Conservatives for Obama?

In a recent Facebook post, a good friend of mine - and conservative to the core - posted the following:


"I'm hesitant to post this since I gave up politics for Lent and I can't comment on it any more until next Sunday, but I'm going to go ahead and admit to a little schadenfreude concerning Sen. Obama and Jeremiah Wright. I actually listened to a sermon on the radio from Pastor Wright back in June 2000 as I was driving around Chicago on my way to Madison Wisconsin. He was not a man of subtle opinions or expression.

I had long wondered how Obama was going to handle it when a few of Pastor Jeremiah's greatest hits finally made it into the News Cycle. He responded with what are at best half-truths and at worst outright lies, and he unhesitatingly distanced himself from the man who married him and his wife and baptized his children; the man who by some accounts led him to faith in Christ.

Now this kind of behavior is par for the course in American politics, and that's just my point. Sen. Obama has made a name for himself as somebody and something different in American politics: post-racial, post-partisan, and above all, post petty, calculating, and willing-to-throw-your-friends-overboard-when-it's-convenient. In short what we discovered this week is that Barack Obama is just another politician. Take notice folks."

As a cradle-Republican, I have to say that Obama IS different. I've just finished reading his book, "The Audacity of Hope" (the title which, BTW, comes from one of Jeremiah Wright's sermons), and am struck by a couple of things from the book, and from watching his responses from the stump.

The first is that Barack is extremely balanced in his presentation of each argument. On nearly every issue, he presents the inadequacies of policies from both the Right AND the Left. He did not use this book to attack Republicans, but rather to argue for a society where government supports the dreams of all Americans - from big business to the working poor. And it is very evident that he is committed to listening to those with whom he vehemently disagrees - something I doubt would be true of Clinton.

The second is that he obviously believes (and holds dear) the notion that politics should not devolve into petty partisanship and calculated attacks. If this stated position were nothing more than a casual notion, a ploy for the masses, it would be remarkably hard to maintain consistency over the course of a 3-year campaign. Case in point is the decision you bring to light above. Were he not serious about wanting a more civil discourse, he might have given his pastor a pass. He did not. His response was one in which he condemns the words while refusing to repudiate the man, his friend and pastor, whom, he says, preached 17 years of our obligation to love God and our fellow man - "love the sinner, hate the sin" comes to mind.

In closing, the best indicator of future performance has been shown to be past performance. And although I disagree with most of his positions, I believe Barak Obama to be a man of character.

What say you, O' FaceBook Politicos?

E-Whacko or Conservationist

Vivid memories return to me of time with my father - it's 1980, I'm 12, and I'm watching the election returns in the linoleum-tiled family room of our home in Tampa, FL. My dad was ecstatic. "Landslide! It's a Landslide!" he'd gleefully shout as return after return showed Ronald Reagan whooping Jimmy Carter. As his son, I was understandably excited myself.

It was fun to see my dad so happy, and to watch the electoral map grow progressively bluer. Yes, back then Republicans were blue and Democrats were red. How did that ever switch? I remember thinking how much that made sense to me. Blue was my favorite color, and Democrats were as bad as Communists, so, yeah...it fit.

Thus, sitting on our fake leather couches, and eating popcorn in front of our old-school dial-knobbed TV, my slow indoctrination into the Republican party began.

Almost 28 years later, I'm still a Republican - albiet a moderate one. I am fiscally conservative, socially moderate, and environmentally liberal (as today's classifications go). I am active in environmental groups, volunteer at the local Animal Shelter, and am disgusted with people of any stripe who seem to think that "if it's profitable, it's right." I don't care if it's Michael Vick's selfish brutality or Ted Stephenson's attempts to rape ANWR.

I struggle in the voting booth with my belief, my values, my emotions and my experience. Are there others out there that feel the same way?

Let me hear from you, and we'll see if this one little dialogue can help us find some answers - or maybe just change the world a little.

~Wade