Why Obama will win
By: Matt Giancola.
The campaign for the presidency has started uniquely early. There are a number of reasons for this. The field is more wide open than it has been in decades, as there is no president running for re-election or a vice-president running, and both parties have a multitude of candidates who think that this is their year to get the government's biggest job.But there is only one man fit for the position.There are a number of Democrats running who are certainly qualified for the job. After eight years of the horrendously incompetent Bush and Cheney, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Bill Richardson would all be refreshing. Richardson is the governor of New Mexico, has many years of foreign policy experience and was the Secretary of Energy, a sector that will only gain importance in the coming decades. Edwards brings important domestic concerns to the table that are very often overlooked. He has been focusing on America's poor and how to rectify the huge income inequality that plagues our country. He has also set up a community service program through his campaign that allows supporters to take action and help those in the community. None of these Democratic candidates will become president however, and the Republican candidates have challenges as well. There is only one candidate who is capturing the minds of the public, who has the vision to lead the United States away from the failed policies that President Bush led us into, and can win both the primary and general election. That candidate is Barack Obama.Hillary Clinton, the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, is vulnerable on a number of fronts. Her support for the Iraq War has hurt among party activists. She still will not apologize for her vote to authorize the President to take us into this bloody and unnecessary war. Though Obama was not in the Senate when the votes for the war were cast, he has been against the war from the beginning. In 2002, before the invasion, he gave a speech in Chicago outlining the reasons why the United States should not invade Iraq. Had we followed his advice, we would not be in the dire situation we are now in; we could have focused our energies on fully destroying al-Qaeda, disarming North Korea and engage Iran diplomatically. Instead we are left in the middle of a civil war - a training ground for Jihadi terrorists. Not only would Senator Obama not have taken us in, but he also has a plan on how to get us out that involves redeployment. This approach takes the military out of harm's way but leaves them with the ability to act should the Iraqi government fall to insurgent forces.
It is not simply his foreign policy that makes him an attractive candidate to Democrats. His message of hope and overcoming obstacles that keep our nation down is a message that we have been in dire need of. Yes, he is the first African-American to have a real chance at winning the election, but his attractiveness is in his words, not his skin color. He speaks to the best in people, to bringing the country together. In his electrifying 2004 Democratic Keynote Address, he stated, "Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: in the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead."And he has seen much suffering in his life. Working as a community organizer in inner-city Chicago after college, he saw the suffering of a people too often forgotten by their leaders. He toiled to get public housing inspected and cleaned, to get the police to sit down with the people - anything that would impact lives, whether they are small gestures showing that someone still cares, or new policies. After graduating Harvard Law with a stint as president of the Harvard Law Review, he became a civil rights lawyer, returning to inner-city Chicago. He could have become a high-priced lawyer. He could have worked for a wealthy corporation. He could have worked anywhere. Instead, he chose to help the people that needed it most.Voters have a lot to weigh in this election. Do they want an opportunist who will not recant on a failed war, or are they looking for something else - a meaningful, charismatic candidate who represents the best aspects of this country? With more than a year to go before the election, there is already a Facebook group with more than a quarter-million supporters. This is a staggering amount of support from an age group that apparently never votes. We need to move away from bungling Republican rule; Senator Obama represents the hope that resides in us all - that better days are ahead.
By: Matt Giancola.
The campaign for the presidency has started uniquely early. There are a number of reasons for this. The field is more wide open than it has been in decades, as there is no president running for re-election or a vice-president running, and both parties have a multitude of candidates who think that this is their year to get the government's biggest job.But there is only one man fit for the position.There are a number of Democrats running who are certainly qualified for the job. After eight years of the horrendously incompetent Bush and Cheney, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Bill Richardson would all be refreshing. Richardson is the governor of New Mexico, has many years of foreign policy experience and was the Secretary of Energy, a sector that will only gain importance in the coming decades. Edwards brings important domestic concerns to the table that are very often overlooked. He has been focusing on America's poor and how to rectify the huge income inequality that plagues our country. He has also set up a community service program through his campaign that allows supporters to take action and help those in the community. None of these Democratic candidates will become president however, and the Republican candidates have challenges as well. There is only one candidate who is capturing the minds of the public, who has the vision to lead the United States away from the failed policies that President Bush led us into, and can win both the primary and general election. That candidate is Barack Obama.Hillary Clinton, the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, is vulnerable on a number of fronts. Her support for the Iraq War has hurt among party activists. She still will not apologize for her vote to authorize the President to take us into this bloody and unnecessary war. Though Obama was not in the Senate when the votes for the war were cast, he has been against the war from the beginning. In 2002, before the invasion, he gave a speech in Chicago outlining the reasons why the United States should not invade Iraq. Had we followed his advice, we would not be in the dire situation we are now in; we could have focused our energies on fully destroying al-Qaeda, disarming North Korea and engage Iran diplomatically. Instead we are left in the middle of a civil war - a training ground for Jihadi terrorists. Not only would Senator Obama not have taken us in, but he also has a plan on how to get us out that involves redeployment. This approach takes the military out of harm's way but leaves them with the ability to act should the Iraqi government fall to insurgent forces.
It is not simply his foreign policy that makes him an attractive candidate to Democrats. His message of hope and overcoming obstacles that keep our nation down is a message that we have been in dire need of. Yes, he is the first African-American to have a real chance at winning the election, but his attractiveness is in his words, not his skin color. He speaks to the best in people, to bringing the country together. In his electrifying 2004 Democratic Keynote Address, he stated, "Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: in the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead."And he has seen much suffering in his life. Working as a community organizer in inner-city Chicago after college, he saw the suffering of a people too often forgotten by their leaders. He toiled to get public housing inspected and cleaned, to get the police to sit down with the people - anything that would impact lives, whether they are small gestures showing that someone still cares, or new policies. After graduating Harvard Law with a stint as president of the Harvard Law Review, he became a civil rights lawyer, returning to inner-city Chicago. He could have become a high-priced lawyer. He could have worked for a wealthy corporation. He could have worked anywhere. Instead, he chose to help the people that needed it most.Voters have a lot to weigh in this election. Do they want an opportunist who will not recant on a failed war, or are they looking for something else - a meaningful, charismatic candidate who represents the best aspects of this country? With more than a year to go before the election, there is already a Facebook group with more than a quarter-million supporters. This is a staggering amount of support from an age group that apparently never votes. We need to move away from bungling Republican rule; Senator Obama represents the hope that resides in us all - that better days are ahead.
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