Change we can believe in... YES WE CAN.
I just got home from an Obama speech watching party and boy was it riveting. Aside from the crazy orgies (with the MANY geriatrics) and satanic worship, we all happened to have a good time, coming together as supports of not one, as Obama said, but as supporters of all of us.
WE are the change WE have been waiting for.
Those are powerful, moving words. In front of 80,000 plus at Mile High, he gave yet another speech that sent chills down our collective spines. Flags waving on screen and off, we wooped and cheered as he made each, succinct, brilliant and very true point. The pundits I am listening to now are saying it was a surprisingly powerful attack at McCain the disastrous 8 years that have preceded us as a nation. "Its time for them, the Republicans to own their failure, it is time for us to change America." That is the soundbite of the night for me. It means so much for me, and hopefully for you all. It says it all. To me, it means we need to put the blame where it is due, but not to sit here and complain about it, but time to take a stance and stand up for what we believe in and know is true to our hearts. It is only then when we can truly make the positive change that we all need. I myself signed up for events for Moveon.org just to get out there, register people to vote and take that step to put him in office so we can continue the change we have started. He also said that John McCain does not support change for the next 4 years because he has voted with Bush 90% of the time."8 is enough" is how Obama stated that we have had enough of Bush 2.0 and we don't need 4 more years of it. "We don't need someone who voted for change 10% of the time." That was a powerful statement. He is saying that Bush and the Republicans are the antithesis of change, and McCain has followed lock stock in line to just further his own career while voting with the so-called president far too much to evoke change. I used to have some respect for him with the McCain-Feingold bill and being someone who seemed to stand up for beliefs rather than political gain. While not a particularly religious man, he is pandering to the religious right because he knows that is how he can win, pretty much his only chance is to get evangelicals in a huge way. He is now swallowing both pride and dignity just to reach that ultimate goal, and it is really sad. I believe (and hope) Obama would never sacrifice his dignity for political gain or to keep his grasp on it when he has it.
The other highlights were ones that really hit home to me as well. One is healthcare. With the recent news in my last blog of my father and TRYING to get SSI and Medicare because he can no longer work, it is frightening to me what will happen to him. As a matter of fact, I read up on the healthcare issue today because as much I love Obama, I would vote for McCain if it meant a better deal for my personal situation now, and I wouldn't feel the slightest bit bad about that. But very many thanks to McCain for having too many shortfalls in his plan, and many accolades to Obama for his great plan. That was a great thing about the speech, he gave specifics and even spoke of the shortfalls in McCain's. Basically Obama wants to charge all business owners, except for very small businesses (less than 10 employees is what most people think) to provide healthcare for their employees in same fashion, and if they cannot, they will be taxed. There is no concrete data on how much, but it would have to be significant enough to make these employers lose more money than they would if they provided insurance to their employees, as they should. Those who don't send that money into a pool that will pay for people that do not have insurance and those that are too "high-risk" to be insured. Someone like my dad for instance, who has a pre-existing condition. The rest of the money for this pool would come from creating a national medical database that will save money by cutting costs of recordkeeping and preventing medical errors. There are other measures that will save us money over time, like prevention instead of treatment, as he kinda noted in his "not arguing over abortion rights, but preventing unwanted pregnancies". This and other things will cut costs, which is the main reason medical insurance is so expensive. McCain basically wants everyone to get their own insurance on their own. That may be well and good for the young, healthy people, but the older you get and more conditions you have, it becomes increasingly expensive and could even be denied to you. Companies pay less per person than individuals because they have a larger pool of people to choose from, both healthy and not and they have the buying power and necessity. So personal healthcare would be way more expensive, especially if you have a pre-existing condition, and then good luck finding someone to cover you. McCain's inept plan will give individuals $2500 a year tax credit to offset your costs, but that would not be near enough for one person, and $5000 for families, but again, not near enough. He feels that having more people in the personal market will drive the "prevailing market conditions" down to where it is more affordable, but what it does is pinpoint those that are not healthy enough to get coverage and charge them absurd amounts or not cover them at all. It is a plan that is not good for many, and definitely not good us as a country. That is what Obama meant when he said your taxes will essentially go up under his plan, as the pre-tax benefit you get from your employer on healthcare is negated and now you have to pay taxes on that. So you are getting taxed more on your income and then being forced to pay more for healthcare, that is a great plan.
That was a lot I said on healthcare, had a Hillary moment there, but I am past it now. Like I said, it is just very much more near and dear to me now. I like how he used his "weaknesses" as strengths tonight as well. He verbally stood toe-to-toe with McCain on defense and foreign affairs, including Israel which is good because McCain is trying to use Jews against him by telling them he supports Iran. He said "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he wont even follow him to the cave where he lives." That is a powerful message to say, I will be in charge of this military from day and finish the job that Bush was "not spending time thinking about" finishing. Plus he said he has a timeline to pull out the troops, even noting that the Iraqi government wants a timeline as well. From previous blogs you know I have been against the war from the start and will never back down on that issue. We are over 4,000 soldiers dead, including a jr. high friend of mine, and I am sick of losing our young men and exponentially sending more back that are injured and limbless. He very much took the judo approach and even the "Bush Approach" by casting those supposed shortcomings aside while fiercely crying "bring it on."
In summation, I am a sucker for great speeches, and fell in love all over again with his oratorical skills and how eloquently he captures our feelings. You can take what you want from that, he really pulled at my heartstrings and made me want to vote for him with my heart. I can appreciate that but it is not the only reason I will and anyone should vote for him. He gave us, cold, hard facts about his plans as president and why he should be voted as such. That is why I feel very comfortable because I am voting with my head as well, and he puts me at ease on that.
