As a Canadian, I watch the US election as a somewhat interested observer but I have no real horse in the race. In the past, I have said in the past that if I was an American I would most certainly be a Republican. However, over the past couple of years I have come to the conclusion that I could not support the Republican party. Believe it or not, I was still a supporter of the Republican party during the Bush years. I may not have liked Bush as President but I felt that the GOP still stood for some values that I supported. During the Obama administration though, I feel that the Republicans have essentially sold out to the far-right special interests and the Fox News Network. The GOP now sells fear as their platform. Pure and simple fear. They sell bigotry and thinly veiled racism. They sell blame. They sell exclusion and panic.
Don't get me wrong, I have not become a bleeding heart liberal either. The Democrats have dropped the ball in a significant way as well. Obama has shown himself to be indecisive and ineffectual. 
He was elected with a mandate to make change and had the majorities in the House and Senate. What did he do? Hammered through a weak and watered down version of his health care bill. He couldn't pass a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and several other initiatives. He also absorbed all the blame for the bailouts and deficit spending without once really pointing the blame where it needed to go, the 2000-2008 administration. I strongly dislike Obama, the Leader. Obama, the man, seems like a decent enough guy and his intentions seem to be in the right place. He seems to be all FLASH and little SUBSTANCE. I suppose that's perfect for our sound-bite culture.
He was elected with a mandate to make change and had the majorities in the House and Senate. What did he do? Hammered through a weak and watered down version of his health care bill. He couldn't pass a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and several other initiatives. He also absorbed all the blame for the bailouts and deficit spending without once really pointing the blame where it needed to go, the 2000-2008 administration. I strongly dislike Obama, the Leader. Obama, the man, seems like a decent enough guy and his intentions seem to be in the right place. He seems to be all FLASH and little SUBSTANCE. I suppose that's perfect for our sound-bite culture. And then there is the Tea Party!! LOL. Crackpots of the world unite! Actually, I think some of their ideas are not too bad. I like some Libertarian ideologies and theoretically, it could work. In the case of the Tea Party though, they seem to have tapped in to the Nut Job database and 
nominated some real "winners". Christine O'Donnell? Please. Sharron Angle? Yikes. Ron Paul? Holy Batshit Crazy!! Are these really the most noticeable candidates you folks want to be running. Dear God...
nominated some real "winners". Christine O'Donnell? Please. Sharron Angle? Yikes. Ron Paul? Holy Batshit Crazy!! Are these really the most noticeable candidates you folks want to be running. Dear God...I suppose at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who gets elected. The only job of a politician, it seems, is to get re-elected. Each party seems to be falling in to its own version of Isolationism. They don't want outsiders to get involved and think that everything will be okay if they just ignore the damning evidence of their own failures. Obama was probably the most palatable political type since Bill Clinton and he has blown it. Can he get anything done in the next two years? We will see. This could be Obama's crowning achievement or unmitigated failure. As I said earlier, I have no horse in the race but as long as 2012 doesn't end in Sarah Palin being President, I think we will be okay.
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