I am no longer an undecided voter. Barack Obama not only deserves to be our next president, he gives America the best chance for success in the future.
Obama ran a supreme campaign. He managed a 500 person, mutli-thousand volunteer, $650 million dollar organization for two years. Over that period of extreme pressure, expectations and consequences the Obama organization was nearly flawless.
Not only did the Obama organization shatter fund raising records, it redefined what a top-notch campaign looks like. If Obama can be such a capable leader of our federal government we are in good hands indeed.
Moreover, Obama was able to clearly build on his compelling biography with a singular and consistent narrative; people are more similar than they are different, and a president should unite all people not divide Americans into warring factions.
He outlined why he wanted to be president, and why he should be president. He then persevered through the longest primary contest on record, one in which all 50 states cast important votes. He was therefore vetted by the American voters through that process and was found to be the best democratic candidate.
In the general campaign he filled in the super structure of his primary policy proposals and promises.
His foreign policy; a plan to draw down forces in Iraq, transfer forces to Afghanistan, reinforce diplomacy with rogue nations and develop a long term energy policy positions America for long term success abroad. This mix of orthodox liberal policies and new pragmatic alternatives is, in my view, the best combination as we try to recover from the Bush years.
Domestically, Obama has the most realistic view of the challenges facing America over the next decade. Americans spend the most money on health care per capita in the world, yet do not have the healthiest population by any measure. Our system needs fundamental reform.
Health care is a human right, until we adopt policies that provide health care for all people we are failing as country. Obama acknowledges this as an expression of the Biblical teachings of Christ, "That what we do to the least of these, is what we do to Him".
In addition, the culture of debt that has taken over both individuals and government will plague us for years to come. Barack Obama proposes to raise taxes in a few different ways, this reflects the need to shrink the national debt. Moreover, he has proposed direct revenue streams or cost savings options to pay for new government programs. This pay-as-you-go model is the only way forward.
Environmental and energy policy may become the most important issues facing America over the next 10 years. Obama has proposed a cap-and-trade carbon emissions system. This system would generate billions in government revenue that could not only pay down debt, but it can also be used to invest in new infrastructure projects, clean energy subsidies, public-private partnerships and other job creating projects.
Such a system would not only define an Obama presidency domestically, it would position America to move away from Middle Eastern oil which would have direct ramifications on national security issues.
Lastly, Obama has run a democratic campaign to be the next president of the United States without turning to traditional hot-bottom issues as abortion, affirmative action, or religion to polarize the electorate into two distinct factions.
Instead as he said in 2004 at John Kerry's convention he would seek to build "Not a red America or a blue America, but a United States of America".
To this end Obama has campaigned in and is leading in many traditional red states. This has not only redefined electoral math, it has been done by design so that a president Obama can claim a mandate from all Americans, not just a coalition of liberal states plus strategic swing state voters.
For these and other reasons I will vote for Barack Obama.
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