WE are the change WE have been waiting for.
Those are powerful, moving words. In front of 80,000 plus at Mile High, he gave yet another speech that sent chills down our collective spines. Flags waving on screen and off, we wooped and cheered as he made each, succinct, brilliant and very true point. The pundits I am listening to now are saying it was a surprisingly powerful attack at McCain the disastrous 8 years that have preceded us as a nation. "Its time for them, the Republicans to own their failure, it is time for us to change America." That is the soundbite of the night for me. It means so much for me, and hopefully for you all. It says it all. To me, it means we need to put the blame where it is due, but not to sit here and complain about it, but time to take a stance and stand up for what we believe in and know is true to our hearts. It is only then when we can truly make the positive change that we all need. I myself signed up for events for Moveon.org just to get out there, register people to vote and take that step to put him in office so we can continue the change we have started. He also said that John McCain does not support change for the next 4 years because he has voted with Bush 90% of the time."8 is enough" is how Obama stated that we have had enough of Bush 2.0 and we don't need 4 more years of it. "We don't need someone who voted for change 10% of the time." That was a powerful statement. He is saying that Bush and the Republicans are the antithesis of change, and McCain has followed lock stock in line to just further his own career while voting with the so-called president far too much to evoke change. I used to have some respect for him with the McCain-Feingold bill and being someone who seemed to stand up for beliefs rather than political gain. While not a particularly religious man, he is pandering to the religious right because he knows that is how he can win, pretty much his only chance is to get evangelicals in a huge way. He is now swallowing both pride and dignity just to reach that ultimate goal, and it is really sad. I believe (and hope) Obama would never sacrifice his dignity for political gain or to keep his grasp on it when he has it.
The other highlights were ones that really hit home to me as well. One is healthcare. With the recent news in my last blog of my father and TRYING to get SSI and Medicare because he can no longer work, it is frightening to me what will happen to him. As a matter of fact, I read up on the healthcare issue today because as much I love Obama, I would vote for McCain if it meant a better deal for my personal situation now, and I wouldn't feel the slightest bit bad about that. But very many thanks to McCain for having too many shortfalls in his plan, and many accolades to Obama for his great plan. That was a great thing about the speech, he gave specifics and even spoke of the shortfalls in McCain's. Basically Obama wants to charge all business owners, except for very small businesses (less than 10 employees is what most people think) to provide healthcare for their employees in same fashion, and if they cannot, they will be taxed. There is no concrete data on how much, but it would have to be significant enough to make these employers lose more money than they would if they provided insurance to their employees, as they should. Those who don't send that money into a pool that will pay for people that do not have insurance and those that are too "high-risk" to be insured. Someone like my dad for instance, who has a pre-existing condition. The rest of the money for this pool would come from creating a national medical database that will save money by cutting costs of recordkeeping and preventing medical errors. There are other measures that will save us money over time, like prevention instead of treatment, as he kinda noted in his "not arguing over abortion rights, but preventing unwanted pregnancies". This and other things will cut costs, which is the main reason medical insurance is so expensive. McCain basically wants everyone to get their own insurance on their own. That may be well and good for the young, healthy people, but the older you get and more conditions you have, it becomes increasingly expensive and could even be denied to you. Companies pay less per person than individuals because they have a larger pool of people to choose from, both healthy and not and they have the buying power and necessity. So personal healthcare would be way more expensive, especially if you have a pre-existing condition, and then good luck finding someone to cover you. McCain's inept plan will give individuals $2500 a year tax credit to offset your costs, but that would not be near enough for one person, and $5000 for families, but again, not near enough. He feels that having more people in the personal market will drive the "prevailing market conditions" down to where it is more affordable, but what it does is pinpoint those that are not healthy enough to get coverage and charge them absurd amounts or not cover them at all. It is a plan that is not good for many, and definitely not good us as a country. That is what Obama meant when he said your taxes will essentially go up under his plan, as the pre-tax benefit you get from your employer on healthcare is negated and now you have to pay taxes on that. So you are getting taxed more on your income and then being forced to pay more for healthcare, that is a great plan.
That was a lot I said on healthcare, had a Hillary moment there, but I am past it now. Like I said, it is just very much more near and dear to me now. I like how he used his "weaknesses" as strengths tonight as well. He verbally stood toe-to-toe with McCain on defense and foreign affairs, including Israel which is good because McCain is trying to use Jews against him by telling them he supports Iran. He said "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he wont even follow him to the cave where he lives." That is a powerful message to say, I will be in charge of this military from day and finish the job that Bush was "not spending time thinking about" finishing. Plus he said he has a timeline to pull out the troops, even noting that the Iraqi government wants a timeline as well. From previous blogs you know I have been against the war from the start and will never back down on that issue. We are over 4,000 soldiers dead, including a jr. high friend of mine, and I am sick of losing our young men and exponentially sending more back that are injured and limbless. He very much took the judo approach and even the "Bush Approach" by casting those supposed shortcomings aside while fiercely crying "bring it on."
In summation, I am a sucker for great speeches, and fell in love all over again with his oratorical skills and how eloquently he captures our feelings. You can take what you want from that, he really pulled at my heartstrings and made me want to vote for him with my heart. I can appreciate that but it is not the only reason I will and anyone should vote for him. He gave us, cold, hard facts about his plans as president and why he should be voted as such. That is why I feel very comfortable because I am voting with my head as well, and he puts me at ease on that.