A Conservative Republican for Obama?

The big news in politics today is that President Bush’s former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is endorsing Senator Barack Obama for president.  Personally, I don’t see why this is a big deal.  It doesn’t matter.  Senator Obama will win the presidency in sixteen days.  Convincingly.  Mark my words.  I’m putting the over-under at fourteen percentage points, and I’ll take the over.

This has certainly been an interesting election.  A “transformational figure” (as Secretary Powell states) versus a so-called maverick.  The first African-American presidential candidate versus the true war-hero candidate.  Both with their own intriguing history battling in the shadow of one of the most disliked presidents in modern history.

As most anyone that has read this blog is aware, I am a conservative Republican.  Always have been.  I am the modern day Alex P. Keaton, or so I’ve been told.  So it should come as no surprise that I don’t generally like Senator Obama.  I take that back.  the senator seems very likeable, and I’m sure if I sat down and spoke with him, I probably would like him.  I don’t like his policies.  But, with him being a liberal Democrat, that should come as no surprise.

Despite my feelings for Senator Obama, that doesn’t mean that I fall in lock-step with Senator McCain.  I don’t.  Those that know me know that I have never liked the senator.  Even before the 2000 election when he went so negative and showed his true colors in the campaign against then Governor Bush, I didn’t like him.  Now he’s doing the same thing.  

The story of John McCain is as compelling as that of Barack Obama.  My next door neighbor was a classmate of Senator McCain’s at the Naval Academy.  He tells me the “maverick” attitude was present even then.  I like that.  I don’t mind at all when people want to do things their own way and don’t really care what others think of them.  Some might say I have some of those same characteristics myself.  At least the part about other people not liking me.

My problem with Senator McCain is that he is not a conservative Republican.  Never has been.  Never will be.  He is an independent.  Again, that’s fine.  If you’re running as an Independent.  But he isn’t.  He stands before the American people, indeed the world, as the flag-bearer of the Republican party.  But John McCain doesn’t speak for all Republicans.  Not even most of them.

My fear in voting for Senator McCain is that over the next four years (because he would not be re-elected for any number of reasons) he would fundamentally change the makeup of the Republican party.  The Republican party that I know would be lost.  The conservative movement, with all of its faults and failures, would still exist, but it would no longer have a political party with which to attach.  We would have Democrat and Democrat-lite.  

So I will not vote for Senator McCain for president, rather I will vote for Senator Obama.  Not just because I’m not willing to give away the proverbial Republican store for McCain’s long-time desire to finally be president, but because I want to see just what Senator Obama can do.

It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and complain about how things are going.  The Democrats have made a cottage industry of it over the last eight years.  Always complaining about things and always telling people how the Republicans have wrongly-handled this or that, but never presenting the American people a true alternative of their own.  Now is their chance.

Senator Obama has a booklet that presents his policies for a number of issues facing the country.  You can find it here.  I read it.  The one question I kept asking myself throughout  was “How are you going to pay for this?”  His plans are expensive.  But they are ambitious, and ambition is nothing if not expensive.

I will give Senator Obama the chance he is asking for.  I will cast my vote for him, and if it matters in one of the most Republican states, and hope he makes it to the Oval Office.  Yet, in reality, I’m not voting for him as much as I’m voting to keep my Republican Party intact.  If Senator Obama can accomplish the things he says he can in four years, then perhaps we will all be better off.  If he doesn’t, then rest-assured this conservative Republican who voted for a liberal Democrat will be one of the loudest voices calling for change.

Hopefully, within the next four years, the Republican party will realize that we handled this election as the Democrats have handled most every other election of the last quarter century.  Hopefully, my Republican party will get its act together and realize who it is.  Four years will come faster than we think.

Comments

[A Voice of Sanity]

~~ The Democrats have made a cottage industry of it over the last eight years. Always complaining about things and always telling people how the Republicans have wrongly-handled this or that, but never presenting the American people a true alternative of their own. ~~

When the biker gang is destroying the house they live in and parts of the neighborhood as well it's rather pointless to offer them home decorating tips.

[Joel Rosenberg]

Well, if things go as your vote goes, I hope that you're right -- but it's not the way to bet.

Me, I'm far more worried about at least two years of a Pelosi-Obama-Reid administration to make me consider voting for Obama, even if I were inclined to, which I'm not. (Not that it matters much; I live in Minnesota, which is no more in contest than your Texas is.)

