Publisher's Note:
The Democratic Tribune is not a grand publication (yet). We do not publish this diary as some sort of pat on the back to our website or anything that resembles an official newspaper endorsement. We are just a few simple Hoosiers who publish a semi-successful website who wanted to share our support for the man who we feel should be the next President of The United States. From all of us at The Democratic Tribune, thank you for reading!
It is with great pride and honor that the Democratic Tribune, formerly known as IndianaPolitics.org, endorses Democratic Party Candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) to be the next President of The United States. It is the belief of this publication via a complete consensus among its publisher and contributors that Senator Obama possesses the skills, ideals, intelligence, education, grasp of the issues, public policy solutions, ideals, and character to lift the United States out of its current state of crisis and set in motion policies that will rebuild this country's economy, reconstitute its energy policy to leave Middle Eastern oil in the dust, and restore our reputation around the world as a beacon of freedom and opportunity for all who would work for it.
We can already see the critics' emails and the underlying messages contained within them:
Of course you are endorsing Obama. Hello...The DEMOCRATIC Tribune! Your articles are all Obama-friendly - and your criticism is invariably one-sided. Tell us something we don't know!
That point of view is understandable to us. It is one we hear on a regular basis via the hundreds of emails we have received from McCain/Hannity/Limbaugh/Coulter supporters. In response, we will tell you something we are certain you did not know:
This website's publisher and all but one of its contributors voted for current Republican President George W. Bush - both in 2000 and 2004.
Obama's ability to connect with millions of working-class Americans makes his message that which will empower those who have been neglected during the past eight years
That's right...at one time, all but one of us were Republican Party supporters or registered Independents who teetered on the fence but ultimately voted for Bush.
Why did we support Bush? For many of us, that support was predicated on a misguided belief that we, the middle class, were 'overtaxed'. We had listened to the 'new media' tell us during college how oppressive Bill Clinton's economic policies were. We believed that Bush's tax cut proposals in 2000 would actually put more coin in our pockets. We believed that Social Security taxes were actually put in a 'trust fund' that could not and would not be spent for any reason. Therefore, we voted for Bush in 2000.
Then the 2004 Election arrived. Like many undecided voters that year, we were persuaded by the politics of fear that the Bush Administration was peddling. We were thinking about giving Kerry a look, but every new flip-flop and 'Swiftboat' ad that continued to flood our airwaves moved us back to the comfort of the Bush Administration's 'strength'. After all, Democrats are 'weak', right? And we are fighting a 'War on Terror' - which historically necessitates the election of a Republican instead of a Democrat.
However, sometime around late 2005/early 2006 we all began to reflect upon what the War in Iraq had cost this country. We were appalled at the outright arrogance displayed by the Bush Administration and its inexcusable handling of that conflict. We came to grips with the fact that the justification for the war had been an outright lie. Thousands of soldiers' lives and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars had been wasted - all during a time when energy prices were choking the life out of the working class. Some of us felt a responsibility for the lives that had been lost and the money that had been wasted. After all, we did vote for President Bush - twice.
That the Hoosier State embraced Senator Obama so willingly spoke volumes about his dedication to the working class
And then there was the economy. The magic Bush tax cuts had been exposed for what they are: A pump of money into the pockets of the affluent and a simultaneous drain on the working class. The public policy problem of health care was not addressed. Social Security had not been addressed. The gap between the rich and the poor had widened. In one large swoop, Bush had undone the economic equity supported during the Clinton presidency and replaced it with the same Reaganomics that crippled the working class during the 1980s.
Now, we find ourselves in an economic and financial crisis the likes of which this country has not experienced since the Great Depression. Our dependence on foreign oil has continued to increase under Republican White House and six years of Congressional control. Our reputation around the world has diminished. We toil away in Iraq while Al Qaeda regains its strength in Afghanistan. And oh by the way, we still have health care and Social Security crises in America.
So there we were...offered two choices for president.
One man, Republican John McCain, had a reputation for being a 'maverick' but seemed to represent everything that is corrupt about Washington: ties to disgraced lobbyists, a record of supporting deregulation of the financial markets, explicit support for the same Bush tax cuts that, along with Iraq War spending, have bankrupted the federal budget, an energy policy that centers on drilling, a health care policy that leaves tens of millions uninsured, and a commitment to continuing the Iraq War indefinitely.
Another man, Democratic Party Candidate Barack Obama, has a different approach. He makes tax equity a lasting message and priority. His health care plan leaves no one behind. He is committed to ending the War in Iraq in an expedient manner. He is committed to restoring our broken reputation around the world and repairing alliances with our friends that have been strained during the Bush years. He, not McCain, has expressed a very real commitment to turning our focus on Al Qaeda - even if it means acting when Pakistan will/can not. It is Obama, not McCain, who has made improving the quality of life for the working class a very salient public policy area of attention complete with viable solutions.
When we first heard Barack Obama speak, we were mesmerized by the depth of his knowledge and the articulation of his message. As we heard him throughout the primary season, we were astounded at the manner with which he conducted his campaign and how he managed to defeat one of the most intelligent, strong, capable, and powerful candidates for president who has ever stepped foot on stage: Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY). As the economy plunged and the debates raged on, we were in awe of how calm, cool, and collected he remained and the leadership he showed in not just giving speeches during the initial stages of the crisis, but actually fielding questions from the press and speaking words of assurance to the American people while McCain flailed away to find a coherent message. Now, as he pushes strongly toward Election Day, we are as firm in our resolve to see this man be elected and sworn in that we felt compelled to explicitly and publicly endorse Barack Obama as the next President of The United States. This country needs the type of change that will accompany an Obama Administration. It is for the sake of the country and its present and future that we urge our readers to vote for Senator Obama on November 4.
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