I just posted a comment on another blog and in mid-sentence decided it was time to straighten the record about Obama's supporters, who are lately accused of being identity voters.  It's inaccurate.  I give you the issues:

1. Iraq.    Despite the fearmongering of the Bush Administration, many of us were against the war in Iraq from the start.  We supported Afghanistan, not because the Taliban were such an evil, but because bin Laden was there, and he had already proven to be a direct threat to American civilians.  Saddam did not pose a substantiated threat to the United States, and a number of us found it quite suspicious that the Bush Administration was simultaneously accusing Saddam of having WMD and not paying any heed to the independent inspectors who said the intelligence was suspect.

The war was a mistake, and we believe Americans, Iraqis, and our allies died and suffered needlessly for a private political agenda. We believe that our own party failed us in supporting the AUMF, as they had the Patriot Act, and we look to a President who exercised coolheaded, sound, and ultimately correct judgement on Iraq from the beginning.   Now, to the issue of "so why did he vote to fund the war if he was against it?"  I would argue that the Democrats, realizing their mistake in allowing the war, care so strongly for our soldiers that they wanted to see them fully equipped.  I do not blame Clinton for voting for funding, but I do suggest that her voting for the AUMF was a lack of judgement, and her inability to admit the mistake was a second lack of judgement.

2. Healthcare:  We believe that universal healthcare is the direction this country needs to move.  We also believe that those legally disallowed from paying into the healthcare system(children) should not suffer for their lack of financial participation.  However, we believe that men and women are not evil by nature and if given the option of health care coverage that did not require them to choose which bills to pay and which to avoid, they will choose coverage for themselves and their families.  We believe that mandating coverage without making coverage affordable will force low-income individuals and families into debt. We also believe that mandates will drive many lower-income individuals and families into CDHPs(consumer-driven health plans) with high-deductible HSAs(health savings accounts), which cripple individuals and families who already bear insurmountable credit card and other debts.

3. Social responsibility:   We believe that a government that tells us what is good for us generally does not know what is good for us.  We believe that Senator Obama engages us in the political process in ways that Senator Clinton and Senator McCain do not.  We believe that Senator Obama's call to the youth of America to give back to the country in exchange for educational subsidies is long overdue, and we want to believe that we are part of the system, not fighting the system.

I've been writing a 15-page paper all day and my hands hurt now, so I would like to open this up to other Obama supporters to share the issues that bring you to Obama.  Let's keep it civil, please.  We're almost at the point where fences have to be mended, so let's start doing that already.

My first entry. We'll see how shredded it gets before I post more. :) 

Remember 2004? A lot of Democrats said "if Bush wins, I'm moving to Canada."  It was an idle threat (or if you were a Bush supporter, it was welcome news), but it was a nice way of registering our frustration at the country's inability to listen to reason and vote a non--idiot into office.

This year, the line I hear (and, I admit, I have said it a few times myself) is "If Hillary wins the Nomination, I'm voting McCain/ voting third-party/ staying home in November."  Now, the vote-for-McCain threat is largely as idle a threat as self-exile, and the people who threaten it will in all reality not follow through in any substantial numbers.  But the staying-home threat is another story.

It's well-established that a large part of Obama's support comes from the youth vote.  Young voters are not Party faithful the way their parents are. Young voters don't know the Democratic Party the way 40+ year-olds do.  As such, young voters are voting for Obama, not for the Democratic candidate.

Young voters are tired of the way government doesn't work, and they see Hillary as part of that government that doesn't work.  Young voters are tired of divisive politics, and want an America where we can disagree without being disagreeable, and they see Hillary as part of that divisiveness.  Is it fair? Maybe, maybe not.  But I wouldn''t expect Obama's supporters to just slide on over to Hillary if she wins the nomination. 

Discuss.