I have been sick the last few days and have been watching the news channels CNN and MSNBC non-stop. Even with all that endless chatter, I have not budged one bit on my reasons why I will vote for the Democratic candidate.My reason has been the same since the primaries when I voted against Hilary Clinton. In fact since the announcement of Sarah Palin to the Republican I have been even more convinced that the only person I could in good conscience vote for is Barack Obama.
My reason has nothing to do with the who is ready to take the 3 AM call, or that he is a Democrat. My reason is very simple, who do I want to represent me to the world.
The president is the first and foremost "face of America" and we need a new face. We are a country of immigrants and yet we have had the face of blue blood aristocracy for far too long. Barack is a first generation American of an immigrant and by that he has more in common with millions of Americans that the other candidates.
When one looks at the rest of the world you see more people of color than white men of wealth and privilege. Even though Barack grew up in relative comfort of an American home, compared to the rest of the worlds population, he also didn't grow up in the isolated world of wealth as did our current president.
Do I think this man will drasticlly change American foreign policy, NO. Will he solve the problems of American relations with the Middle East, NO. Will he solve our energy issues, NO. Will he bring back the heady prosperity that Americans believe they deserve, NO, and he shouldn't, but that is another post. Will he get us out of Iraq, MAYBE, or into to Iran, DON'T KNOW.
But I don't think that he will make things worse, and he maybe able to make redeem the US in a small way with the rest of the world. I also don't believe that he would be overly reactionary and would resort to maximum diplomacy before acting. That is good enough for me. I also know that the world can not take one more minute of neo-con policy and domination.
