This is my 2008 election ballot which I plan on mailing in tomorrow which should be enough time to get there by November 4.  Below I am listing my choices and some explanations for why I made my choices.  For choices that took more though I will write separate posts.

President and Vice President
Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Barack Obama for President

United States Representative
District 14
Anna G. Eshoo, Democrat
I had very little information to make this decision and it looks like it won’t matter, I see almost no resistance to the reelection of Anna Eshoo, Democrat.  Still I checked out SmartVoter.org’s District 14 info.  My thoughts after reading this site were that Ronny Santana, Republican, was too conservative, Brian Holtz, Libertarian, was too anti-religious, Carol Brouillet, Green, was too focused on impeaching George Bush.

State Senator
District 13
Elaine Alquist
I knew even less about this race and again relied on SmartVoter.org’s District 13 info.  Part of me just wants to vote out the current incumbent, Elaine Alquist, Democrat, because she has been doing such a terrible job.  However the opponents seemed less than appealing.  John Webster, Libertarian, wants to get rid of the public school system, seemed a little too radical to me.  Shane Patrick Connolly seems rather young and he is single.  His profile picture is so unprofessional, he has red eyes.  And though he has a domain, there is no website.  I really question Shane’s motivation.  Therefore because the other choices are so poor I will again vote Democrat.

Member of the State Assembly
District 22
Abstain
I have no idea what the State Assembly.  But this San Jose Mercury News article shows it doesn’t matter, the Democrat Paul Fong is running away with the race.  SmartVoter.org doesn’t even have an information on the Republican opponent, Brent Oya.

Judicial
Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 8
Lane Liroff
Thanks to SmartVoter.org, I learned and was impressed by Diane Ritchie’s record of defending workers in many class action law suits.  But in the end I liked Lane Liroff’s answers better to SmartVoter.org’s questions and his list of endorsements is impressive.

Santa Clara County Board of Education
Member, Board of Education Trustee Area 5
Anna Song
I watched a YouTube video interview of the two candidates but soon stopped when I realized that the total interview was about thirthy minutes.  My impression of Anna Song based on the video and on SmartVoter.org was a little more favorable because she has much more experience so she gets my vote over Carmen Montano.

West Valley-Mission Community College District
Governing Board Member
Trustee Area 1, Short Term
Chad Walsh
Again I have no idea and can only base my decision from info at SmartVoter.org.  Wade Ellis is the appointed incumbent and seems like a good guy.  But Chad Walsh seems to be the more passionate guy, with more precise goals and a nice website.

West Valley-Mission Community College District
Governing Board Member
Trustee Area 3
Chris Constantin, Kathi Tran
Using SmartVoter.org I saw that only Constantin and Tran responded to the questionnaires.

Santa Clara Unified School District
Governing Board Member
Trustee Area 2
Albert Gonzalez
I was surprised to see on SmartVoter.org that the incumbent, Don Bordenave, had provided no information. I voted for Albert Gonzalez because I liked what he said and he’s the only one nice enough to send me a post card. Sallings and Mangla concern me with their talk about higher academic standards, I wonder if that translates to more homework and more stress for the already over-burdened and burnt out public school students.  I could have voted for more than one but only liked Albert.

Member, Board of Supervisors
District 3
Otto Lee
This is the only race outside of the Presidency that actually seems somewhat contested.  I see numerous Otto Lee signs and Dave Cortese’s campaign recently sent me a flyer.  In this San Jose Mercury News article (the San Jose Mercury News recommended Otto Lee) I liked how Otto Lee, Sunnyvale mayor, had “put Sunnyvale’s budget in the black” and about his ideas of “mixed-use development on part of the county fairgrounds to generate rental and tax revenue”.  Looking on SmartVoter.org, I am impressed by Otto Lee’s credentials.

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According to the New York Times’ electoral map, Colorado is now leaning towards Obama and Missouri and Indiana could follow suit.  It is starting to look like a landslide victory for Obama and I can’t remember the last time a Democrat had a landslide victory for President.  I am starting to think Obama will carry some southern states as I expect an unprecedented number of African-American voters.

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Gender Card

One thing about Sarah Palin’s nomination is it kind of highlights inconsistencies in some conservatives’ messages. Watch as Jon Stewart points this out, it’s hilarious, especially the first two. If you go to The Daily Show you can watch this on a bigger screen.

Bailout

Thought the bailout might be a good idea I still have many misgivings about it. And this is because I do not trust President Bush (and to a lesser extent Paulson) and I do not like being panicked into a hasty decision. Jon Stewart does a good idea of comedically presenting this.

