Why I'm Voting for Obama

Like a lot of people, I want to see a change, a real change in American politics and government. And like an increasing number of Americans, I think Obama has the approach, the mind, and the message to bring about that change. Here's why.

First, he has the right approach. I believe strongly in a centrist approach to governance. I think it's great that people have strong opinions and ideas, but government should be about finding common ground to solve problems and not beating each other over the head with our ideologies. When I saw early in the campaign that Obama wasn't accepting donations from PACs or lobbyists and that his campaign was being funded primarily in denominations of $25 and $50, I was intrigued. I absolutely LOVED his DNC speech in 2004 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56-m8wx1mwo - jump to 3:30 for the best part), and his campaign financing showed early signs that he would practice what he had preached. I got excited thinking that a candidate might actually win his party's nomination without swinging to the extreme wing of the party in order to "crank the base." That's what Romney (and Hillary and almost every other candidate before them) has done and it always turns me off. Barack started in the center and stayed in the center and I'm pumped up at the thought that it might actually work this time.

Then there's the mind. The guy is freakin' brilliant. Editor of the Harvard Law Review and a brilliant orator that can convince, inspire, and lead all
at the same time. Check out his Call to Renewal keynote (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-tdM265j7Q). Fantastic stuff. We need this kind of a mind in the White House. Not just to solve problems and hand down solutions, but to convince and communicate and compromise to real solutions for real problems.

And finally, the message. One of the most common complaints about Obama is the apparent lack of meat behind the message. "Yeah, he talks pretty, but what does he really stand for? What are his positions? What experience has he had?" While Obama does, in fact, have plenty of solid policy proposals and sufficient experience to convince me that he can do the job, the question misses the point. The message IS the meat. We can solve tough problems by respecting each other, working together, and compromising for the common good. Seriously, I'm pretty smart (no, really, I can show you my test scores) and I feel completely lost when I think about how to solve health care. I have a MBA from a top twenty school, and I'm not at all sure what we should do to stimulate the economy. But I LOVE the idea of having a president who can bring great minds together, take the best from all of them, create solutions that all (or most) of them can support, and then rally the country around a common cause. I LOVE the idea of having a president that can engage people in the process that have previously felt cynical and disenfranchised. I LOVE the idea that we can elect a skinny kid with a funny name not because he has all of the right views or policies, but because he has the temperament, the mind, and the message to LEAD.