Obama?
In the interest in opening a dialog with the other side I’ve written this as my reasons I can not endorse Barack Obama.
Abortion Obama is an ardent supporter of abortion going so far as to support partial birth abortion in voting against "Born Alive Infant Protection Act." as a state senator. I can’t comment any more on this particular point as reading what he was voting against has turned my stomach. More recently Obama’s "it’s above my pay grade"¹ comments at Saddle Back Church and refusing to comment or answer the other abortion question. Setting aside that as the leader of the free world if elected "it’s above my pay grade" would fly like a leaden balloon. Furthermore both Planned Parenthood and NARAL give Obama a 100%² in his support of their cause, it can easily be said and maintained that Obama is and always has been solidly behind the abortion movement.
Gun Control his stance on Gun control seems to be windy at best (i.e. whichever way the wind is blowing at the moment) from early bans on handguns to his comments that he thinks the ban on handguns in Washington D.C. is conditional in response to the Supreme Court’s Ruling in Heller³ case. Still later he refused to comment (to his credit) saying him didn’t have all the evidence before him.
Gay Marriage his stance on Gay marriage is hard to pin down as he won’t come out and say what exactly he believes on it. However as real clear politics4 puts it "California Supreme Court decision that ripped away any middle ground on the issue makes him operationally pro-gay marriage"
Israel and Iran on one hand he’s gone before Jewish groups and said Jerusalem would not be divided5 and that Iran is a "dire threat" on the other hand he later said "city's status would be subject to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations" and that he would open discourse with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Setting aside the fact that I don’t think that’s even possible too negotiate with him. I’m left wondering what he really believes6 as he’s got the spinning compass7 thing down pat and its leaving me with the idea he’s pandering to his audiences to the Jews he says one thing to the Iranians another.
Blank Slate in so many ways what Barack Obama believes is largely a unknown8 I know he’s for abortion in the extreme and favors Gun control he claims to be for Israel but waffles on it now and again. Wants to negotiate with Ahmadinejad and pull the troops out as quickly as possible. Beyond this his legislative record is so thin as to be transparent9. and that bothers me I like to know what I’m getting10 and I limited the issues on this post to moral ones and I didn’t touch on things like Global Warming as it’s not a moral issue you either believe it or you don’t.
In the interest of full discloser I'm a born-again Jesus believing Christian and it influences every aspect of my life, including how I vote. When I set out to write this I set out to be as fair as I could and I think I have done that. Let me also categorically state that I’m not bashing him I’m trying with research to clarify what he believes on certain critically important issues. As a Christian the two I won’t negotiate on are Abortion and Israel. Abortion because its murder and Israel because of the Bible. More specifically bible prophecy Genesis 12:3 "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." It is my strong belief that this prophecy still applies to Israel---and frankly I love my Nation (the United States of America) ---and don't want it cursed: it's as simple as that. Also I harbor no ill will against Obama, in fact I’d like to like him. He is a class a orator and seems to inspire people across the board but having a sliver tongue isn’t enough you must be able to lead as well. Looking at the facts I see a man whose motivations are at best murky and at worst very questionable, who is very likeable and probably on par with “The Gipper” as a communicator. But for all his words is he actually saying anything of substance? I’d like to be able to get behind someone with the ability to speak to the diversity of people he’s swayed but the thing is though I just don’t know the guy!
¹ http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1113869
² http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13739
³ http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/06/29/a_silver_bullet_for_obama
4 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obamas_new_politics_on_gay_mar.html
5 http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/23/michael-oren-a-tale-of-two-obamas.aspx
6 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726181011&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
7 http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13194
8 http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/feb/26/military-fears-unknown-quantity/
9 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/the_chosen_obama_narrative.html
10 http://d2cft.volantis.net/d2c/0.0?feed-article-id=78142d82-7065-11dd-b514-0000779fd18c
Abortion Obama is an ardent supporter of abortion going so far as to support partial birth abortion in voting against "Born Alive Infant Protection Act." as a state senator. I can’t comment any more on this particular point as reading what he was voting against has turned my stomach. More recently Obama’s "it’s above my pay grade"¹ comments at Saddle Back Church and refusing to comment or answer the other abortion question. Setting aside that as the leader of the free world if elected "it’s above my pay grade" would fly like a leaden balloon. Furthermore both Planned Parenthood and NARAL give Obama a 100%² in his support of their cause, it can easily be said and maintained that Obama is and always has been solidly behind the abortion movement.
Gun Control his stance on Gun control seems to be windy at best (i.e. whichever way the wind is blowing at the moment) from early bans on handguns to his comments that he thinks the ban on handguns in Washington D.C. is conditional in response to the Supreme Court’s Ruling in Heller³ case. Still later he refused to comment (to his credit) saying him didn’t have all the evidence before him.
Gay Marriage his stance on Gay marriage is hard to pin down as he won’t come out and say what exactly he believes on it. However as real clear politics4 puts it "California Supreme Court decision that ripped away any middle ground on the issue makes him operationally pro-gay marriage"
Israel and Iran on one hand he’s gone before Jewish groups and said Jerusalem would not be divided5 and that Iran is a "dire threat" on the other hand he later said "city's status would be subject to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations" and that he would open discourse with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Setting aside the fact that I don’t think that’s even possible too negotiate with him. I’m left wondering what he really believes6 as he’s got the spinning compass7 thing down pat and its leaving me with the idea he’s pandering to his audiences to the Jews he says one thing to the Iranians another.
Blank Slate in so many ways what Barack Obama believes is largely a unknown8 I know he’s for abortion in the extreme and favors Gun control he claims to be for Israel but waffles on it now and again. Wants to negotiate with Ahmadinejad and pull the troops out as quickly as possible. Beyond this his legislative record is so thin as to be transparent9. and that bothers me I like to know what I’m getting10 and I limited the issues on this post to moral ones and I didn’t touch on things like Global Warming as it’s not a moral issue you either believe it or you don’t.
In the interest of full discloser I'm a born-again Jesus believing Christian and it influences every aspect of my life, including how I vote. When I set out to write this I set out to be as fair as I could and I think I have done that. Let me also categorically state that I’m not bashing him I’m trying with research to clarify what he believes on certain critically important issues. As a Christian the two I won’t negotiate on are Abortion and Israel. Abortion because its murder and Israel because of the Bible. More specifically bible prophecy Genesis 12:3 "And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." It is my strong belief that this prophecy still applies to Israel---and frankly I love my Nation (the United States of America) ---and don't want it cursed: it's as simple as that. Also I harbor no ill will against Obama, in fact I’d like to like him. He is a class a orator and seems to inspire people across the board but having a sliver tongue isn’t enough you must be able to lead as well. Looking at the facts I see a man whose motivations are at best murky and at worst very questionable, who is very likeable and probably on par with “The Gipper” as a communicator. But for all his words is he actually saying anything of substance? I’d like to be able to get behind someone with the ability to speak to the diversity of people he’s swayed but the thing is though I just don’t know the guy!
¹ http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1113869
² http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13739
³ http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/06/29/a_silver_bullet_for_obama
4 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obamas_new_politics_on_gay_mar.html
5 http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/23/michael-oren-a-tale-of-two-obamas.aspx
6 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726181011&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
7 http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13194
8 http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/feb/26/military-fears-unknown-quantity/
9 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/the_chosen_obama_narrative.html
10 http://d2cft.volantis.net/d2c/0.0?feed-article-id=78142d82-7065-11dd-b514-0000779fd18c