men for the struggles they went through, recognizing them as my own--my father's voice had nevertheless remained untainted, inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval. You do not work hard enough, Barry. You must help in your people's struggle. Wake up, black man!
"Now, as I sat in the glow of a single light bulb, rocking slightly on a hard-backed chair, that image had suddenly vanished. Replaced by...what? A bitter drunk? An abusive husband? A defeated, lonely bureaucrat? To think that all my life I had been wrestling with nothing more than a ghost!" [Page 220]

SMEAR EMAIL
'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'
FACT
FULL QUOTE From Audacity of Hope:
"Whenever I appear before immigrant audiences, I can count on some good-natured ribbing from my staff after my speech; according to them, my remarks always follow a three-part structure: "I am your friend," "[Fill in the home country] has been a cradle of civilization," and "You embody the American dream." They're right, my message is simple, for what I've come to understand is that my mere presence before these newly minted Americans serves notice that they matter, that they are voters critical to my success and full-fledged citizens deserving of respect.
"Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." [Page 260-261]

Barack Obama is a bi-racial man, and I think that we should stop paying attention to only the Black part of his heritage, and the difference, but we should also heed the similarities. He is my son, and my daughter. And is as WHITE as he is BLACK.