Thursday, September 4, 2008

Shoutout for Obama

For the past few days, I've had difficulty focusing on anything else other than the DNC, the designation of Sarah Palin, and now the RNC. If we have another four years of a Republican White House, I'm going to have to move to Canada. After watching and reading the reviews of Palin's performance last night, I have to vent. Why are we always up against an unqualified candidate who suddenly wins the media's approval because it turns out she can speak in coherent sentences after all? Didn't we do this eight years ago with Bush?

I found Palin to be smug and mean. Her attacks during the speech last night were unnecessarily personal and flippant about the facts. If the Republicans win the election, McCain will likely croak and we will be stuck with her. A candidate who believes in censorship, a vindictive power monger who fires those who dare not support her. A woman at 44 who has never traveled abroad before she had to in 2007, who mocks constitutional rights, who believes that our invasion of Iraq was sanctioned by god, whose notable achievement is raising taxes to build a sports stadium. I am waiting for the post-appointment vetting process to dig up more dirt. We cannot be ruled for another four years by someone who views the world through provincial lenses.

It is an insult to women (like me) who voted for Hillary at the Primary to have McCain tout someone like Palin as a substitute. She is no better than a Clarence Thomas taking Thurgood Marshall's place. It is also annoying to see McCain use her superficial appeal (and superficial speech) to garner support when he has attacked Obama for being a "celebrity."

I grew up in Korea until I was 8 where almost everyone hated Japan for its military invasion of Korea and surrounding countries. Like most Koreans, I grew up resenting the Japanese because I did not distinguish the people from the government. I could not understand how people could let their government commit the kinds of atrocities that Japan did (and still largely denies). I now better understand their historical constraints under a monarchy, but what excuse do we have? I am mortified to find myself a citizen of a country that so easily disregards human rights and uses its military might (and threat of it) so flippantly. How did we let ourselves get here? Isn't it incumbent of us to say no more?

We have so much to undo and fix. Another four years of the same (or even worse, if that's possible) will be the biggest mistake.

I'm not necessarily out to change anyone's opinion with this short post and smattering of facts or to turn this blog into a political blog since there are much better resources out there. And we all have our complex web of experiences or perspectives that shape our political views. But for those who already are leaning toward Obama/Biden, I urge you to not take anything for granted, to speak up, and to make a contribution.

https://donate.barackobama.com/fightback

13 comments:

  1. I completely agree with you. And watching Palin speak makes my skin crawl. No, her professional experience is not sufficient preparation for the VP. As for her lack of education (BA from N. Dakota?), that too has to be taken into consideration. Why are Americans so willing to give these types of candidates roles of governance - Bush, the Governator, Jesse Ventura, etc. Try looking at us from Europe, Australia, or some other continent.

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  2. Nope, sorry, can't shout out for Obama either! I can't divorce the moral and human implications of his votes on some issues in the Senate from his other good qualities. He comes as a package as well. I find the republican's support of the death penalty, or gun rights and the democrat's support for abortion and partial birth abortion equally appalling. Killing is killing no matter how you label it. Just try to watch a botched partial birth abortion and tell me that what you see is not a human, not a baby. That is what Obama said in his Senate vote on the issue. History weighs very heavily in the minds of some of us with more provincial outlooks. Tell a Jew to vote for an eloquent smooth cosmpolitan politician who thinks some living entities have less worth than others! Judging from my deathbed, I would prefer to have been wrong on policy choices of secondary gravity and be right on ultimate moral choices of life and death.

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  3. I agree with you whole-heartedly. Have been reading your blog for a while. But I am also a lawyer, also a woman and was so insulted. The speeches this week have been mean and full of insults but devoid of policy.

    Also agree with the first comment -Why should children bother to try to acheive if McCain (5th from bottom of his class) and Palin can run for POTUS and VP? I think education DOES matter.

    I should have commented before now... Your posts are always thoughtful and thought-provoking. Best of luck to you.

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  4. I truly hope McCain's vp nomination turns women off the way it should. His vp choice is a condescending, manipulative move on his campaign's part. I only pray that American women aren't foolish enough to buy into such nonsense.

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  5. I am sorry, but if you want to attract readers to your blog, you should really at least be unbiased in allowing them to voice THEIR opinions.

    Why leave only comments supporting your point of view? Why not let those supporting McCain have a say??

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  6. To Anonymous @ 10:21 --

    Where is your evidence that Ms. Oh has not allowed McCain supporters voice their opinion? I'd love to know the basis for assertion!

    The only statement that she deleted was where an idiot posted a nonsensical one-sentence commented about Ms. Oh moving to Canada.

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  7. Did any of you even listen to the speeches? Apparently not. They were overwhelmingly positive, peppered with a few (well-deserved) jabs at the Dems (who, by the way, have taken swipe after swipe at McCain, Palin and Palin's family).

    The wave of sexist comments regarding Palin that have come from other women simply amazes me. The fact that anyone calls a female nomination "pandering" is really, really troubling. Do you really not see the sexism that's inherent in that accusation? You are implying that there's nothing about her other than her gender that merits the nod. Yikes. She isn't a senator, she's a woman who started at the very smallest level of local politics and has successfully worked her way up to lead a state, all while running businesses and raising children. Frankly, she knocks my socks off, and it's really damned sad that Democrat women (who, ostensibly, are all in favor of women climbing to positions of power without their gender being an issue) are so eager to rip Palin to shreds.

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  8. If there's one thing we should have learned from Bush, it's that blue-collar and middle class voters from middle America tune out when politicians talk policy. They don't care. They end up voting for the person they like more, even if voting for that person (Republican) is against their economic self-interest. Palin's very likeable, maybe even moreso than Obama. I'm betting she publicly embarasses herself soon though. She hasn't faced any media questions yet - save for that hard hitting article in People magazine. I wish Tim Russert were still alive to give her a grilling.

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  9. Why is it that MOST people in this country refuse to hold politicians to high standards? How could you even BEGIN to say that Palin is qualified to be a vice president? I don't care if I sound sexist - just four years ago, she was a Mom (and she loves to remind us of that). I have been reading European newspapers, and I am embarassed by how the world see us. A naive "democracy". A country where personality (oh . . . she is so "nice") is more important to most people than competence!

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  10. I'm all for differing opinions but I'd prefer not have the comment section be a depository for base insults. One snide comment can make me feel really ticked off for a good three seconds, which is long enough for me to press the delete button. For those who feel a need to insult me or others (especially anonymously), please don't feel compelled to return to this blog. I'm not running some popularity contest and I'm not doing this for advertisement money.

    Everyone else, thanks for commenting!

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  11. As a Canadian, I am intrigued by the misuse of the term "nonsensical".

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  12. I have breasts. Caribou Barbie has breasts. This does not mean I'm going to vote for her ...

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  13. Well said! By the way, I don't think Barack Obama supports abortions. He supports the right to choose.

    See McCain's interview with a Portland, Maine TV station:
    http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/8474/must-see-video-portland-maine-tv-journo-clearly-did-not-get-mccain-memo-on-deference

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