Politics NEWS
Obama Or McCain – It Doesn’t Matter
Published by MoonDog on November 5, 2008
Tuesday’s election resulted in a victory for Barack Obama, but it doesn’t mean it was a victory for the American people. I could have replaced Obama’s name with John McCain and completed the same sentence.
As an Independent who didn’t have a real choice in this election, I feel cheated. But like any true Independent Populist, I’ve felt the same over the last 20 years.
To steal a line from comedian Lewis Black, “it was like choosing between two piles of shit.”
I realize many are thrilled with Obama’s win, just as there are those who are saddened with McCain’s loss. But it doesn’t matter which of these men won this election. It doesn’t matter because neither of them are the answer to our nation’s problems.
Obama has become the 10th President in my lifetime, and I’ve honestly given thought to which of the previous nine had any real effect on me.
The only president I could name was Ronald Reagan, who served as Commander-in-Chief between 1980 and 1988. From 1983 until the end of Operation Desert Storm, I served in the U.S. Navy.
One of Reagan’s primary objectives was to strengthen our nation’s Armed Forces, and he did just that. As you can imagine, the 80’s were a great time to serve in the military.
As I gave thought to which presidents had a real effect on my life, the more I realized how many in this country believe a president is going to change their lives.
To place the burden upon the President of the United States to make 300 million lives better amounts to nothing more than a pipe dream.
At the end of the day, the only person that has any effect on your life is the person you see in the mirror. It isn’t the job of the president or our government to provide anyone with an existence.
The sooner Americans get their heads wrapped around these facts, the better this nation will become. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen because too many have placed their loyalties along party lines.
Too many vote based upon skin color, religion or sex instead of what’s best for America.
So for those of you that believe Obama’s election will make your lives better, I have some bad news for you – it doesn’t matter.
Both political parties have failed the American people and they’re going to continue failing us.
Four years from today, I’ll be writing along these same lines, because the same mistakes will have been made.
The same misconceptions about the importance one man supposedly has on your life will be the determining factor in selecting a president, a person that really doesn’t matter.
The only person that matters is you. The only person that has complete control over your destiny is you. The only person that can create opportunities and make your life what you want it to be is you.
Remember this the next time you head to the voting booth.
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swnole on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 10:14
Good read. I do think that the electing of Obama could be an inspiration for people to better themselves. But at the end of the day, you’re correct. Obama can’t change the nation alone. It starts with us.
MoonDog on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 11:36
I’ve never been inspired by any President, but I always admired Reagan for his belief that America could become the beacon for the world to look upon.
As Reagan rests in his grave, I can’t help but think he doesn’t like what he sees. The founding fathers don’t either.
America is going to shit.
ShooterB on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 11:47
You make a lot of interesting points, MoonDog. There are number of things wrong with our political system, as well as our public’s perception of it. As you mentioned, it isn’t up to one person to change all of our lives.
But I’m encouraged by the incredible boost in voter turnout, and the “awakening” of a big portion of our population. Even though it’s often misguided, at least people are beginning to make their voices heard.
I’m often a bit cynical, like you. It’s easy to be. For example: there couldn’t have possibly been any more attention on the presidential race, while many completely ignored the Senate and House elections. Stuff like that doesn’t give you a lot of faith in the voting system. For goodness sake, people voted for someone that had just been convicted on several counts of corruption! And not even Palin or McCain would back that one…
Party politics have become so skewed that most people don’t even know what they stand for anymore.
But for all the nonsense, I think it COULD be a good start towards change. I don’t have any illusions about the political machine being cleaned up anytime soon. But with so many people paying attention, a lot of them for the first time, I can at least hope for progress.
If it inspires people to get out and make things happen…I’m OK with that.
But if that doesn’t happen, at least send me a few more stimulus checks while you’re running up the debt. The stimulus check is a stupid idea…but getting an unexpected chunk of money makes me feel better about blowing it all on strippers, booze, and lotto tickets.
MoonDog on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 11:56
Good point Shooter. People tend to forget the House and Senate have as much to do with the direction of the nation as the president does.
A president can have great ideas, but it doesn’t amount to anything unless he can get those passed into legislation.
I’m encouraged by voter turnout as well, but the problem with a lot of voters is their lack of knowledge regarding the candidates.
Too many aren’t educated enough to research the candidate’s positions on the issues. They only listen to speeches that are geared to getting a candidate elected.
That amounts to being led as opposed to making an informed choice. That’s not good for the nation when one candidate is elected because of his communication skills rather than his substance.
