Dropping like flies

The end of The Mittwit came as no surprise to me - he was a douche bag from the beginning (click here for his greatest and most comical blunders). Between his numerous flip-flops, his desire to "double the size of Guantanamo," his desire to galvanize heterosexual unions into constitutional law, and other conservative Republican drivel, I knew he couldn't stand a chance. On top of that, the Mormonism thing just doesn't sit well with southern Christians, which is a base that most Republicans need to win. Apparently The Mittwit and Huckleberry share one thing in common: they both think that the only people who vote (or count) in America are right-wing Christian conservatives. Sorry guys, there's a lot more to America than just deluded moralists.

But today, I read that my guy Ron Paul is opting out.

Since the beginning, RP has been somewhat enigmatic for both left and right. On the right, because he's a successful Republican who espouses beliefs and policies not known among the neo-conservative beltway Republicans, and the left because he sounds so much like them (so much like them, in fact, that the left was extremely wary to even give him an ear on anything). He was viewed as "extreme" and "fringe" because when he spoke, most folks had no clue what he was saying. But whose problem is that? Certainly not RP's. It's not his fault that most Americans don't know the causes of inflation (which he does), the causes of things like 9/11 and the bombing of the USS Cole (which he does), the causes of endless war and how to stop it (which he does), and why we need our civil liberties (which he does). I wish perhaps that he had explained these things in a way that the typical American could have comprehended. But alas, not everyone cares about these sorts of things.

Crooks & Liars, who I read daily, asks "What of RP's supporters now?" I guess we're trapped in the same vacuum as the John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich supporters of yesterday. When I visited glassbooth.org, I was told my candidates of choice were 1) Ron Paul, 2) Mike Gravel, and 3) Bill Richardson. Now none of them are available as candidates. Which now leads me down a path I've never been before. Since RP is out, my support goes for...

Obama. I don't like the Democratic party (I despise the nanny state), but I am a (social) progressive. I kissed off the Republican party in 1999 when I registered as a Libertarian. However, I support Obama now instead of anybody else for some very odd reasons.

1. Obama has been resolute on Iraq, which is to me the single most important issue right now. And I don't feel what I feel about Iraq just because I think was is terrible (it is), because I think getting involved in a religious war will only bring blowback (it will - and to those of you who think it is a war of "ethnic cleansing" and not religious I say WAKE UP), or because I despise the hubris in "protecting trade routes" (neo-colonialism at its worst). I don't like America's involvement in Iraq for all the reasons, not just these. Obama is the last candidate we have who I think could set a time table to get America the hell out of the Middle East and return to a more friendly, non-interventionist foreign policy (a boy can dream, right?). I know it sounds shallow, but most of my disgust with the Iraq war centers on the fiscal irresponsibility of it all. So far we've spent $500 billion, and that doesn't include the future run rates that will incur probably that much again (or more). Is any country on the globe worth saving for $1 trillion? No.

2. Obama seems to have a sense of civil liberties that the others do not possess. I guess because I was a 1990s Republican, I cannot trust anything a Clinton does, but even when I try to be objective and non-biased in any way, the woman comes across as entirely political. Sure, she cried a few months ago, but that to me seemed contrived and calculating. Obama has a smoothness and "no bones about it" way about him that I hope will carry over into his stance on civil liberties. To say that his race has nothing to do with it is a lie, so don't believe the mainstream media when they avoid talking about it. I do think his race has a lot to do with it, which is why I think he'll be a better restorer of the civil liberties that the Bush/Cheney crime families have yanked out from under us. Blacks care about civil liberties - blacks practically invented the idea of defending them.

3. The unification factor swings Obama's way 1000 times better than it does toward anyone else. Again, the Republican hatred for all things Clinton is deep and real. I myself can't fully explain it, and I used to be one of them. Hillary is not a unifier at all, and we need someone who will work with Congress to clean up the mess Bush has caused. I'm talking about closing Guantanamo and giving its prisoners access to courts/lawyers, shutting down operations in Iraq for good and selling off whatever assets we may need to leave behind, restoring habeus corpus and repealing the Military Commissions Act, etc. etc. Although I don't see Obama going as far as to completely shut down the American Empire abroad, I think he might take steps in doing so.

4. Terrorism - I haven't heard much from Obama on terrorism, which to me is a positive thing. Sure he wants to fight it, we all do. RP's method of fighting it was the smartest - get it at the roots by cutting Israel off and shutting down the global hegemony America has established. I don't think Obama will go that far, but I am comforted to know that every other word out of his mouth, unlike Bush (and Rudy 9iu11iani), isn't the word "terrist." (Incidentally, "terrist" is a relative term. If you don't believe me, just ask an Iraqi refugee who he/she thinks the real "terrists" are).

I will continue to flaunt my RP bumper sticker and spread the word of personal freedom/liberty, sound and friendly foreign policy, fiscal responsibility, and a freer America the rest of the campaign season. On election day, I probably will not participate (seeing as though my vote for president doesn't count anyway). I just hope that Obama etches out Hillary because from there I think it will be smooth sailing (even über-conservative Rush Limbaugh understands the threat of Obama - he's asking his supporters to side with Hillary to create imbalance!).