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This last debate was definitely the most entertaining.  I was concerned at the beginning as McCain started off on the offensive with a smile while Obama looked annoyed the whole time.  But Obama was able to come back and I think in the end carried the debate.

As Patrick Healy of the New York Times reports, it seems that Obama has mastered “staying cool and irritating your opponent.”

From Bill Clinton to John McCain, Senator Barack Obama has proved adept at driving very smart politicians out of their comfort zone, leading them to make comments or embrace tactics that end up backfiring.

Now we are in the home stretch and as this map shows, it comes down to six states, Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and Virginia.  The New York Times is projecting Obama to win the election because it just moved Virginia into the leaning on Obama category.  But anything can happen which makes this election so entertaining.  A lot more fun than baseball or football.

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Op-Ed Columnist
The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama
By FRANK RICH
Published: October 12, 2008
The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder.  The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise.

I realized today that I am voting less for Barack Hussein Obama because of specifics about him but more because of ideals.  And one of those ideals is that negative campaigning, especially racist, deceitful, fear ridden campaigning should never be rewarded and must be defeated.

Another interesting thing to consider is that if Obama does get elected we could say that racism against African-Americans is decreasing.  However regardless of the outcome we sadly must admit that racism against Muslims in general and Arabs in particular is increasing.

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I am increasingly concerned that Barack Obama will not become the next President of the United States because of the latent racism that still exists and festers in this country.

At a Florida rally, Palin called Obama a friend of terrorists and someone in the audience shouted out “Kill him!” as reported by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.  This is now being investigated by the FBI because it is illegal to threaten a presidential candidate.  Milbank is now saying the shout may have been in reference to Ayers.  Apparently people also yelled out “Treason!”

In this video, not what I would call unbiased journalism, you hear people say Barack Obama is a terrorist because of his name.  One man claims that Barack Obama was with Islamic terrorists when he was a child.

In Britain, a man was shot three times for wearing an Obama t-shirt.  In Colorado, three men were arrested for allegedly planning to kill Obama during his acceptance speech. This is worrisome to say the least.

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I did not know there was a second Vice-Presidential debate until I saw it on Hulu.

SNL is making a killing in the ratings because of this election.

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This debate was a bit less entertaining than the past two and I was kind of bored at the beginning.  But I thought Obama did much better and clearly won this debate.

When McCain talks about domestic and economic policy he looks like a fish out of water.  But when he talks about foreign policy you can see his eyes light up.  Obama on the other hand looks comfortable talking about both foreign and domestic policy and seems quite bright.

These are some of my thoughts from the debate.

Body Language

Unlike the first debate, this time McCain was a bit more civil and would occasionally glance at Obama.  And while he is not showing utter disdain for him like he did with Romney I get the sense he really does not like Obama.  A CNN analyst said that it is clear that McCain “despises” Obama.

Obama on the other hand seemed pretty loose and confident.  And what was interesting was after the debate was over I saw Obama pose for a few photos with members of the audience but I never saw that happen with McCain.  Also Obama does a lot of that friendly finger pointing, kind of like the Palin wink.

Health Care

Based on my experience as a self-employed person who has had to purchase his own health care insurance for his family I think McCain’s health care proposal is horrible.  Not allowing employers to deduct health care benefits would result in more employers not providing health care.  This is effectively a tax raise and would mean more uninsured people. McCain says he will offset this with a $5,000 tax credit.  But health care plans cost over $10,000 per family.  McCain would counter that by saying the free market will lower costs but the current free market punishes individuals and give better rates to employers and other large groups.  It’s just a terrible idea.

And I’m glad Obama pointed out the folly in getting health care from another state whose laws could be completely different.  Also I applaud Obama for seeking to enact laws that will prevent health insurers from denying health care to people with pre-existing conditions (which includes pregnancy).

I honestly think McCain’s plan is just a handout to the insurance companies who stand to profit more as more individuals, without the leverage of being part of a group, have to purchase health care insurance at high prices.  I am looking forward to purchasing good health care from the government at a reasonable rate.

Iraq

Obama this time more forcefully pointed out the questionable judgement of McCain and others for going into Iraq, saying it would be a quick war, saying we would be greeted as victors, saying it would not cost much.  I noticed McCain really could not say much to defend himself on that point, he just keeps talking about the surge.

