Why I'm Scared of an Obama Presidency

[gutterpunk]

Anyone know if he's joined any church since he left where he was for years? I haven't heard anything about his church membership since. Haven't found anything by using google either.

No, I haven't heard.

But I don't think that means he's the anti-christ! (and I'm not saying you do either)

Seriously, someone needs to shoot me now if that's an actual concern.

Well, don't shoot me, but punch me in the arm as hard as you can.

 

[SwedishMeatball]

Anyone know if he's joined any church since he left where he was for years? I haven't heard anything about his church membership since. Haven't found anything by using google either.

I doubt that he would want to subject a congregation to the scrutiny that they would have to endure during this election season.

 

[#1hockeymom]

I'm honestly afraid certain people on the DIS will lose their minds and go screaming down the streets if their candidate of choice is NOT the one chosen as president. My candidate is gone, but I hope they show up as a VP. That is all I hve to say about that!

 

[cheerful chickadee]

The only thing that scares me about Obama being president is assasination attempts, there's a lot of racist yahoos out there who will NOT want him as POTUS just because of race and I fear them acting on their thoughts.

on the godless man/church/religion thing...am I the only one who doesn't give a rat's butt what religion our president is and how he practices? I think I'm alone in this opinion these days.

 

[sha_lyn]

The only thing that scares me about Obama being president is assasination attempts, there's a lot of racist yahoos out there who will NOT want him as POTUS just because of race and I fear them acting on their thoughts.

on the godless man/church/religion thing...am I the only one who doesn't give a rat's butt what religion our president is and how he practices? I think I'm alone in this opinion these days.

Honestly I am concerned about the religion of the POTUS, but Obama's religion/religious beliefs don't both me at all. I don't like his politics, but religiously he seems much less conservative than McCain. While McCain's politics are closer to mine, I hope he is able to draw the line between constitutional rights etc and his religious beliefs.
Neither canidate is ideal IMHO..... there were several canidates from both parties that I would pick over either of them, However we have to face the fact that politics is polarizing. McCain is pandering to the far right because that is where the votes are. I just hope he reverts back to his bipartisn middle of the road tendencies if elected.

What worries me about Obama is that there is too little history to know if he can meet 1/2 way, or is he dead set on being as far to the socialist left as he seems to be. As i said, politics (or to me more specific elections) polarize, but I really hope if elected he can drift a little toward the middle. If not, then I think we will be in for a very bumpy ride if he is elected.

ETA: I forgot to chime in on assaination/assination attempts. The fact is that we only hear about the ones that get really close, or are actually able to carry out their plan. We will really never know how many attempts have been made against any president.
Hopefully if Obama is elected they will still continue with the non disclosure. My hope is 2fold.
1 because coverage=copycats
2 suddenly revealing attempts agaisnt him would make it seem a matter of race. Not saying that race couldn't be the/a motive. What I mean is that without having all attempts against previous POTUS out in the open, it would be like "playing the race card"

 

[LisaR]

...am I the only one who doesn't give a rat's butt what religion our president is and how he practices? I think I'm alone in this opinion these days.

No, you are not alone. However, I think I am alone because not only don't I care what religion a president is, I also don't care what color his skin is, if he is young or old, if his wife is ugly, pretty, fat, outspoken, stupid, or an elitist, if he served in the military, if he misspoke and said there are 57 states or if he misspoke and said Iraq & Pakistan share a border.

Nobody is perfect. I am going with the one I think will do the best job. I am not thrilled with my choices but I like my guy better than the other guy. I can't realistically defend my guy anymore than anyone can realistically defend their guy. BOTH have made mistakes. BOTH have said some incredibly stupid things. BOTH have questionable wives. BOTH have people, issues and things from their past that make people shake their head. Personally, I would much rather see us revamp the way we elect someone so the other guys get a better shot at getting the nomination. Since that won't be happening in my lifetime, I will pick the one I have the most faith in.

 

[What the Heck]

You're absoloutely right. We had a budget surplus for the first time that I can ever remember. We weren't at war. I was able to purchase a nice home. We were respected around the world. I "had" made a killing in the stock market. Unemployment was extremely low.
But the Prez made a bad choice and dropped his "guard" and therefore everything else is unimportant.

It was a total nightmare under that clown.

"W" is infallible because he didn't "stray" from his duties and all is well with the world.


We are SOOOOO much better off now than we were under that clown.


I'm scared.

