Voting for Obama

With his endorsement today of Barack Obama, Colin Powell began to rehabilitate himself from his shameful performance at the United Nations during the Bush administration's run-up to the Iraq War.I am voting for Obama without reservation. He is just about the complete opposite of George W. Bush in approach, temperament, and substance. This is someone you can vote for, rather than against the other guy.But I am also more and more afraid of a McCain presidency. In the past, because of McCain's stance on a few issues where he broke with his party, I didn't have that fear. Now, however, it's clear that McCain is fundamentally unsuited for the presidency. He has sold his soul to the Right, has engaged in politics skirting the edge of hate speech, has surrounded himself with the same people he used to find repugnant, and has displayed an impulsiveness in the selection of Sarah Palin (among other decisions) that indicate a McCain presidency would be at best a mediocrity, at worst a train wreck.Please understand that although I self-define as a liberal, I would vote for a centrist Republican, depending on the qualifications of the Democratic candidate. The problem is, true Republicans are rare right now. What you have instead are mostly Neocons, Apologists for reckless behavior on all fronts, and candidates who apparently think that governance is just leverage for a never-ending political campaign.One thing, too, that the last eight years proved--the President is as important as he wants to be. (And thus not voting because "it doesn't matter" sounds even lamer than usual.) Even just through a flurry of executive orders, not to mention legislation and through manipulation of the justice department, George W. Bush managed to push through a decidedly anti-people agenda. Which is to say, for eight years, the government of the United States has waged a war against its own population. More pollutants in the air, water, and land, resulting in more cases of cancer and other diseases. Fewer freedoms. Etc. Basically, this president is responsible for contributing to a systematic, wide-spread oppression on so many fronts that trying to combat it has frozen many of us in place. McCain was generally in lock-step with W in this agenda, and traded his credibility for access and the leverage to make a bid for the presidency one more time.McCain is fond of lambasting Obama for being a "celebrity" and "the one", as if Obama has no real reason for running for president. But the fact is--McCain is "the one" running for the presidency as if it were his birthright, without any other compelling argument being made.