November 25, 2008
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Who’s Side are You On Anyway … ?
I keep thinking about Dawn saying that I’m the biggest Obama fan she knows. Okay, the only fan she knows so I realize that there are scales of comparison here, but still, it’s made me stop and think.
It took me a long time to make up my mind who I would be voting for. I carefully weighed positions during the Primary and General elections. Obama wasn’t my first choice last Spring. My concerns were centered around his lack of time in Washington (inexperience) and what I thought was a health care plan that didn’t go far enough. After spending almost 5 years with no health insurance and then in a blast of irony the trip to the ER two weeks before I was eligible for coverage under my new employer’s health plan, that’s a hot topic for me.
What I learned during that long period of being on the outside looking in was that no one cares if an uninsured person gets pneumonia. And if you get something chronic, you’re screwed. Unless you can afford to pay for out of pocket care, and lets be honest, I don’t know anyone who can afford to pay for much more than a sinus infection without insurance, there is no care for you. 47 million uninsured people is a national shame. I wanted to support a candidate who would enact a plan to get medical coverage, ANY medical coverage to the most people as quickly as possible. I didn’t think Obama’s plan would do that. But I thought his plan was better than the one the Republicans put on the table after their convention.
I really expected that once the election was over and the decisions were made I’d go back to telling “Tucker Tales” in my blog. (He was home from school today, sick with a sinus infection. I came home at lunch to check on him and found him asleep on the sofa. Curled up under a blanket with just his feet sticking out the other side. All around him, as though his body were the eye of a storm, was shredded toilet paper. Apparently, he’d gotten a roll out for blowing his nose, don’t know why he would do that because there are boxes of facial tissue all over the apartment, but he did. Once he fell asleep, the cats shredded it. And you know cats, they have no long term memory. So when I walked in they were looking at me like, “I can only remember back about 3 minutes and so well, as far as I can remember this mess has always been here. Got NO idea who would have done this boss, weird, huh?”)
So why haven’t I gone back to telling kid stories?
Because I’m hearing things that scare me. Can I say that out loud? It’s not entertaining to me to see frightened people making irrational decisions based on an unfounded belief that they or their families are threatened by the President Elect. It’s not something I can just ignore when I hear people, “normal” people, saying things that are hateful and wrong, making racial slurs, or blanket statements about his religious beliefs. It’s messing with my head to see the cover of civility ripped away to reveal people saying that Obama will (should) be assassinated, or punishing children for speaking the name of the President Elect, or preaching sermons saying that his election was a sin.
The best and only way I know to combat this insidious disease, is with information and experience. Obviously, we don’t yet know what kind of President Obama will be, he’s not there yet. President Bush was a wonderful Governor of Texas. He reached across the aisle, formed coalitions with Democrats, and governed from a Centrist base. Once he was installed as President, he governed completely differently than he had in Texas. I was disappointed when he was first elected, but I was hopeful because I was willing to give him the benefit of doubt based on his record in Texas. 4 years later I opposed him as strongly as I could with my one vote because of his record as President. Although past behavior may be the best predictor of future behavior, Bush has demonstrated that it’s not a fool-proof means of evaluating in advance.
So while I can’t offer experience to reassure people, I can offer information. My remarks in this blog should not be understood as faith in Obama. I have hope that he will be a good President. I agree with many (not all) of his positions. Where I disagree with him, I expect I will make those differences public because I’m the kind of person who says what she thinks about most everything. Right now, I’m not hearing people take issue with his positions or his actions. What I’m hearing is a lot of bizarre fear-talk based on things he’s never said and actions he’s never taken.
What I’d like is for people to look at what he really has put on the table. Then let’s debate it. Let’s discuss it. Let’s see if it’s something we can support or something we don’t agree with. But let’s not have any more of this fear of the boogey man. Okay?
I’m on the side of reasoned discourse.
