I cast my vote for Barack Obama in California’s primary this morning.
Here’s a major reason why I did:
“When I am this party’s nominee, my opponent will not be able to say
that I voted for the war in Iraq; or that I gave George Bush the
benefit of the doubt on Iran; or that I supported Bush-Cheney policies
of not talking to leaders that we don’t like. And he will not be able
to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it
is ok for America to torture — because it is never ok… I will end the
war in Iraq… I will close Guantanamo. I will restore habeas corpus. I
will finish the fight against Al Qaeda. And I will lead the world to
combat the common threats of the 21st century: nuclear weapons and
terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. And I will
send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that
says, "You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is
now.”
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, (via John Scalzi,) put my feelings into words, so I’m going to borrow them, rather than struggle to come up with my own:
I’m for Obama knowing perfectly well that, as Bill
Clinton suggested, it’s a “roll of the dice”. A roll of the dice for
Democrats, for progressives, for those of us who’ve fought so hard
against the right-wing frames that Obama sometimes (sometimes craftily,
sometimes naively) deploys. Because I think a Hillary Clinton candidacy
will be another game of inches, yielding—at best—another four or eight
years of knifework in the dark. Because I think an Obama candidacy
might actually shake up the whole gameboard, energize good people,
create room and space for real change.Because he seems to know
something extraordinarily important, something so frequently missing
from progressive politics in this country, in this time: how to hearten people. Because when I watch him speak, I see fearful people becoming brave.
We’ve been afraid for too long, and it’s cost us dearly. Karl Rove and George Bush and Dick Cheney will have many disastrous legacies, but one of the most despicable and enduring will be how they used fear to deeply and deliberately divide our country.
It’s going to be a huge challenge for our next president to heal this nation, and end the Culture of Fear that’s been created by the Bush Administration. I believe that Barack Obama is the best candidate to do that, and I was proud to vote for him today.
It felt so good to cast a vote that I was proud of, in support of
someone, instead of resigning myself to voting for the lesser of two
evils.
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oh, wil. your post reinforced my youthful adoration of you, which was happily revived when i found your blog.
i also voted for barack this morning, feeling the happiness and pride we should (but often don’t) feel as members of a democratic country.
bill clinton’s “roll of the dice” comment encourages my support for obama even more. the devil you don’t know – that’s the reason this intelligent man has come up with for why we should vote for his wife? REALLY? please.
while my state (nj) went for hillary, i’m pleased that i contributed to obama’s 49 delegates!
I’m all for Obama, not going to lie, but I have to say I am disappointed in you who say you will never vote for a republican ever. I consider myself an independent, I grew up in a strictly republican household where if I said anything even slightly liberal my father would rant and rant for hours about how democrats are bad. I vowed then that I would never do something like that. And that is what you are all doing.
Vote for whoever will do the job the best, if they are a democrat then that’s great, but if they are a republican why wouldn’t you vote for them?
Don’t just vote on the party lines. That is not democracy, that is not what America is about. You are all independent thinkers out there. Just never say never. Think. Choose. Vote for who you believe in, no matter what race, gender, or party affiliation they are.
If you just listen to spoon fed ideas of your chosen party then I feel sorry for you.
Reddy, read the article I posted. You’re actually a little misinformed. You gotta keep in mind exactly how particular most politicians are with EXACT wording =/
JHP, I fully understand where you are coming from. I carry two bullet holes in my left wrist from my time in Viet Nam as a Lt. in Army Intelligence. I fully agree with you that being in Iraq has made the Arabs hate us. Although it makes me wonder why they hated us when they took down the WTC, before we invaded Iraq. Or why they hated us when they tried to take down the WTC years before they finally succeeded. Or why they hated us when they blew up the USS Cole; Or took our Embassy employees hostage for a year and a half; or when they blew up the Marine barracks; or when they killed the Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972; or when they took down the Pam Am 747; or when they took the Air France to Uganda. I guess that our invasion of Iraq was the cause of all of those events too. Oh what a short memory the American public has. Ignorance is bliss.
If I take hostage a room full of French Citizens, it is not America vs. France. If I take hostage a room full of French Citizens it is myself vs those French Citizens.
I can not represent an entire nation, race or religion, nor can the extremists who destroyed the lives of so many American men, women, and children.
