Politics: A Recap of the Election

A day late on my politics post. Not even one week through my new schedule, and already behind. I'm really pretty bad at this...

Anyways. This post is going to be about three things - Barack Obama, why I don't like him, and why he won the election.

Everyone knows Barack Obama. Or, at least, I would hope the vast majority of American citizens over the age of ten could easily identify him by name or by picture. He's not only the President, he has won both elections for the office by fairly wide margins.

So, why is it that I don't like Barack Obama, regardless of the fact that the majority of Americans so obviously prefer him to other candidates?

Well, let's go over the things I like about Barack Obama first.

First of all, he speaks out in support of what I believe to be the correct and, in many cases, only defensible positions on many issues. These include things such as gay rights, abortion, and, to a lesser degree, healthcare and welfare.

Secondly, he has, in some cases, attempted and/or succeeded to do something favorable on one of these issues.

And, beyond that, there isn't much else I like about him. So, time to go into the long list of why I don't like him...

My very first complaint is that his administration has constantly infringed on the civil liberties of American citizens. During his incumbency, the President both gained and utilized the ability to have Americans executed without a trial.

I'll repeat that for effect - the President can sign a piece of paper and have any of us executed without a trial, and it's all legal. Not only was this instituted, Obama has used this power.

He's also authorized the use of drones for monitoring civilians in America. Not quite as stunning as my first point, but still important.

So, regardless of being painted as a liberal progressive, Obama pursues and implements authoritarian policies. Makes sense, am I right?

The next bit is just as bad - many of the causes Obama supports are directly opposed by the appointments he makes. For instance, his first choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services was a man who spent years campaigning against the concept of universal healthcare on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.

Currently, his Chief of Staff is a former Citigroup executive whose main concern during the collapse of the housing market and ensuing financial crisis was the stability and continued profits of hedge funds who helped cause the collapse by taking options to benefit as it occurred.

Not only this, he accepted $37.6 million in donations from the financial industry for assisting him in winning another term.

Currently, he's not sounding a whole lot like a liberal progressive, is he? The fact is, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are so close on the political spectrum in actual activity that it is difficult to tell them apart. The only real difference is that Romney is supposed to act that way, while Obama is viewed as a liberal.

(What really makes me laugh is people who accuse Obama of being a socialist. It's just sad. And, of course, none of this gets any mainstream media coverage, so no one has a clue what's going on.)

My third major reason for disliking Barack Obama is that he spends too much money, and has no intention of every stopping by the end of his term. I could do a whole lot of economics voodoo to show how that's bad, but I'll leave that for the comments section if anyone wants to hear the specifics.

(In related news, I'll leave discussing sources for the comments section, as I don't feel like cluttering the main post with a bajillion links today.)

And here's where, hopefully, some of you are questioning how Barack Obama managed to win the election by any margin, let alone a large one.

Well, there are three main factors I blame.

One is that Barack Obama talks a better game than Mitt Romney. While he may not actually be acting on things like his stances on abortion and gay rights, he vocally supports them, and that garners a lot of support all on its own.

Secondly, his major infringements on the civil liberties of the American public are largely unknown to Americans, as they receive little to no media coverage. As a second portion of this point, no one really pays attention to appointments in a President's administration, let alone whether or not they contradict the President's stated positions.

And, finally, it is my belief that the hurricane right before election day favored Obama for winning the election. It gave him an opportunity to do something positive that would stick in the minds of voters everywhere for the election, and he took it and ran with it. Before then, I would not have been able to call the race with confidence, but after the hurricane - and how Obama and his administration responded to it - there was very little question in my mind that Romney had lost the election.

Anyways. I'd like to say that I definitely didn't support Romney in the election and, in fact, did not vote for the Presidency at all. IMO, he was a worse candidate than Obama, which really says something.

I'd appreciate any points the rest of you have to add to the discussion, either in favor of Obama or against him. I can also provide links and some more thorough rationale for some points on request.

Hope you all enjoyed the read, and I'll be back onto my new schedule on Monday.