Comments (17)
well, don’t get me going on mr. bush, lol. i’m in texas and i ain’t too proud he’ll be moving back here and putting his library in the very city where i live. yes, i’m a democrat, and my niece and i are the only ones in our entire family. they call us the black sheep of the family, and this started when bush got “elected” the first time.
i’m totally an obama person now, though when this race started i was a hillary supporter. i got a little upset how, imho, she was cheated out of a lot of votes and other things. i vowed to stay p*ssed until november 4th. didn’t happen. during obama’s second debate, i guess i opened my ears (lol) and heard what i needed to hear…as before that i’d only heard “change” and every time i heard the word, i’d remember hillary started out with that, and he took it from her. HOWEVER, i’m a late swooner, and i couldn’t be happier. i’m a democrat, for god’s sake. he said everything i needed to hear.
sorry about the book here.
I think we are in good hands with Obama. He admitted mistakes would be made but we have a much better chance of getting our world respect back and ending the God awful war and torture. That’s a start that will not come too soon. I’m very happy with the choice and the inauguration cannot come soon enough.
I applaud your reasoned discourse. Really, people I know well have also suprised me with the most inane, irrational, downright racist things flying out of their mouths. It’s been enlightening and disheartening. Well done post.
Amen, Terri. Let us (as a nation) not be divided anymore!
what ^they^ said! yesterday, npr broadcast his speech he made in chicago & i listened to some of it while i was cleaning the kitchen. the knot in my stomach about the future of our country that has been growing bigger each day was shrunk considerably by the end of his speech. he announced many of his cabinet member choices, reminded us that there would be no “quick fix” but expressed confidence that those he has chosen would do the best job humanly possible to get us back on track…
fyi: in texas, the state government is structured so that much of the power rests with the lt.governor, not the governor, so the damage bush could do was minimal. he did manage to undo some of the wonderful work on education funding reform of the previous governor, ann richards, before going on to become the leader of our nation…
Once an election is over, we all have to get on board and hope for the best….what else is there to do? There are all kinds of crazies out there…always will be in my opinion. The President Elect certainly deserves respect.
My son and I were talking about this today. Obama will do what he can do. I have some faith in his motives, I have some faith that we are all ready for change, I am optimistic. But, the deal is, we are talking about politicians and our congress. Talk about the cheese that clogs the rolling cogs of progress. (sorry, I am working in a deli at the moment, cheese came to mind…)
first i’m glad to live near ft yuchuca. az., a mainly black/white–’buffalo soldier’; base, i feel like i’m in heaven cuz almost eveyone is color blind, second…the bushes were talking to daddy years ago about which brother they were gonna throw into the ring and have the machine propel them into the white house…so georgie was on his best behavior for good reason,,the bushes are not idiots,,well not all of them anyway….sorry people are idiots…i live in a town that recognizes the 21 century once their bubble pops ,,they’ll shut up….
Whew. I’m just….wide-eyed….at the things you say you’ve heard. Living as I do in a liberal cocoon (only blue county in a sea of red; pretty much always was that way), I can hardly believe that folks would react like this. I remember being exceedingly disappointed when ‘my’ side lost the last few elections, and I may have said some rude stuff about the winner, but….wow. Anyway. Thank you for speaking so carefully and rationally.
Hmm, I was under the impression that cats could only remember back about 30 seconds. :-p
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
Very well said. After all, isn’t hope all we can really ask for?
“The best and only way I know to combat this insidious disease, is with information and experience. Obviously, we don’t yet know what kind of President Obama will be, he’s not there yet. President Bush was a wonderful Governor of Texas. He reached across the aisle, formed coalitions with Democrats, and governed from a Centrist base. ”
Uh…..No. But you are exactly right about information. My belief is that people who think this about Bush have been severely misinformed. I recommend reading the books of Molly Ivins. Or past issues of the Texas Observer during his stint as Governor. There isn’t anything that that man has touched he hasn’t broken. Most times Daddy and his Arab friends cleaned up the mess. I am a liberal that his been getting through in a seriously UNcompassionate conservative country for many years now. Bush’s “compasionate conservative” slogan was just another of his Orwellian and jingoistic slogans. Like the “clean air act” or “no child left behind.” Think about it. Why would there be any need at all to precede the word conservative with compassionate? For exactly the reason that there is nothing compassionate about conservatism. Just as the “Clean Air Act” allowed polluters to pollute and “no child left behind” left every child behind. My children attended the Texas schools when Bush was pushing through his vision of TAAS and TAKS which has effectively dumbed down public education for all – the sole goal of which now is to “teach to a test.” I have sent my children to Bush schools which teach “abstinence only.” You know what that curriculum teaches Middle School students? That condoms don’t work! And of course any sane, thinking individual can anticipate the consequences of that. What do we think will happen when a certain percentage of teens will make the choice not to abstain? Why would they use a condom when it doesn’t work? Molly Ivins warned everyone about Bush in her books, What he did as President was completely predictable.
