Why I'm NOT Voting for Barack Obama

I don't normally consider myself a political person. In most political races I am luke-warm on the issues at best, and rarely if ever take the time to actually read up on the candidates. Two days before I go vote, I might dig around and do a little bit of research to make sure there's nothing on my chosen candidate that I would consider a "deal breaker" per se, and if I don't find that information in my cursory search, then I proceed with my vote as usual. Inevitably, I get to the polling location only to discover that there was something on the ballot that I didn't even know was an issue to begin with and that winds up being a "close your eyes and pick" vote because I am completely uninformed.

But I digress...

This year's Presidential campaign, however, is different. I don't know why I suddenly, I don't know, care, but Presidential fever has hit the nation. Considering the fact that the Presidential campaigns started gearing up almost two years ago, I really thought that everyone would be completely over the whole thing by now. Instead, the campaigns seem to be getting more and more heated as time goes by, and I see people becoming involved in politics who never cared enough about it before to do so--like me.

So, I feel strangely compelled to give my reasons for choosing NOT to vote for Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election. That's right, you read it, folks, I am a McPalin supporter. I even have a freakin' McCain/Palin sign on my front lawn as we speak--an act that I would have never imagined myself doing a scant 2 months ago. Yet there it sits, joined by its two friends belonging to houses down the street from us.

I have watched the political debates and I find myself growing frustrated with the ridiculous questions. If I have to hear about either McCain's or Obama's foreign policy experience/ideas I think I might scream. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THEIR STANCES ON FOREIGN POLICY! And I don't think that many Americans do. When I sit with my fellow teachers at lunch discussing the Presidential candidates, I promise that we have never ONCE mentioned foreign policy. Here are the topics I hear teachers expressing at the lunch table: health care, taxes, education (of course), and the military.

In my mind, the nation's health care system and taxes are inextricably linked. Either way you cut it, any proposed change to the health care system is going to affect our taxes--like it or not. While I can't say that I'm a huge supporter of McCain's idea which allows the basic principles of capitalism to influence healthcare, I can definitely say that I am 100% opposed to the concept of socialized health care that Barack Obama is suggesting. On his website, he (well, his writers) indicates that he wants to improve healthcare without government interference and then goes on to list 11 reforms that will all require government intervention. Last time I checked, anytime the government got involved in anything they screwed it up--and, typically, the more involved they get the more screwed up it becomes. Likewise, I refuse to believe that he thinks he's going to implement reforms without raising taxes. Rule about politics #1: Never believe a politician when they say they're not going to raise taxes. This applies to all politicians. Secondly, in case you missed this part: All these reforms aren't going to be rolled out all at once. They're going to be phased in. Like a dirty house, it only gets messier before it gets cleaner. This comes with at least one caveat: We could get half way through these grand reforms when, suddenly, President Obama and Vice-President Biden figure out that there isn't enough money to complete the reforms in a timely fashion. Or, even worse, they don't manage to complete their reforms before they leave office and the whole thing is left in a state of flux.

As I said before, I don't whole-heartedly support McCain's health care reform ideas, either. But I like them better. My sister-in-law pointed out the other day that people, generally, don't take the time to manage their own insurance efficiently until something happens forcing them to deal with it. Is it reasonable, she asked, to think that people from Tennessee are going to go looking for better insurance premiums in, say, Georgia? I don't know, but I know that I like having that option. If I choose not to go looking for other insurance, I have no one to blame but myself. I have no problems with competition and that's the basic premise behind McCain's health care initiatives. Allowing the basic principles of capitalism to apply to insurance. Competition is a great thing. Insurance companies who cannot remain competitive will fail because no one will want to use them. Insurance companies who offer a good product at a reasonable price will survive. Maybe United HealthCare will go away :-)

Education. I wish I could say that any one candidate has a good plan for education, but the reality is that neither is going to do anything worthwhile about No Child Left Behind which is almost the only thing I care about when it comes to education. All of their statements about education on their websites are simply asinine and serve only to prove that neither Senator has stepped foot in a classroom for more than 5 minutes since leaving college. Neither of them have a clue as to the unlying problems surrounding the education crisis in this country which means that all of their suggestions are bandaids at best. Thus, I can't make education a huge deciding factor in my case. However, don't think that just because the National Education Association is supporting Obama that his education plan is better than McCain's. Let me clue you educational outsiders in on something: the NEA is only in business for the NEA. They're not pro-student and half the time they're not even pro-teacher. They are pro-NEA. The only reason teachers really join the NEA anymore is for the liability insurance which no teacher should be caught dead without. But every year I see more and more of my fellow teachers failing to renew their NEA membership and turning elsewhere for liability insurance. If teachers won't support the NEA anymore, why should anyone else?

The final topic we discuss on a somewhat frequent basis is the military. I am truly still torn on this topic, partially because I have friends and co-workers who are and have been in the military. I want the troops to come home as much as the next person. I don't feel strongly in either direction on this, but I can't say that I don't care what the out-come is because I do. So, because I have been unable to ferret out my own feelings on this topic, I think it best to leave it for now and perhaps address it at a later time.

So, it sounds pretty sad that at the end of all this the only thing I can definitely say is that I definitely agree with McCain on health care. But there's more to my support than that. I think, as voters, we should realize that we are not really voting for the candidate so much as what they stand for. Obama wants to stand for change and progress. McCain, however, wants to embody honor and integrity.

I see the people that these candidates are trying to connect with, and I realize that, try as he might, Obama is not doing a very good job of connecting with the middle class, and I think part of that is because he doesn't really know who the middle class is. All of his reforms and policies aren't really designed to help me so much as they are designed to help those who are much lower on the socioeconomic scale than me. Don't get me wrong, I am all for helping people, but not when it's government mandated. And I am all for progress and change, but not when it comes on the backs of people who all ready are overworked and underpaid which is most of the middle class.

As a refresher, I looked up the definition of "integrity" and found this: adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. Synonyms: rectitude, probity, virtue. See Honor. I don't typically associate the words "honesty" and "politics" in the same sentence--in fact, I sometimes wonder if the two terms aren't mutually exclusive. But, if I had to pick the one who I feel has more integrity, I have to say McCain has it hands down. I can't ignore the fact that Obama associates with some people who are less than savory and I am amazed at how quickly he seeks to distance himself from those people when their associations are less than convenient. I wish I could say it was a non-issue, but you and I both know that you are who you associate with. I see it with my students every day. You don't have to like it, but it's a fact: Humans gravitate towards individuals who are like themselves because they are most comfortable with them. You cannot honestly believe that Obama sat in Jeremiah Wright's church for 20+ years and didn't absorb at least a little bit of what the man was saying. And if he thought it was wrong, then he had a responsibility to disengage himself from the group WAAAAAY before he actually did. In addition to that, if he won't stand up to Jeremiah Wright and say, "You've crossed the line. My family and I are leaving" then he sure as hell won't stand up to a terrorist. That's just a little spineless in my opinion. And if he joined the church just for a little "street cred" so to speak, then he joined for the wrong reasons which only leaves me questioning his faith. I don't care if the man is Muslim or Christian or Jewish, but I wish he'd pick one and stick with it for awhile. If you can't be honest with me about a little thing like your faith, then what else are you not being honest with me about? If I question your honesty then I have to question your integrity and integrity is important to me.

Anyway, this post has gone on much too long. I could go on about the energy crisis, abortion, etc., but do you really want to read anymore? If so, I'll probably post again later about other issues so you can come back for more then :-)