the Unexpressed Advantage

This is on the heels of an inquisitive post over on Jeff's Blog. If you've never looked at his blog, take a peek, he actually get's the relevant stories up faster than most news sites. That's where I found out that Anna-Nicole died and learned that Al Franken is running for senate.

Although I don't think this picture really suggests to anybody that Will Smith and Barack Obama are siblings, the photo interested me in the possiblity of comparing the two as to which would be the better candidate for president.

But obviously from the above paragraph, I started working on this post months ago (at this point I expect you to know my feelings about Jeff's blog).

I want to think through the upcoming election. I want to know who to vote for, and obviously it's not going to be Will Smith. Of course that's only because he's not running. If he were running it'd be a no-brainer. Anybody that can kill aliens, fly spaceships, defeat government conspiracies, Rap well, kick some serious butt, pretend to be gay, AND mack on Eva Mendes is ok by me; and way overqualified to be President (note: there are only two qualifications). But since that is – wait for it – obvious, it seems more appropo (not a real word) to start thinking about Barack.

Why think about him? Well, lots of reasons:

1. My mom likes him. That's a good place to start. She's pretty liberal, but she has good taste in people as far as I can tell. She likes me, and that's a pretty acurate evaluation.
2. He's severely popular. I think he has a good chance to win even though many political analysts don't. So it's good to know about people who could potentially be running your country (side note, I don't think Hillary has a chance in hades. That's a bold statement and against the convential wisdom grain, but I'm almost sure of it – explanation later).

1. I kind of like Him. Regarding Obama as a person, I'm as wowed and charmed as the rest of us. Based on personality alone, I'd vote for him (assuming Will Smith was not running) no question. But choosing the leader of the free world has to be based on more than just personality.

   So now that we're thinking about him, what should we think about the things he thinks? Here's just some brief commentary on some of the key political issues surrounding Barack, taking some guidance from the Wikipedia article which lays the important ones out.

   • His Energy Policy – He's pro reduction of oil and fossil fuel use and ok with nuclear power. This is fine by me. I know, as many people do, that we're pretty much hosed concerning fossil fuels in the next 50 or 100 years. So I'm all about conservation and alternative energy sources (my maxima runs on garbage like the Back to the Future car).
   • Universal Health Care – He's all about it. And so am I. I haven't talked to you all about this issue, but living in Canada for 2 years will make a believer out of anyone.
   • Network Neutrality – You probably don't know what this is, but trust me, you are in favor of network neutrality. If you use the internet for more than email and like things like Youtube and Google, then you are pro network neutrality. The only people opposed to network neutrality are greedy corporate bas@#ds.
   • Ending the Iraq War – He's for it, and soon. I'm not sure about this one, but I'm getting tired of the war just like everybody else is.
   • Arab Israeli Conflict – Obama seems to be pretty pro-Israel. I'm also not sure about this one. I'm conflicted from a theological standpoint.
   • Immigration – as a Danish Mexican I'm definitely not anti-immigration. But there has to be some sense to it as well. Obama seems to line up right along those lines.
   • Gay Marriage – He's pro civil union but believes that "Marriage" proper is between a man and a woman. With slight reservation, this is where I line up as well. Not all Christians will like this, though.
   • Gun Control – Anti semi-automatic weapon. Come on. Can you really make a logical case that any part of our Constitution or moral perspective allows for normal people like you and me to go out to a store and buy a 9mm semi-automatic gloc pistol? I think that's rediculous. Hunting rifles are one thing, but in accordance with Michael Douglass in The American President we gotta get the guns.
   • Stem Cell Research – Apparently this is a bad thing. I don't know enough about this issue though to have an opinion on it.
   • Abortion – Obama is adamately pro-choice. And of course this could be the deal breaker for me and just about every Christian voter. My Pastor says that this is the key issue, that as long as abortion is legal, we live in a "culture of death". It's hard for me to find an error in his logic there. But I wonder, considering all the other things about him that seem so good, whether for me the abortion issue really needs to be a deal breaker.

     So there's some food for thought. Or thought for food, if you're in the cooking mood. Hey that rhymes. I think that this is going to be a pretty important election, and Obama really stands out to me; but i'm still not convinced.

     Thoughts?