On Obama. I very quickly become discouraged. The first forshadowing I had that he was not going to be the President that this country desparately needs was his vote on FISA. Now we know that the Bush Administration has acknowledged waterboarding. Waterboarding is torture. We are now a country which tortures. Will these war crimes be prosecuted in the next Administration? As you say. We will have to wait and see. The prospects do not look good.
To the plank with politics, I hope Tucker is getting bettererer soon!
Sail on… sail on!!!
@dreadpirate - He’s almost completely recovered now. He’s up playing and being his normal self until he notices that I’ve noticed and then he starts fake-coughing.
Nice photo.
You know, I think the most insane and ignorant comments I’ve heard first hand, have been those made by my own parents. I was so thankful that they never made it to the poles because they were very blantant about their support for McCain, not for any other reason than they sure weren’t going to vote for “nigger”. It saddened me so much. I mean, my parents have ALWAYS been below the middle class tax bracet, and now are on Social Security retirement and disability. What logical reasons could they possibly have for supporting ANY republican in their positions? Dad said it wasn’t his color, it was the Muslim thing. He said if Jesse Jackson would run he would vote for him, but not a Muslim. That just goes to show that they made their opionions based on his skin and namesake without ever hearing of his plans or the question about his religion. I’ve always thought of my parents as “borderline” racists. They had a few select friends that were black in the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s, but never a Jew, Asian, Nativie American, or any other race. They’ve always made blanket statements and avoided people who were different than they are, but the older they get, the more adament they seem. I would no longer include the word “borderline”. They are racists, period. They may not wear white sheets and burn crosses on peoples’ lawns, but unless we are out in public they don’t even use the term black and never have said “African American”, it’s always the N word. All the words they use when talking of other races are slang ones. But until recently, their actions never really matched their words. They would talk like racists at home, but out in public they would at least act respectful of others no matter what the skin color. That’s not the case anymore. They toss glares and make statements even in public. They no longer have any friends that are not Anglos. It saddens me and makes me angry. Perhaps it was seeing their views a child that caused me to be as open-minded as I am, so maybe I should be thankful for it in a way. I suppose there has to be many sides of every spectrum, without all the other colors, there would be no rainbow. If there were only good, and no evil, there could be no balance. Still, my parents make me ill, physically ill at times. <3 SuZ
I’ve been shaking my head over a lot of what you’ve posted these past few days…but it’s mainly amazement at people on my own side of the ring. Apparently the ones with faith disappeared on November 5, and have decided to take the unbiblical approach and let fear rule our actions. THAT sounds like a smart plan, huh?
I started commenting at first because I disagreed with something you said, and the 20 people before me all agreed, too. I felt someone had to do it, and show a different side of the fence we’ve apparently constructed in the past few months leading up to the election. Though I’ve found we don’t agree on things, it’s interesting to read an intelligent person’s positions on things like this.
I enjoy the information you share. I’ve learned a lot reading this blog. (For example, every time my station reads a report about ACORN, I want to call them and inform them of what I learned here)
We’ve been having a fairly reasonable discussion, and I’ve hoped adding in my two cents has helped balance the scales a bit.
It’s sad people are thinking about assassination. Just…sad.
*joins ring of educated people who aren’t going to go nuts* Wow. This should be a lot bigger.
@VioletMoonDancer7 - I’m sorry. I know that hurts. It’s painful when it’s your family, your friend, your church that causes you shame.