Response - I’m sorry, I won’t be voting for Obama
Zach Roberts for GNN.tv
It pains me to say that I cannot vote with history. I will not be able to say to my children that I voted for the first Black president like many of you will. My vote is much too sacred to me to give to a man I cannot trust.
I will not be voting for Barack Obama or his opponent Republican John McCain. I frankly don’t know who I’ll be pulling the lever for.
History, hope and the buzzword ‘change,’ these are not reasons to vote for a president, especially not in a time such as now.
During his primary campaign Barack Obama claimed that he would listen to his supporters. He claimed that he would filibuster FISA (immunity for Wiretappers) and when the time came to fight, he didn’t even show up. This was his moment to win me over. This was his High Noon in the capitol rotunda, but in this feature Gary Cooper didn’t even show up.
At that moment, and many others throughout the campaign I saw Obama for who he was, just another frightened politician who when given a moment to show his true colors exposed himself to be yellow. I’m tired of these leaders, Democrat and Republican. They play on real people’s hopes and fears and use them for their own political ambition.
Obama has caught the moment, he’ll win tomorrow, probably by a landslide. Our hope for a great leader, I guess, is once again out-shined by the reality of “good-enough.” President Obama will continue the war in Afghanistan, continue NAFTA and CAFTA. All the while we will continue to kindly ask our dear great leader to listen to us. It will be a democracy, as we’ve had for decades, maybe a bit closer to our hopes but still mostly kept for our dreams.
Robert F. Kennedy was known to say of moral courage that is was “a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence.” He also said that is was “the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which seeks most painfully to change.”
Why are we still looking for moral courage 40 years after Mr. Kennedy’s death? I do not see this in Sen. Barack Obama. I do not see this in the men and women that he keeps around him. But I do see this courage for the first time in years in the eye’s of a Democratic candidates supporters even though I do not count myself among them.
This gives me hope that my generation, the one born under Reagan, will be able to stop the mourning and build something new together.
On Nov. 5th when Sen. Obama becomes President-Elect Obama let’s not let the movement stop. We must pick up where are leaders are lacking, we must become the hope and change that we dream of.
Let’s make this next four years, as one of Bobby Kennedy’s favorite books described the 60’s – “one of those periods of hope and endeavor which now and again light up the dark passages of history.”
Do not expect history to write itself.
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Zach Roberts is Greg Palast's stateside producer and researcher. You can see more of his work at www.ZDRoberts.com
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As a union member, I am counting on Obama to sign into law the Employee Free Choice Act soon after he takes office. If the Democrats in Congress stall and/or Obama forgets about his union supporters I will never vote Democrat again. I will be voting for Obama because the labor movement just can't afford another anti-union Republican in the White House. We must ensure McCain loses in a landslide.
Personally, I am more of a Kucinich and Nader supporter than Obama.
Over the past 8 years I have listened to progressive podcasts such as Flashpoints and DemocracyNow! expose the evils of the Bush administration. It's going to be interesting to hear Dennis Bernstein and Amy Goodman report on the evils of the Obama administration.
Wow, Zach.
Have you not heeded Greg's warnings? Or are you delusional enough to believe that the choice is between the tweedles dee and dum? Good god, man, use your vote to insure that your Reagan-spawned generation has a CHANCE to continue the revolution that my sad, baby-boom generation began in that great 60s period.
Use your brain. Use your vote.
Do you remember the Nader effect?.....
I hear you Zach. I, too, am not on the Obama bandwagon. And I won't be voting for McBush...I mean, McCain either. My candidate is the guy who gets the lousy 3 or 4% of the vote, but he deserves so much more. I'm talking about Nader, of course. Although I know he won't win, I think I would be dishonest with myself if I voted for anybody else because of their skin color or war hero status. No, I'm going to vote for Nader, the only candidate who stands up for the little guy. The only candidate who is not a sellout. The only guy out there who would deliver on his promises. It's sad that the corporate media brainwashed many of you into believing that your choice is only Obama or McCain. They're not that much different. I was actually rooting for Obama, but he and McCain seem to be getting more similar with each passing day. I think it's great that a black man, one day before the election, has one foot in the White House. But then again, I'm not convinced that he will be the best choice for me. I hope you read this, Ralph Nader, and that you can appreciate that there are people who believe in you.
i'm disappointed in my the choice of major candidates as well, and that's exactly why i think this country desperately needs a third party. why aren't we all trying to make sure a third party gets 5% so that they don't have to spend half their operating budget just getting on the ballot in 45 states and will also be eligible for some $84 million in federal aid. the entire idea that not voting for either the republicans or democrats is entirely bogus and completely contrary to the principles of democracy. the political landscape would be entirely different if the debate commission wasn't owned by the former heads of GOP and DNC, and people realized that there actually are candidates out there that reflect our interests. Ralph Nader for example.
i'm disappointed in my the choice of major candidates as well, and that's exactly why i think this country desperately needs a third party. why aren't we all trying to make sure a third party gets 5% so that they don't have to spend half their operating budget just getting on the ballot in 45 states and will also be eligible for some $84 million in federal aid. the entire idea that not voting for either the republicans or democrats is a waste of a vote is entirely bogus and completely contrary to the principles of democracy. the political landscape would be entirely different if the debate commission wasn't owned by the former heads of GOP and DNC, and people realized that there actually are candidates out there that reflect our interests. Ralph Nader for example.
