One would figure that, since I’m supposedly part of his target audience; young, urban, middle-classed, and somewhat disenfranchised; that I’d find some semblance of appeal in Barack Obama.  Yet, as I’m sure you can tell by the tone of the previous statement, I find him less than enchanting.  Maybe I’m one of those rare people that considers what he actually SAYS, and realize it’s like eating Drano crystals, effective but it leaves you hollow inside.

Now, I’ll be honest with you.  I’m all about change in the government.  The way the country is actually running is VASTLY different than the way it looks on paper.  The US Constitution really isn’t that hard of a read, and there are supposedly some things that one branch can do that the others can’t.  At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work.  Yet, we’ve got the President sending troops into harm’s way, though only Congress can declare war.  We’ve got Judges dictating legal policy, which again is a power granted to Congress.  And Congress, supposedly a group of elected representatives, just do whatever they damned well feel, without the consideration of their constituency.  I mean RTFM, right?

But back to Obama, he seems to be a prime practitioner of what I remember from the book 1984 called ‘doublespeak’.  He eloquently, and very verbosely says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Couple that with the fact that the things he DOES say don’t actually encompass all of the things unsaid, and then we’ve got what I perceive as a candidate counting on the stupidity of America’s voting populace.  I mean, all this stuff he’s saying he wants to implement, where’s the money supposed to come from?  Last I checked, the government doesn’t earn it’s own money, it takes it from taxes.  If we’re over budget BEFORE he’d start all of his new programs, then he’s going to need new funding to get the cashflow necessary.  Secondly is the method of money acqusition.  Who is he going to tax?  Obviously people that he feels can ‘afford’ to have a little more shaved off the top.  Still, last I checked, it’s the average citizen’s dream to acquire wealth by some means or another.  Apparently, the only people that would be safe from wealth acquisition would be those that do so illegally, since it’s not going to be reported.  Raise corporate taxes?  Then what’s to stop the companys from leaving this country for another one that has more favorable taxation laws.  I mean, last I checked, the average business is in the business of turning a profit.  If profit in general becomes a bad thing here, then you just go somewhere where it’s not bad.

I’ve got a bunch of other issues in mind as well, but in the end it all comes down to not really being into the concept of a totalitarian government.  The Constitution specifically states that all powers not directly granted to the federal government by that document are inherantly granted to the individual states.  The central government is supposed to set the stage moreso than the policy, but maybe he doesn’t recognize or understand that.  I’m not the biggest fan of the other guy either, but at least it looks like the messes he’s likely to cause would be easier to fix after the storm.

One thing I’ve learned over my relatively short life thus far, is that people tend to expect people to view life through the same eyes that they do.  Generally, a dishonest person feels justified in their dishonesty because they figure everyone else is just as dishonest as they are.  A liar figures that they’re being lied to.  A trustworthy person generally trusts other people.  At some point or another, most people eventually realize that this is not the case, and then tend to gravitate toward other people that think as they do…  Look at San Francisco.

One of the reasons I’m afraid of Barack Obama as President is his overwhelming need to talk and negotiate with other, often hostile, foreign leaders.  Even without knowing what his pre-political profession was, I could tell he’s a lawyer, primarily because that’s the thought process of a lawyer.  He somehow believes that he could talk hostile countries out of their hostility, most likely because he could be talked out of his own opinions with a sufficient argument.  How do I know this.  It’s a system that I employ with my own children.  If you believe you should be able to do something that I say you shouldn’t convince me otherwise.  I’ll consider it and I’ll likely acquiesce, provided that the argument was reasonable and well thought out. 

This is NOT an attitude that should be possesed by a PoTUS.  He should have vision, and operate under that vision.  He should be looking after the interests of the citizens of his country, not trying to appease world opinion.  He shouldn’t be trying to win friends by humiliating his people.  He shouldn’t trade respect for pals.