Pakistan

McCain tried to paint Obama as this naive guy who declares war on other nations, like Pakistan.  Obama had an excellent counter, pointing out when McCain said “Bomb bomb bomb Iran” and something similar about North Korea.  Not sure why McCain would be so belligerent towards the people of North Korea and still sign a letter promoting North Korean human rights.

Negative Campaigning

I expected there would be at least some comments about Obama being characterized by Palin as “friends of terrorists” and McCain being linked to the Keating Five scandal.  I think it was probably smart of them to avoid it during the debate but I am concerned about how negative this campaign will go.  I am especially concerned about comments Palin made such as “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America.”  That is a comment with racist overtones and I am concerned about it not only being condoned but being effective, like the Willie Horton ads that got the first George Bush elected.

Overall it looks like the next President will be Barack Obama but I will believe it when I see it.  I am still amazed at the thought that an African-American could become the President of the United States.  I never though it would happen in my lifetime yet here we are on the verge.

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This debate was quite entertaining.  I enjoyed the pace and I thought the moderator did a great job.

I was hoping Governor Sarah Palin would do well because I thought the teasing of Palin had reached a point of mean-spiritedness.  I enjoyed the SNL skit but I didn’t think it was fair that Governor Palin had become a national joke.  I was also expecting Governor Palin would do well because she has a history of doing well in debates and I think people underestimate how intelligent she is.

So I was happy to see Governor Palin do well.  She showed command of foreign and domestic policy and made good points about Obama’s record.  To be fair, this debate was a good environment for her.  She was able to control what she would talk about and was able to use her charisma and her camera presence.

Senator Biden though was the one who actually impressed me more.  I thought his attacks on Senator McCain were pointed, clear and the ones I wish Senator Obama had made.  I appreciated his emotion when he talked about being a single parent, I didn’t even know he had been one.  His expertise on domestic and foreign policy was quite evident.

Overall I am not sure if this debate helped either ticket but at least it wasn’t a disaster as some expected for the Republicans.

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Watching tonight’s debate I felt frustrated with how Senator Barack Obama performed.  I thought he was on the defensive and that surprised me considering that you would think McCain would be.  As George Will said, it’s incredible considering McCain is associated with “an unpopular president, an unpopular war, and a failing economy.”

First Senator McCain starts off by talking about earmarks, how they are $18 billion, that Senator Obama had requested $900 million in earmarks or something like that, etc.  Senator Obama tried to defend himself but I would have preferred hearing was something like what George Will said, “$18 billion is a rounding error in the budget.”  Senator Obama should have repeatedly pointed out that Senator McCain was the one who said the economy was sound and if his best solution for the economy is to stop earmarks, then that’s pretty pathetic.

Senator McCain then talked about taxes, how he’d lower them for businesses while Obama would raise them.  He talked as though it’s just nonsensical to not be doing it, as though Obama was a fool.  Obama just talked about cutting taxes for those making less than $250,000.  Why didn’t he point out that President Bill Clinton raised taxes, was criticized for it, and the country enjoyed the largest economic expansion in its history?  George Bush lowered taxes and now we’re in the worst economic mess ever.  Obviously a lot more to it than that but what I wanted to see was Obama criticizing Senator McCain’s lack of economic expertise and criticizing him for holding onto the failed idea of lowering taxes for the rich.

Senator McCain then hammered Senator Obama on not admitting the surge was a success and the right thing to do.  Senator McCain kept bringing up a list of foreign policy decisions that he was right about.  Why didn’t Senator Obama hammer him more on the fact he agreed to a war whose grounds for entering it were completely false?  Why not hammer him on the fact that there was no clear mission?  Was it to get Hussein?  If so why are we still there?  Was it to install a democratic government?  If so we’re not doing a good job.  This one is probably harder to do because Senator Obama probably doesn’t want to send a possibly unpatriotic message that we’re losing.

Finally it was interesting to see that Senator McCain chose not to look at Senator Obama.  I am not sure if this looked arrogant but I thought it worked well, made Senator Obama appear like he was trying to gain Senator McCain’s favor by looking at him and saying “You’re right.”  Apparently the McCain campaign picked up on this.

Overall I was disappointed that Senator Obama was so defensive.  All the pundits I heard thought Senator Obama did well or even won and the general public seems divided so in the end it may be inconsequential.

I think Senator Obama needs to keep hammering Senator McCain on his weakness on economic policy.  And I wish he’d become pro-life.

Tags: obama
Categories: Christianity, Politics, Sermons
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