Four Freedoms (At Least)

This morning, I received an email, purporting to be merely informative, but which contained a letter that was quite argumentative in favor of McCain. The author's main argument was that no one he asked could tell him what Obama would change. If this were true (which is highly dubious), I can understand being momentarily stumped. Many of us find Obama such a logical choice, that articulating the reasons is actually quite difficult. Voting for him as the next president makes sense on a such a visceral level that we have to consciously think of the reasons. Nevertheless, the man asked why people were voting for Obama, and I think one of the best summations of why I'm choosing Obama over McCain is his dedication to "the people," which is best represented by a famous speech delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his “Four Freedoms” speech, he argued that the foundations for a durable democracy were “equality of opportunity for youth and for others; jobs for those who can work; security for those who need it; the ending of special privilege for the few; the preservation of civil liberties for all; [and] the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.”

1. National Security / Green Energy
2. Health Care
3. Financial Regulation
4. Social Security

One, two, three, and four. As demonstrated in one of the classic Seinfeld episodes, there is a good naked and a bad naked. There is also a good change (Obama and stabilizing the economy and restoring honor to the U.S.) and bad change (McCain and going to war with everyone who pisses him off).

I'm obviously biased, as every voter is. This is my argument for Obama, but I'm not dressing it up as an objective or purely factual one. For me, Obama is not perfect, (or Muslim (oops, that was a fact)) but he's the most suitable candidate for the job. John McCain, as I see him, is misogynistic, dishonest, condescending, erratic, and completely unfit for the job. McCain served this country once, but now he's slave to his own ambition.

For people who really just want to be informed, check out nonpartisan resources, such as factcheck.org.