Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

I’ve made my choice for the 2008 presidential election. I’m voting for Barack Obama for President!

What tipped it for me was this section of a speech that Barack Obama made two days ago:

“Some seek to rewrite history. They argue that they weren’t really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors, or for diplomacy. But the Congress, the Administration, the media, and the American people all understood what we were debating in the fall of 2002. This was a vote about whether or not to go to war. That’s the truth as we all understood it then, and as we need to understand it now. And we need to ask those who voted for the war: how can you give the President a blank check and then act surprised when he cashes it?”

It’s really a plain and simple moral choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton did what Barack Obama describes above. She wrote a blank check for Bush to go to war, and now she’s acting all outraged that Bush actually used the powers she gave him.

Barack Obama stood up and opposed the Iraq War when it counted, starting back in 2002. Read Barack Obama’s 2002 antiwar speech. He closed that speech with the following challenge to George W. Bush:

“You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn’t simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair. The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not — we will not — travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.”

When has Hillary Clinton ever come close to taking this kind of principled stand? The answer is sadly clear. She hasn’t.

When America needed strong leaders, Barack Obama was strong. Hillary Clinton was weak, and made the easy choice instead of the choice that was right for America.

My choice for President is Barack Obama.

Now, it’s time for a new beginning for America. Read Barack Obama’s new speech from earlier this week.