I respect anyone’s vote. However, I cannot even begin to endorse Obama. In August 2007, he voted against the confirmation of Chief Justice Roberts only after his Chief of Staff told him any presidential campaign would be crippled if he did. He wanted to vote *for* Roberts not believing in a litmus test.
His “big tent inclusiveness” was underscored last October when he ran an essentially Gospel Tour of the South Carolina headlined by Anti-Gay “Ex-Gay” Gospel singer and Minister McClurkin.
And it gets a lot worse. F*ck Obama (Possibly NSFW)
To be fair, there is a similar article about Hillary. My only point is Obama is not Mr. Clean, vote for him if you will, but pass on the Koolaid before you do.
This is pretty funny..
“F*ck Obama” and Steve..
You’re faulting Obama for following the advice of his chief of staff. Wow, way to not know ANYTHING about managing ANYTHING.
Following advice to play it smart in politics? PSH WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO THAT..
Also, in what office can Obama make more progress for the nation or as POTUS?
In what office can obama nominate more justices? oh wait.. as president.
I must apologize. I used the word Arab when I should have used the term Muslim Extremist. I also did not mean to imply that anyone was ignorant. I simply meant to imply that one who does not learn from history is bound to revisit the mistakes of the past. We are in a world wide war against terrorism, and whether one likes it or not, that is the state of the world. Neville Chamberlain put his head in the sand and World War II was the result. I am smart enough to know that I am not going to change anyone’s mind. Especially someone with a very liberal bent. Hopefully there will be enough moderates and conservatives around to protect them, their right to their views and their way of life. I shudder to think of what Anne Wheaton’s life would be like if she were living in Pakistan instead of Pasadena.
There are two things:
1. I think Wil is dead. The lasers burrowed too far into his head and smoke came out his ears.
2. I can’t believe we’re discussing politics on Wil’s blog. Doesn’t quite seem like the right place. Shouldn’t we be discussing D&D or something?
*Sigh… I miss the WWDN forums… I want my ELECTRIC BUGALOO!
Shat: “I suck”
Yes, Shat, you do. But we love to watch you anyway, and as much as you do suck, there are plenty of other so-called actors out there who suck much, much worse. So go ahead and embrace your suckiness. The rest of us have! And for a guy who really sucks as an actor, you certainly have made a nice living off it. Damn, makes me wish I really sucked at something! I probably do, just am not making money off it. 🙂 And if it’s any consolation, Martin Landau sucked on Space:1999 too, and he still does, but a lot of people (OK, overgrown geeky greasy people, but their opinions count, too!) still love to watch endless re-runs of that show, right? And would they be doing that if not for the Suckmeister himself, M. Landau? Of course not! Let’s be real here, that entire show was carried by him (and his old lady, who was I admit the first love of my life, like that of so many other 5-Y/O boys at the time). And you carried Trek, too, despite the 3:1 fan mail Nimoy got over you (yes, read about that in “Creator”, and you know, you really just have to accept the fact it happened. But that doesn’t mean The Old Show could have succeeded with just Nimoy and some other guy playing the captain. Nope, it had to be you, Shat. And we’re glad it was.)
So I say, let the sucking proceed unabated!! Obviously there’s a market for sucking, so who’s to say sucking is bad? And does it really hurt anyone? I mean, has sucking at something as relatively benign as acting ever been considered such a dire offense as to warrant a criminal charge??? Not that I know of.
So c’mon, one and all, let’s all suck together, wooooo!!!
Wil, I hope the lasers haven’t fried your brains and you’re feeling okay. Missing your blog, but wishing you a very speedy recovery.
All my best wishes,
Eileen #11/300, Scotland
Dude, you okay? When a couple days go by without a blog popping up in my Bloglines, or even a tweet, I begin to worry. Hope things are okay.
I second that. Hope you’re feeling better, Wil. Come back soon!
EXACTLY !!!
🙂
Knowing you could do this–you’re of age and then some. I’m still thinking of TNG where you were too young for that but old enough to man and even pilot a starship.
Especially remembering “The Naked Now”. Wow! That was some trip! Everything that could be said about that episode hasn’t yet been said.
Wil – I’ve been hoping that your absence from posting means that you are taking a much deserved break from your responsibilities, resting after your laser surgery. I hope it went well and that you are having a speedy and restful recovery. We miss you!