Maybe you and fifty million other purists can elect someone with perfect teeth and a sterling, unblemished record (you'll somehow have to convince the electors to go along with your Disneyland Main Street plan). I'll vote for Obama, who, while far from perfect (the FISA bill vote pissed me off too) beats the living sh*t out of John McCain. By opting out of supporting the leftish candidate, you are throwing tacit support to rightwingnut McCain. Why? Because you don't seem to care what would happen if he wins today (unlikely, it seems).
I voted for Nader twice and accept that my "there is no difference" beliefs were, when applied to the totality of Nader supporters, overly idealistic: Bush WAS different from Gore, even back in 2000 when he was preaching a different tune. Cheney's presence on the ticket should have been a dead giveaway.
Obama has done his part to help energize the left and bring in undecided voters. If nothing else, you should consider voting for him for that alone. Don't be so damn stingey!
How sad that some of you continue to accept the myth that Nader voters cost Gore the election. All credible analyses indicate that simply wasn't the case, particularly when you consider that Gore (and Kerry) won and those elections were stolen by both the Republican apparatchiks and the spineless Democrat candidates who capitulated along with a complacent and ignorant American electorate who allowed the theft to occur.
There is only one reason that a third-party candidate cannot win in America, and that is the self-fulfilling prophecy of lesser-evil voters who make sure it cannot happen by accepting what the two party duopoly offers.
Until we start voting with integrity and demanding integrity from our candidates, we will forever be governed by those who compromise their values for expediency and the chance to acquire power. They serve the American Empire, not the American people.
I applaud your decision! I wish more Americans would wake up to the fact that both Obama and McCain are just corporate whores who will say or do whatever it takes to keep the money coming in so they can get or stay in power. The democrats had a decent man in Kucinich but he wasn't Hollywood enough and represented the workers, another fatal flaw. Nader is the obvious choice for the thinking, informed, working person. And yea he doesn't stand a chance as long as we continue believing we only have a Coke or Pepsi choice for our leadership. Obama, "Yes we can", but will he. I wouldn't bet on having universal health care, an end to global war hostilities, an end to spying on our citizens, or a reduction of handouts to the well connected wealthy any time soon. It will just be the whore in the blue dress instead of the red one and we will still have to pay the price.
Ralph Nader helped George Bush steal the election. I will never forgive what he did to this country for the sake of his own ego. He is as responsible as anyone for the last 8 years.
Barack may be naive at times and may have had some missteps on his way to the White House, but he shows a tremendous amount of promise. I do not believe he is corrupt, just very ambitious. The "mistakes" he made, which so many people like to crucify him for, were sometimes rookie mistakes and often times necessary evils. Our politics are so ripe with corruption that it would be impossible for Obama to ascend to the US Presidency without rubbing elbows with a few degenerates. The promise of Obama is that he can and will do so much more good than harm. He has the best of intentions, I think... and I am proud of our country for electing him. The world is pretty impressed with us right now, and that, in itself, is a huge accomplishment.
For those who voted Nader or some other third party candidate... I ask you this: How effective do you think a Nader administration could be? Do you really think other countries, big corporations, Congress, or anyone else NOT appointed by Nader would cooperate with him??? I'm not even sure Nader could fill all the thousands of APPOINTED posts with qualified, uncorrupt Nader-loyalists to execute his agenda.
Alright, we've had Obama in for what, one and a half months now? And for the first time in my 39 years I'm scared for America. He's doing what he said he would do, and most Americans did not understand what that meant. First the market, then morals (abortion funding/no health care provider protection) - there is no stability/continuity/trust here in our government. Enormous deficit spending/pork/bailouts are going to be our ruin, I just cannot see any other outcome. The world can see this - they knew Obama would make us weaker and tear our country apart. They are excited at the prospect in the same way we love to see any 'power' brought to their knees. Equality by poverty? Business killing unions everywhere? Everybody on the dole? Time to trust in God alone, because I truly believe the potential is now here for this country to fall apart. I pray for my kids, for strong leadership by those who are wise, and for our country to survive the next four years.