ShooterB on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 12:36
Voter Knowledge? You mean like reading email forwards from anonymous sources and watching YouTube videos of repetitive stump speeches? ‘Cuz if that’s what it takes, then our voters have plenty of knowledge.
Oh yeah, I was busy not being cynical.
Riggs on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 12:58
Reality is that voter turnout (percentage wise) was no different than 2004, and actually much lower than say the 60’s.
http://www.american.edu/media/electionexperts/election_turnout_08.pdf
Also – I read somewhere that even the african american voter turnout wasn’t close to what they were expecting.
So I think the voter turnout perception is based on pre-vote assumptions that it would be high. In the end, it was basically the same as 2004.
MoonDog on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 13:16
I think you meant to say proportionally as it relates to the decade of the 60’s. It would be statistically impossible for as many people to vote in the 60’s with nearly have the total population of today.
But your point is well taken. In the end, voter turnout has been better over the past eight years. That’s at least a positive note on people taking an interest in the nation’s future.
ShooterB on Thu, 6th Nov 2008 14:26
I haven’t seen anything but estimates to this point, but others that I’ve read have it as high as 63% or 64%. I know that isn’t the point, I just find it funny that our media doesn’t even agree on statistics. Even numbers are divided into liberals and conservatives!
I’ll leave that for the pundits, but I think it’s fair to say that the actual voter turnout may not reflect the increase in public interest…or the public perception of it. I guess the point is that it’s been trending upwards for a while…which should be positive.
Tony Harrison on Fri, 7th Nov 2008 15:05
Yeah, how dare people actually consider how other people might be affected! You’re right man! If it it’s not going to do anything specific for me personally, in the short term, it’s worthless! /sarcasm
For one thing, I think you’re ignoring the incredibly powerful democratizing effect of the internet. The voters were far, far better informed this time around– and that’s demonstrated by the fact that they made the only reasonable and sane choice for president that they were being offered.
And you’re dead wrong from the very first sentence of this post. No, it could not have been rewritten with McCain’s name instead of Obama’s. You’re just not looking at the big picture, which is that the way the “war on terror” has been presented to us by our elected officials in the last eight years– which McCain would have continued doing– is a gigantic stinking lie. These people haven’t been making the world safer– they’ve been doing the exact opposite, provoking the insane factions who attacked us and stoking the flames of hate. Torturing, creating gulags and starting wars based entirely on hubris? These things do not make things better for America. Repudiating this, in a single move, will do far more for America than you understand.
There was a stark choice in this election– though I’m not surprised you weren’t able to see it, with your head stuck so firmly in your me-first cocoon.
MoonDog on Fri, 7th Nov 2008 15:30
Having served two tours of duty in the Persian Gulf, I’m apparently one of those people who helped stoked the flames of the terrorist fire.
It doesn’t matter – as I made clear – who the president is. Terrorists were attacking American interests long before Bush was in office. They’ll continue attacking America and will do so long after Obama or the guy after him leaves office.
A cocoon? Hardly. Where did you serve while you were in the military? How many deployments were you a part of? Tell me what your experiences have been while serving around the globe in an effort to do something for your country.
Your assertion that the voters were well-informed is laughable. View this post.
http://moondogsports.com/2008/10/26/stupid-voters-make-stupid-choices/
Let me know when you’re old enough to actually have a clue.
GoPurple on Fri, 7th Nov 2008 20:46
Oh yeah, the voters were sure informed. Informed like the dingbat on YouTube who thought Obama will pay her mortgage and gas bill. Or the Undecided Voter citing abortion as his key issue and trying to figure out which candidate was pro-life. Or the commenter above thinking that anybody at the DailyKos has the slightest clue of how to defeat terrorists. Yeah, really informed. More like blithering idiots.
MoonDog on Sat, 8th Nov 2008 03:46
GoPurple – What’s even more amazing is the guy didn’t recognize the intent of the post. I’m all about self-empowerment, with no government interference in my life.
How it went from that to a mindless mini-diatribe highlighting his stupidity is beyond me.
I’m still chuckling over the cocoon comment. I’ll bet that motherfucker would crawl into a cocoon as soon the caps start flying.
My name is Tony and I has a crayon.
GoPurple on Sat, 8th Nov 2008 11:05
Bingo. I have a year’s worth of experience with people shooting real ordinance at me, and have developed a serious lack of patience with idiots who lecture us on “provoking” the fucking terrorists bent on destroying us. Either we kill them or they kill a whole lot of us trying to enslave us to their twisted worldview. Obama, unfortunately, has proven himself to be a clueless douchebag about these matters. A lot of the other stuff politicians want to focus on is opium to buy votes from idiots.
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