I went to Star Trek the Tour today in Long Beach. My friends and I had a great time. We especially enjoyed Wil’s part in the Klingon encounter. His technobable was excellent. He couldn’t switch to auxiliary power because the isolinear chips were isolated from the command matrix. Or some such. It was good to see Wil in a Star Fleet uniform again. He hasn’t lost his touch!!
How can you vote on warm fuzzies? You might as well be voting for Ross Perot.
Ross Perot says -> “I’m gonna do this that and the other”
Typical voter says -> “How”
Ross Perot says -> “Wait and see, when I’m president, then you’ll find out”
Whatever!
We miss you…
I hope your in touch enough with the world to see how well Barack Obama is doing.
Come back soon, I need my WWdN in Exile fix.
Mike aka Altigenman
Just signed in to second what Altigenman said..
I hope the recent dip in posts is due to the good kind of busy, but I suspect some kind of sinus sneak attack has probably got you. Best wishes either way, Wil.
@Pockafwye:
You as the people of the USA can decide whatever you want. Nobody else will. It seems to me that you also decided to re-elect a very bad president to a second term. So what does that say about the decision making capabilities of your country?
Yes, we need people of vision to change the way things currently are. The only drawback is the people of vision usually get shot by those racist rednecks I referred to. For example, JFK, and MLK were men of vision who tried to change the way we do things in the USA, and both were shot to death.
As a last note, greed is the biggest factor working against both Obama, and Clinton. The many people of the USA who have money invested in health care services will not vote on a platform of making those services free. The USA was founded by a bunch of dudes who didn’t want to pay their taxes, so anything that goes against that capitalist mentality won’t fly.
Maybe using the term “ready” was wrong. The USA is ready for it, in fact you need it, but, it is “unwilling” to take that next step.
I went to see Obama yesterday afternoon here in Maine, but their were so many people there that they had to close the doors. Luckily Obama came outside to talk to all of us who were freezing our butts off outside in the cold Maine winter! Even though I drove 5 hrs to and from where he was speaking to only see him for 10 minutes… it was totally worth it!
Then today I went to our local caucus and the turn out was overwhelming! They had more people there than ever before in the history of the town. We had almost 400 people show up. In just our town we had 262 vote for Obama, and 107 for Hillary. I am proud to say Obama won the caucus in Maine today!
I believe Obama is our best hope for the future, especially now that Edwards dropped out of the race. So Go Obama GO!
Way to vote babe! I love my woman!
What strikes me about the present administration is that, regardless of party affiliation, the president’s approval rating is currently between 27% and 38%, depending on which poll you use. (According to http://www.pollingreport.com) Congress’ approval rating is between 18% and 28%. This means that the people elected to represent the ciizens of the United States are doing a poor job of it.
If only 1 out of 4 people (Or 1 of 5 for the Congress.) thought I was doing my job effectively, I’d be fired.
I hope that Obama will bring the changes he intends to!
I’m with ya.
“You’re our only hope . . . Obama.”
When the season of voter fancy returned after a four year hiatus, I had to take a long look at the field of Democrats. From day one, I have known there would be only two REAL contenders and both of them are still duking it out at this very moment. I am not a Democrat, anymore. I am an American and I am searcing for a candidate who may actually be able to breathe new life into this country. For me, that is Obama. I am very invigorated when he speaks and for the first time in a LONG time, I believe we have a candidate who hasn’t been tainted by Washington money and politics. That is the reason I cast my vote for him here in AZ last week. I agree with your entire post and I hope and pray with all Americans who are searching for change that this is the man to make it happen!
I love being an Oregonian… Not only are we going to help put Obama over the top, but we get to vote for this guy too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UesvrH-cs
Reading this current event, when it isn’t very current is typical of me. However I am glad that I read it. I have said often that “I surround myself with geeks so that I can absorb intelligence…with Osmosis, in a way.” I get to pick up things that I normally wouldn’t in my normal day as an average product of society. I am handed books that I would have normally overlooked. I get things explained to me, things like technology, things such as news, things such as current affairs. Being a product of society I tend to over look the obvious because it doesn’t directly concern me. I often sit down with friends and begin a conversation with “tell me something I don’t know” Thank you for letting me see things from your point of view and from all of those who have commented. When I go to vote I will choose wisely rather then choosing the lesser of two evils, which I have always considered the presidential election to be. Thank you for telling me something I didn’t know.