Faux Fu

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

I'm Pulling the Lever (do they still have levers?) for Barack Obama!

It's Super Tuesday, primaries all over the country. We get to vote today in Illinois. I'm voting for Barack Obama. I'm not voting against Hillary Clinton. I think each of the Democratic candidates are excellent candidates and I will of course vote for either of them in November. My mom voted absentee for Hillary. I'm not sure, but I think the Lovely Carla is voting for her too. According to Paul Krugman Hillary's Health Care proposal is better than Obama's.

The key for me is THE IRAQ WAR. This is from Wikipedia:

Obama was an early critic of Bush administration policies on Iraq. On October 2, 2002, the day Bush and Congress agreed on a joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally in Federal Plaza, saying: "I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars."

On March 17, 2003, the day Bush issued his 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Obama addressed the largest Chicago anti-Iraq War rally to date in Daley Plaza and told the crowd "It's not too late" to stop the war, though many demonstrators conceded that war appeared inevitable. Obama sought to make his early public opposition to the Iraq War before it started a major issue, to distinguish himself from his Democratic primary rivals in his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign who supported the resolution authorizing the Iraq War, and in his 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign to distinguish himself from four Democratic primary rivals who voted for the resolution authorizing the Iraq War (Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Dodd, and former Sen. John Edwards).

By the way, in 2002, these Senators voted AGAINST AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ: 23 Senators voted NO: Alaska (D-HI), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Chafee (R-RI), Conrad (D-ND), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Inouye (D-HI), Jeffords (I-VT), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wellstone (D-MN), Wyden (D-OR).

I know we are not voting for a Psychic, we are voting for a President, but I think it's important to reward Barack Obama for being right on Iraq. The day Barack Obama is sworn in as President will be a complete unambiguous rebuke to the war and it's supporters. Those Senators in 2002 that gave Bush the power to use force against Iraq bear some of the responsibility for the horrors that were unleashed and are still unwinding even today.

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