Why it was important to me to switch from Edwards to Obama

[lisainmilo]

I realize I don't have to explain why I am switching, but I felt I needed to. As I said earlier, my heart was broken that John dropped out of the race. I still found myself tearing up today when I took an hour drive to get my glasses fixed. Anyway, I defended the stance that I was going to vote JRE as late as yesterday. It was brought to my attention that Nader had taken votes from Gore and while that is true, I feel many more votes were stolen and the election was fixed. Nevertheless, votes were taken that could have gone to Gore.

The reason I am switching to Obama, is that he never voted for the IWR, and while I know, according to Hillarys floor speech she expected the inspectors to do their job first, this will be a difficult argument come November. I want a Democrat in office.

The other reason I decided on Obama is he is NOT the status quo. Too many times I have seen George H. Bush and Bill Clinton together. When it first began no big deal, they were working together after the tsunami, but it continued and it raises great suspicion with me.

Another reason I have decided on Obama is his ability to bring loads and loads of people together, though this may seem like a silly point, it really is quite important. Again the numbers, if the numbers are large now, with a split vote, (Clinton/Obama) when it comes to November the number of Democrats will be even greater and no Republican can dispute it!

Lastly and of course most importantly are his positions. I feel he represents change. I have contributed to his campaign today, and after I did a statement came up, he accepts no federal lobbying monies or PAC monies. He owes nothing to the OIL COMPANIES or DEFENSE (I think it said) CORPORATIONS. I like that and it was one of the things JRE represented. Obamas' ethics plan is also outstanding and represents real change by making Washington transparent and creating many new ethics laws. I totally respect that! That is what I have been craving for 8 freakin years! And hopefully with great lessons learned we will NEVER EVER live through the days of GWB again!

Please my fellow Edwardians, this is not meant to flamebait you, I respect your decision if you choose to vote for him. I just think that I would be splinting a vote...CHANGE VS. STATUS QUO. Please respect my decision and understand how important it is to me to want a turn around in Washington and I think Obama represents a clear change. Thanks

[NC_Nurse]

1. Welcome to the Obama camp!

I moved to him after Edwards as well. :-)

[lisainmilo]

2. and we are both nurses!

:)

[NC_Nurse]

5. Several other nurses are with us too!

They all got on my thread when I decided:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4366736&mesg_id=4366736

[K Gardner]

9. Heh heh.. Nurses for Obama !! Welcome Lisa !

[lisainmilo]

18. hey thanks :-)

[MH1]

3. Welcome!

and thank you for a great post!

:yourock:

[MH1]

4. More substantively, did you see this great diary by Bill McKibben?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/3/9431/41821

I think you'll like what he has to say about Barack Obama.

[cascadiance]

6. Thanks for what you've done. You've started helping break down the reasons...

For whatever reason, Obama to this point still hasn't been very vocal about the details of his "change" or "hope". What would be nice is if we could get a thread where we could objectively look at all of Obama's strengths and all of his weaknesses vis-a-vis what we'd expected to get from Edwards. If we can really help delineate the strengths, weaknesses, and the risks in a way that isn't so prone to cheerleading, etc. then it would help a lot of us who don't have time to do a lengthy bit of research ourselves this close to Super Tuesday. Maybe we could start such a thread and rec it up. I'll rec yours up so that someone could. I'm still "undecided" at this point, but leaning to continuing to vote for Edwards. I'd really hoped that Obama would have opened up the dike just a crack to let out what he's going to really do as an obvious gesture to us folks supporting Edwards that respects our support for him based on what he's doing, rather than him being a "pretty boy that likes expensive haircuts" that others have tried to paint him as.

I guess if we can at least try to give ourselves an objective list here, then we can decide if there's an outside chance that he might try to appeal to us later, or if he hasn't fully exploited his campaign statements as much as he should to appeal to a progressive base. Or, we find way too many skeletons for us to trust, and therefore many of us can fall back to and in fact advocate that we should still vote for Edwards.

