Why would a life long Republican who has never voted for a Democrat in local, state or federal elections support Obama over any Republican presidential candidate (except possibly McCain)? In short, why am I an Obama Republican?
For starters and by way of background, I can assure you it is most assuredly not his political philosophy. Although I am thinking about quitting the Republican party and becoming an Independent I registered as a Republican in the late 80’s because I thought the Republicans believed in small limited government and as a fiscal conservative there was little doubt which party espoused this viewpoint. It is clear that Obama does not share my basic philosophical outlook on the basic role of government and thus there would seem to be little reason for me to support him.
So if it’s not his general political outlook then why would I even consider him? To which I would answer one reason is emotionally and personality based which leads to the more important and practical reason for supporting him.
Quite simply, even though I differ from him from a political outlook, Obama seems to be intelligent, well-spoken, thoughtful, and sincere in his belief that politics must change. He seems very likable and since I’m an American before a Republican, I can honestly say that his speeches inspire me like no other politician ever has except possibly Reagan. Add to this his multi-racial background and you have the potential for a transformational leader that can work across party lines, heal a lot of wounds and bring back hope to this country. Admittedly this has been stated many times by Democratic Obama supporters and it is all very "cult of personality-ish". However, his tone and demeanor leads me to the more important and practical side of why I am supporting Obama.
Even though most people on this site are far more politically aware than the average American, with all due respect I don’t think that most kossacks fully understand the situation that America finds itself in.
As the Comptroller of the US recently said:
"The federal government's fiscal exposures totaled approximately $53 trillion as of September 30, 2007, up more than $2 trillion from September 30, 2006, and an increase of more than $32 trillion from about $20 trillion as of September 30, 2000," Walker said. "This translates into a current burden of about $175,000 per American or approximately $455,000 per American household."
http://www.yubanet.com/...
The vast majority of the "fiscal exposures" is due to the poor long term financial health of both the Social Security and Medicare systems whose fiscal exposures have a combined total in excess of $40 trillion. (Source: Pg 25 of the 2007 Financial Summary Report of the US Government: http://www.fms.treas.gov/... )
The important thing here is that when you view the problems associated with our SS and Medicare systems through this financial lens you really see that it is a numbers problem (with very real future consequences for very real people to be sure). The solution to this numbers game is to come up with an extra $40+ trillion in either tax increases or in benefit cuts. Now, I as a fiscal conservative philosophically favor benefit cuts as the primary way of saving both these systems. Understandably, progressives favor tax increases to solve this problem.
But here is the key point and why I support Obama. Even though I am a conservative and favor a low taxation system, I know that taxes will need to be raised to save these systems. (I also know that benefits will need to be cut and I hope progressives will realize this) On some level, all politicians realize this to be true but simply put they can’t run on a platform of raising taxes and cutting benefits because very few of us would vote for them. Thus, in order for these systems to be saved we will need a transformational leader that can work across party lines, a leader that is an outsider to Washington and can’t be blamed for the creation of these problems. We also need a leader that can energize the under 40 crowd in America because they will need to be politically engaged in order to come to an equitable solution for today’s seniors, the boomers and the younger and future generations. (Otherwise the younger generations will be railroaded into picking up the vast majority of the bill for the problems created by the seniors and boomers)
Now, would Obama’s solution to save SS and Medicare be more liberal than I would like? Yes. But a more progressive solution is better than no solution at all. Looking at the rest of the presidential candidates in both parties I don’t think there is any other presidential candidate (except possibly McCain and he is doubtful) that has the ability to work together across party lines to come to a decent compromise on these issues before we reach a crisis point.
The last point I would like to make is that when I think about the problems with these two systems, when I think about the problems associated with Climate Change/Peak Oil and the need to revamp our healthcare/health insurance industry I truly fear for the future of my new born child. The problems we face are immense and it is time for this partisan bickering and hateful political rhetoric to come to an end. We need somebody that can bring us hope and somebody that can bring us together. I wish he were more conservative or at least more moderate but I hope (if not believe) that Obama can truly change the political discourse in America so that we can begin to address these difficult problems that face all of us. That is why I’m an Obama Republican.