To take your points one at a time, before going on to the OP:

1. Yes, we did have a surplus. See reason number 2 why we did.

2. We had not declared war, that is true. But war had been declared on us and we ignored it. Our President decided to treat it as a legal issue instead of a State issue.

3. You can still purchase a nice home.

4. We were so well respected by North Korea that they took the food and money that Clinton bribed them with to not play with nuclear weapons and used the surplus to get them anyway. And of course the respect we received from Iraq and Iran worked out so well. And we were respected by Bin Laden so much that the only attacked our country once a year, every single year.

5. You had made a killing. But the stock market started dropping in November of 2000. Bush wasn't even elected yet, much less sworn in.

6. Unemployment was very close to what it is now. Within 1 percentage point. And considering that we are at war, and the economy is suffering for it, that is an amazing figure. http://www.bls.gov/cps/prev_yrs.htm

 

[What the Heck]

Now for what worries me about Obama:

1. He claims to be new to politics, but he has been a Chicago politician since the 1990's. The people who have been involved with him as a Chicago politician makes it clear that he is in their pocket. He really does have experience, it just isn't good.

2. His health care plan will cost Billions and will not work. He only engages 2 aspects of the 3 that have to engaged for a program to work - medical, insurance and legal.

3. His "comprehensive energy policy" as I heard it described is all about his campaign slogan - Hope. He hopes someone will come along and invent things necessary to remove us from under the thumb of foreign oil by 2013. He hopes that the inventiveness of American engineers will be up to the Democrats plan of giving them a deadlline and making sure they meet it. In other words, he hopes someone comes along and saves our *** because he has no plan to do so. Follows exactly with the Democratic plan.

4. His social programs are in the trillions. How are we going to pay for it? Oh, that will be easy once we are out of Iraq, even though we can't really afford that. But we aren't out yet. But we can afford it when we are. But we aren't out yet. Earth to Obama, come back to reality.

5. He is the constant victim. Our enemies, and our friends, abroad will eat him up. Funny but the last 2 Democratic presidents were victims as well, Carter more than Clinton. Carter being a victim got our embassy taken over without a shot being fired by the Marines (on Carter's personal order). It also got a lot more embassies fired on that never made the news. Clinton being the victim helped to get us 9/11 (not placing all of the blame on him, and recognizing that some of the things that technically he could have done, realistically were completely out of the question), as well as the Cole incident, as well as our embassies being bombed, as well as the WTC being bombed in 1993, as well as Blackhawk down, etc. What will his being the victim bring us?

 

[Planogirl]

I have concerns about both candidates. I simply have to go with my beliefs and choose the candidate that comes closest to echoing those.

As for the original list, um OK. A lot of that is just the OP's own personal feelings (and I totally disagree with #3) but it's an interesting list.

 

[tinatark]

Interesting letter to the Editor (from the Richmond VA newspaper):

Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'
Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr. Sandy Hook.

 

[Christine]

on the godless man/church/religion thing...am I the only one who doesn't give a rat's butt what religion our president is and how he practices? I think I'm alone in this opinion these days.

No. Not at all. In fact, it makes me very uncomfortable to have a person in the White House who might let religion rule their life. I have no clue HOW religious or pious Obama is--maybe I need to find out. Because I don't want my lifestyle or country dictated by religion (I'll figure that one out myself, thank you). Church and state and religion need to be totally separate. This county is made up of so many different people and cultures. I wouldn't want ANY leader cramming his religion down my throat. So, if he is godless, I don't care. Same with McCain.

 

[wardfamily1]

Alrighty then. Most people find fear to be a useful emotion. It alerts you to dangers that you sometimes can avoid or prevent.

Fear is a useful emotion, unless you enjoy being oblivious.

 

[connorlevismom]

My take on Obama is he is nothing more than a puppet. He cannot form a complete sentence without it being on paper. Ever hear him in an interview? How many ahhh,ummmm, errrr's can you say in once sentence. So that tells me that he is speaking for someone else and cannot answer anything without those people telling him what to say.

Sure he is a very good speaker. But we are not electing a motivational speaker, we are electing the POTUS.

I prefer a non-milli vanilli president.

Kristine

 

[JonS99]

Any President candidate that panders to the poor and uneducated is not someone we need in the White House.

 

[Pin Wizard]

No, I haven't heard.

But I don't think that means he's the anti-christ! (and I'm not saying you do either)

Seriously, someone needs to shoot me now if that's an actual concern.

Well, don't shoot me, but punch me in the arm as hard as you can.

Just thinking of those voters who will base their vote on if a candidate "seems" to be affiliated with any religion at all.