[awaysidetraveler]

15. I've been researching Obama for several months now, and I'm curious as to what details you want.

[cascadiance]

19. My biggest fear is that we have the "stealth" DLC candidate in him...

... One that focusing on stylistic attraction to voters rather than coming out and committing himself to positions on issues is keeping the radar off of what he would truly do. Now some years, I might not care so much about that, and be thankful for a decent Democratic candidate.

This year though, only Edwards has made no bones about taking on the corporate lobbyists and recognize that there is a BIG problem that needs to be fixed on an FDR scale. I'm wanting the party at some point have a good firm divorce from the corporate bribery corruption that is going on. I fear that neither Hillary nor Obama will be strong willed enough to provide that leadership. Therefore I'm tempted to come out and vote for Edwards to hopefully make a dent and show, that there are many of us that are still demanding more straight forwardness on what the candidates plan to do to fix this fundamental issue that affects just about every other issue they will deal with.

If I can be persuaded that Obama isn't beholden to the corporate interests through more detailed outlining of his public statement commitments, etc. I might change my vote to him to ensure that he gets in to do what I KNOW Hillary won't do. But with his non-committal stylistic campaign now, it's hard to tell if he would be much better than Hillary. Part of me thinks a protest vote for Edwards is better spent at this point to point out it's not just the candidates that are a problem for many of us, but the system itself that is squelching progressives trying to be heard and having candidates respond to their feelings that we need some fundmental change to fix the corporatist problems facing us today.

Some of the points are helpful, but still aren't the fundamental issue for me. The note about attracting more voters that Clinton won't, that will also help with other races is a big concern for me that would have me thinking towards Obama. But it still doesn't convince me that he's the person. It is more of a tactical reason than a strategic reason I'm looking for.

I know that Obama is a cosponsor of a bill in the Senate that looks to institute some federal public campaign financing. So far though, he's said little or nothing about it in his campaign, and he seems to be involved with it only to provide lip service to those concerned with his public campaign financing stance rather than being someone who's really trying to drive for that to become reality. If he could evolve that into a more central point guiding his campaign, much like Edwards would gravitate back to corporate greed and corruption to help explain his stances on so many other issues, that would get me going.

[lisainmilo]

27. I understand you position, here are some talking points

Obama seems to understand the corruption of GWB and of the corporations, though he seems to focus on GWB when he speaks. But, his ethics policy is a nice change from what we have had. First, he seems to tackle his positions on the ethical problems in Washington by first looking at the problem, one at a time. With this exposure, he then focuses on the solutions. He wants to create a transparent government, that is easily accessible for the public. He also wants to change some ethics laws, I think these will put a cap on the corporate abuse that has gone on in the Whitehouse, i.e Blackwater, Halliburton, etc. Here is the link. His creative ethics plan also includes features such as "fireside chats", "release of presidential records" and others that will bring Americans back into politics and finally allows us to have a voice! I know this is something very important to all of us. Todays technology allows for these kind of actions to be possible, isn't it is great! :)

I will not vote for Clinton, simply because Bill Clinton has gotten too buddy-buddy with the Bushs' and this creates great discomfort for me and raises great suspicions for me. I posted some pics on another thread here are a few, a picture tells a thousand words.





?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939847EC77F5F8D1CE07C468EA108F6A15A40A659CEC4C8CB6









AND FINALLY......This one takes the cake!



I also wonder why so many senators are backing Obama, are they trying to tell us something? :think:

[cascadiance]

30. I just want to make sure we're not being offered bandaid solutions that "look" good...

... but do nothing to attack the fundamental root of the problems. We've seen too much of that from many Dems lately, in their quest to keep both voters mollified, as well as their campaign contributors. That's why we have so many noncommittal congress critters that are afraid to take a stand on anything. They just don't want to risk pissing off either side. That's their warped definition of "bipartisan" (satisfying both the voters as well as their contributors, instead of satisfying different concerns of two different groups of voters).

We really want some STRONG public campaign financing, as well as things like instant runoff voting (which I know neither party probably wants to have that might allow third parties to get more of a foothold). Someone who's willing to nominate justices that would be willing as constitutionalists to overturn "corporate personhood", not just selectively "Roe v. Wade" (though I think congress needs to get a legislative solution to help us protect women's rights of choice rather than just rely on not having a conservative court.

