The Director Sector

I’m back home with my parents for the next few days, packing and getting ready to make the big move to Chicago next week.  In the meantime, dinner-time conversation is about politics.  And my entire family is voting Republica, except for me.

I seriously don’t understand why my family is voting for the McCain-Palin ticket.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like McCain.  Good guy, smart, stands up for what he believes in.  Well, he used to, at any rate.  But ever since he won the primaries he’s been, to my mind, pandering to the whims of his party rather than being the maverick he used to be.

Sarah Palin seems like a wonderful woman.  Smart, sexy, confident.  She went from a PTA committee to being the governor of Alaska.  That’s pretty impressive.

But that doesn’t matter.  Whether McCain is a smart guy or Palin is a hot hockey mom is completely beside the point.

The issues are what matter.

I look at the interviews with Obama and McCain and Biden and Palin, and McCain and Palin flounder at every interview.  They get exasperated when the media asks them questions.  They stutter and sputter and say the wrong things.  Eventually, they turn into “Obama’s a Muslim who will rape your daughters, kill your sons, and raise your taxes” or whatever propaganda they’re spewing now.

Obama and Biden get asked the very same questions and provide very definite answers.  Ask Obama about his views on abortion, and he’ll explain that’s he’s pro-choice, hopes they’ll keep the baby, but believes that it’s not the government’s job to regulate that area.  Ask Obama about taxes, and he’ll lay out his plans.  Ask Obama about Iraq, and he’ll lay out his plans.

Ask McCain about taxes, he’ll flounder for  moment and then try and crack a joke to deflect the topic.  Ask Palin about the Bush Doctrine, and she’ll sit there like deer in headlights and babble on about something that has nothing to do with the Bush Doctrine.

I respect John McCain and Sarah Palin.  John has spent his entire life serving his country, and I am very thankful and grateful for his service.  Sarah Palin has beaten overwhelming odds, and continues to defy common perception and logic.  But my respect for McCain and Palin does not extend to my vote.

I want someone who will clearly state his or her beliefs on any given topic, who knows what they’re talking about, who takes the high road when others would take the dirty route.  I want someone in office who doesn’t equivocate in the face of adversity, who stands up for what he believes in.

Two years ago, I might have voted for John McCain.  But from what I’ve seen in the past year… no thanks, John.

I don’t have to agree with everything Obama believes in.  Neither candidate comes close to matching my positions perfectly.  The McCain-Palin platform matches up maybe 50/50 with my views, and the Obama-Biden platform match up more like 75/25 with my views.

I’m willing to overlook the 1 in 4 issues that I disagree with to get someone respectable, confident, knowledgeable and (relatively) honest in office.

My brother, on the other hand, hates Obama with a passion.  I haven’t decided if it’s because he’s black or supposedly Muslim, or if it’s because my brother worships the ground Glenn Beck walks on, but I do know that my brother refuses to listen to my views.  The same thing goes for the rest of my family.  They’ll vote Republican because they’ve always voted Republican and they always will vote Republican, and by God, if John McCain wants to destroy the world, they don’t care, so long as he’s Repubican.

As for me, the Republican party has lost my vote.  Unless something changes dramatically, I’m voting either Libertarian or Democrat this year.