I think Barak is a very intelligent and charismatic person. He ran the better campaign which says something - but not that much given how badly McCain ran his. In the end I am certain he was the better candidate but it's scary that he won on what was an unabashed socialist platform.
Yes, yes - I know...how dare I use the "s" word. One of the funniest things I saw during the campaign was a fact check segment on CNN where they were analyzing this claim of whether or not Barak Obama's policy of increasing progressive taxation both for individuals and corporations is socialistic. In the end the conclusion by the "expert" was that the claim was false on the condition that we already have progressive taxation so unless you thought the current tax system was socialistic then Barak Obama's tax policy is not socialistic.
Hmmm...that doesn't make sense. The correct analysis is actually that progressive taxation IS socialistic and making taxation MORE progressive is thereby more socialistic. Karl Marx's defining slogan was From Each According to his Ability, To Each According to his Needs. Progressive taxation is about greater taxes for people who are able to earn more because "they can afford it" and give that wealth to people who earn very little via welfare and other subsidies because they are in need. Sorry but to quote Obama - "You can put lipstick on a pig..." Actually that saying is even more appropriate given the Animal Farm referrence.
Anyway I couldn't vote for him since I disagree with the policies he espoused while campaigning and I felt that casting a vote for him would show support for his campaign platform. I wanted him to win but not by a large margin so that he would see that we Americans do not support socialism. In the end he won by only 4% and the "record voter turnout" turned out to not be true. It seems that he may have won largely because Republicans are disgusted with their own party, and rightly so, and didn't vote.
I was also a bit disparaged because so many people did vote for him despite his platform but as it turns out the more I listen to people who voted for Obama it seems they just voted for him because they liked him better and didn't really understand his platform at all.
In the end I don't believe that his win represents that we as Americans are turning away from personal responsibility and small government toward a culture of dependence and big government. He did not get a mandate and most people who voted for him didn't do so because of his platform. I do think Barak is very intelligent and has enough personal integrity to see that socialism is not the solution to our ills and that the campaign platform will fade into memory...