 

[Nette]

The only thing that scares me about Obama being president is assasination attempts, there's a lot of racist yahoos out there who will NOT want him as POTUS just because of race and I fear them acting on their thoughts.

on the godless man/church/religion thing...am I the only one who doesn't give a rat's butt what religion our president is and how he practices? I think I'm alone in this opinion these days.

Agreed there are morons out there who will hate him because he is half black. But there are morons out there who will hate him because he smokes, too. I do agree that it is very risky for him to be POTUS. I expect that with this kind of "first", the attempts could be very numerous.

As for religion, who the hell cares? But keep it to yourself. I actually MIGHT be more inclined to vote for someone who was agnostic/atheist, but not if their views didn't align with mine.

No, you are not alone. However, I think I am alone because not only don't I care what religion a president is, I also don't care what color his skin is, if he is young or old, if his wife is ugly, pretty, fat, outspoken, stupid, or an elitist, if he served in the military, if he misspoke and said there are 57 states or if he misspoke and said Iraq & Pakistan share a border.

Nobody is perfect.

Amen. Look at the real issues people!

Interesting letter to the Editor (from the Richmond VA newspaper):

Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach 'Change'
Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Each year I get to celebrate Independence Day twice. On June 30 I celebrate my independence day and on July 4 I celebrate America's. This year is special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of my independence.

On June 30, 1968, I escaped Communist Cuba and a few months later I was in the United States to stay. That I happened to arrive in Richmond on Thanksgiving Day is just part of the story, but I digress.

I've thought a lot about the anniversary this year. The election-year rhetoric has made me think a lot about Cuba and what transpired there. In the late 1950s, most Cubans thought Cuba needed a change, and they were right. So when a young leader came along, every Cuban was at least receptive.

When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. And now I'm back to the beginning of my story.

Luckily, we would never fall in America for a young leader who promised change without asking, what change? How will you carry it out? What will it cost America?

Would we?

Manuel Alvarez Jr. Sandy Hook.

I have to agree with this. The people I have known who were charismatic and good speakers, and spoke of change were all con men. The most recent being the VP of development at ERCOT, Ken Shoquist. He was my boss for a very short time. When he made his first speech to our group, he had everyone wowed, but I felt something was off, and consequently high-tailed it out of that company. He ended up being part of a scheme that embezzled more than a million dollars from our electric cooperative.

I prefer a non-milli vanilli president.

 

[Mamu]

I may not be an Obama supporter and do feel he lacks experience. Also feel it time in Washington for changes, is Obama the person who can make these change, nothing he said yet (lots of great speeches, but nowhere does he commit himself to real change) I continue to listen to both candidates hoping to hear something that convinces me that one of these candidates can lead our country back into the right direction.

After 8 years of Bush and Chaney we sure could use someone with some kind of experience. We've got a run-away congress, that seem to be ignoring our problems. We need a strong leader who can work with both parties, come up with some solutions to some major problems our country is facing.

I'm more a moderate liberal with lot of conservative views. I'm so tired of the arguing and bickering among the two parties with nothing getting accomplished. What ever happened to trying to fix SS?

I differ with Obama on lot of issues. Think we need less taxes, less government and government spending.

Think the government has a blank check on traveling, meals and other frivolous things. Like you and I, they need a budget and need to be kept to that budget. I'm tired of seeing them live the life-style of the rich and famous on my tax dollars. While SS and other government programs suffer. It's time to tow-the-line on excess spending.

 

[marlasmom]

THe OP is very incisive and Momto@Girls makes very good points - as do others. What I DON'T understand is how Robin can read the OP's well-reasoned posts and dismiss it with the sort of school-yard answer I wouldn't let my kids get away with.

RObin - if you have anything to say that makes sens I will read it and consider it. However, sophomoric bullying isn't it.

 

[polineedyan]

i would agree with pp's opinions on change. I think it is kinda scammy. The way our government is set up, it somewhat prevents a president from coming in with his own ideas on things and allowing him to go and implement them. I would wonder how much change a president could bring about when congress wont approve anything..

 

[Carly_Roach]

I'm more scared of where we're going and what four more years of the same will do to this country. Is everyone up for another Great Depression?

To me it's simple:

Obama = people
McSame = Corporations

I'm voting in my own self-interest: Obama. And no amount of mud-slinging or "fact-finding" from known Conservatives is going to change that. In fact, it only solidifies my choice because it shows me just how scared Conservatives really are because Obama is going to change their cushy status quo.

Go Bama!