Edwards was showing me that he had a pair, and was not afraid to take on certain groups of people answering to those special interests to take down their power. We need a crack in the walls to signal from Obama that he would do this too. Just hinting is not good enough. He or others won't follow through unless they are made to make more of a commitment.

[lisainmilo]

33. Obama supports campaign reform and boosting public financing and

He doesn't take federal lobbyist monies or PAC monies, just like Edwards didn't. He also plans for these ethical changes:

Centralize Ethics and Lobbying Information for Voters: Obama will create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.
Require Independent Monitoring of Lobbying Laws and Ethics Rules: Obama will use the power of the presidency to fight for an independent watchdog agency to oversee the investigation of congressional ethics violations so that the public can be assured that ethics complaints will be investigated.
Support Campaign Finance Reform: Obama supports public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. Obama introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and is the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) tough bill to reform the presidential public financing system.

That is a really good start!


But there is MORE! :)

[lisainmilo]

36. I don't mean any real disrespect for Clinton either....

Ir just frightens me that Bill Clinton and the Bushs' seemed to have "bonded" and after all that we have gone through, I don't want to risk it.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

7. This Edwards girl

will be caucusing for Obama tomorrow. And surprisingly, I'm excited to do it!

[troubleinwinter]

8. This woman will proudly cast her vote for John Edwards tomorrow.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

11. I won't be voting, but, caucusing

So, my choices will be Obama, Clinton or Undeclared. Edwards won't make the viability cut off in this county. ;( And I just don't see the point in being undeclared, I do have a preference between the two.

[troubleinwinter]

26. Yes, I understand the problem with caucus vs. voting.

My point is that I am not anyone's "girl". I am not a girl and I do not belong to anyone.

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

35. OK, gotcha

No offense was intended. I was being playful, but, whatever.

[earth mom]

10. Obama is NO different than Hillary. You are voting for a DINO. nt

[lisainmilo]

31. Actually I have spent the last 3 days researching

both Clinton and Obama, I don't think he is DINO. I think he has some really great ideas. John Edwards was the only candidate I agreed with 100%, but after scrutinizing the last two in the running, I agree with Obama 80%. His plans for trade are outstanding I like the idea of amending NAFTA, his plans for strengthening the economy are outstanding. I like that he supports a free and open internet. I don't care for his healthcare plan, but it is nice that if you so chose to have healthcare you can have it at a lower cost with subsidies if one needs it. Currently I have 7 healthcare plans...

My husband and I are double covered, I am on his, he is on mine, that's 2
I have eye care for both of us, 3
We are double covered on dental, 5
We have cancer insurance, 6
Additional Accidental Disability through AFLAC, 7

So any plan has got to be better than that!

[earth mom]

37. What about all those MILLIONS in Corporate Money Obama took?

Don't you see that Obama will satisfy his corporate masters before he EVER thinks about you or the rest of us?

[Laurab]

12. Thank you - many of your reasons are my reasons

for supporting him. I've basically supported Obama from the start, but Edwards was a very close second - if his numbers had been higher, he would have been my 1st choice. I have a feeling we may see JE as AG if the Dems win, and I think Obama gives the Dems a much better chance of winning.

I think your decision is a good one. Not everyone will, but the only person who needs to respect your decision is you!

[Samantha]

13. Thank you for posting your thoughts

and you are correct; you don't need to justify your vote to anyone but your conscience. But you so poignantly explained how you cycled through your choices so analytically to make your decision, while maintaining your steadfast passion for your original political hero, I think you will help many in the same place you were in when you started this process.

I do not think any of us here should be criticizing other DU'ers for their decisions. We should just be supportive of the fact people are engaged and trying to make a rationale choice for how they wish to position themselves.

I have been uncommitted to date because I was caught between two different candidates. I have made a decision in the last two days, and I am feeling good about it. I think you feel good about yours as well.

Regards,

Sam

[flaminbats]

14. tomorrow Obama may be the front runner..

I started leaning toward Kucinich, then he dropped out. Then I was leaning toward Edwards, and he dropped out! Then I attended one of Hillary's long..windy speeches, and I knew Republicans could destroy her without a fight!

the issues didn't effect my vote, I agree with both candidates on almost every issue. yet the only reason I considered a vote for Clinton is because she is white. I considered voting for Obama because he knows liberals can't treat Christianity as a thorn in our sides to win a landslide. I think Obama has even more potential than Abraham Lincoln and FDR, I think Hillary has only the potential of her husband or Eisenhower.

IMO a vote for Obama is far more risky than one for Hillary, it also has far more potential!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. Hurray!

[awaysidetraveler]

17. Hey, it's great to hear that you're with the Obama camp!

It really warms my heart to hear that you're with us. Welcome!

[cooolandrew]

20. Your support is most appreciated thank you. A wonderful post too. K&R

[kdpeters]

21. Edwards supporter voting for Obama tomorrow

Just a few hours ago, I was polled by Zogby (Georgia). It was in that moment that I actually decided not to vote for Edwards after all and to go ahead and accept that I should go with my second choice. I told the pollster that I would be voting for Obama. Actually, there are two of us in this household switching from Edwards to Obama. Both of us gay white males.

As for Hillary Clinton, she's not my first and she's not my second, but I know that she will make a damn fine president. I'll have no qualms giving her all of my enthusiastic support if she ends up winning the nomination.

[ErnestoG]

22. Welcom aboard, Partner.

[Orangepeel]

23. Me, too. I strongly supported Edwards, but I have to vote for the best candidate actually running

I respect everything Edwards did to focus the debate on important issues, and I wish that Edwards had been able to fight for the nomination longer.

But I have a preference for Obama over Clinton, so I am going to vote for him.

[Tennessee Gal]

24. I am afraid you are making a mistake.

[Cha]

25. Welcome abroad the Obama Train, lisainmilo!

I was orginally for Edwards this time around because I believe he had a change of heart and mind from his earlier stands and he totally said he wrong about the IWR vote. Gradually, I started looking more at Obama and liked him also..so this has all just evolved over the last few months on DU. My main reason for wanting Obama is that he was originally against the bombing of Iraq and came out and said so in 2002.

"October 2, 2002

Good afternoon. Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars.

My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.

After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism.

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. 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.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the President today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President Bush?"

http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php

[lisainmilo]

28. Thanks for posting that....

I really do appreciate it. :)

[Cha]

29. You're more than

Welcome! :)

[RiverStone]

32. Great choice --- you won't regret it!

Though I sure miss John.

Hope to see him as the next AG...Supreme Ct. Justice...


GoBama!

[lisainmilo]

34. I am hoping John gets Attorney General

He would be a awesome in that position. :applause:

[JDPriestly]

38. It doesn't make sense to vote for Obama or Clinton if you

are troubled by Bill Clinton's working together with the Bushies. Obama is promising to do just that -- work with Republicans. Edwards is the only really Democratic candidate. There is no point in voting for either of the other two if you want real change. Personally I'm sticking with Edwards.

I voted for Johnson in 1964. He did a lot of good things, but he lied to us to get us into a war in Viet Nam that we could not win. Many people died because of his decisions. I will never vote carelessly again. I feel that both Obama and Hillary are compromisers like Johnson was. I don't think this is the time for Democrats to compromise. I'm sticking with John Edwards.

People will say that I am wasting my vote. I wasted my vote when I voted for Lyndon Johnson. We waste our votes when we vote for people or things we really don't trust or believe in. I do not trust or believe in either Obama or Hillary. Therefore, I will vote for John Edwards. My vote may not count to the world, but it will count to me.

I'm 64. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that I have to answer to myself first and foremost for what I do. I do not want to have to make excuses after the election for my vote. I don't want to have to tell myself I did not know better. I do know better. Regardless of what has happened in this primary, I know that John Edwards is the best candidate and would make the best president for America. So, I'm voting for him. I don't want to have to face regrets later.