[Nannyannie]

I too was a conservative republican. I too see a clear choice for Obama time. Even if Sarah didn't scare me so much.

[Nannyannie]

I too was a conservative republican. I too see a clear choice for Obama time. Even if Sarah didn't scare me so much.

[Mark Bennett]

Shawn,

Yeah, that's the ticket. Clearly, the great majority of Americans are philosophically to the right of McCain. This explains why the candidate to the left leads by 10 points. Your party should definitely nominate someone farther right next time.

I like the site redesign, BTW.

[A Voice of Sanity]

~~ I'm far more worried about at least two years of a Pelosi-Obama-Reid administration ~~

Don't forget the hell that was the Clinton administration - 8 years of peace, prosperity and a serious and working effort to pay down the debt. Thank goodness the Bush crowd reversed all of that.

[Robert Guest]

I hope this election buries the modern GOP for good. Big government conservatism was a disaster marked by fiscal insanity, an assault of privacy, and the rise of the autocrat executive branch.

Did I mention Bob Barr is running on the LP ticket?!

[Glen R. Graham]

I have written you before expressing the opinion that a professional legal blog should be more about law than politics. I realize you and Mark Bennett are both passionate about your personal beliefs but I still wonder whether this would interfere with your ability to represent a person from the opposite political spectrum. There are multiple analogous little anecdotes and stories about political prosecutions and problems with politics interfering with the fair and impartial administration of justice. What if the jury was from the opposite party or the Judge or the defendant ---- I don't have the answer but I am wondering. Bennett like you likes to go off on political talks on his blog and some bloggers seem to be talking more politics than law. Some people seem to believe that law is politics but I think the fair and impartial administration of justice should still be the gold standard. Even Ronald Reagan was a Democrat from a family of Democrats before changing political parties in the the 1960's. Some so called Democrats were raised by Republicans and then changed parties. I think it is possible to be a good criminal defense lawyer irregardless of which political party you belong to although sometimes there is some prejudice against people because of their political party affiliation.
Yours in the Defense of Fellow Human Beings,
Glen R. Graham, Tulsa Criminal Defense Lawyer

[Glen R. Graham]

I left out --- what if the prosecutor or the law enforcement officer or witness or or informant or other party --- what if they were from the opposite political spectrum or politically prejudiced --- etc. ? Interesting ideas to contemplate.

[Glen R. Graham]

Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury, let me introduce myself, I am ---- a R or D or I and I hate such and such and believe in such and such ---- who cares ---- we are here to determine whether sufficient evidence has been presented to convict this defendant beyond a reasonable doubt without regard to which political party any us of belong to.

[Joel Rosenberg]

I dunno. As a potential consumer of legal services, I'd be far more interested in how good at criminal defense law I thought a given attorney was than what his or her politics might be, and I'd expect that an attorney of even minimal competence would be able to handle the potential problems (a juror who knows his political views in the first place, much less hates him for them, much less would treat the client unfairly) in voir dire.

My own theory is that Matlock and Bennett and Greenfield (among others) are practicing blogging on their legal blogs, not law, and find their political opinions and insights interesting, both when I agree with them and when, as usual, I disagree; YMMV.

[Matlock]

VOS,

Interesting analogy. So you consider the Democratic view of what is best for the country as "decorating tips?" And anyone that views the Clinton days as the good ole days has a rather skewed view of history.

Mark and Robert,

That's my concern, is that this election will destroy the GOP, but only if McCain is elected. If he is, the Republican Party will not be what has been for decades. I know that many of you relish the idea of the demise of the party, but I don't. That's my concern.

Glen,

I'm not too concerned if the potential jurors of the most Republican urban county in one of the most Republican states know of my views. I am firmly convinced you cannot stand in front of a jury and be someone you're not. Besides, I can stand in front of a jury and connect with them better than a ponytail-wearing, flag-burning hippie. But I don't want to sound too ignorant or naive.

Joel,

So is Minnesota all Blue all the time? How can you disagree with me, Bennett and Greenfield? We never agree with each other.

[Joel Rosenberg]

Lesseee . . . on the Presidential level, well, yeah, pretty much always. That said, that's apparently not the opinion of the McCain campaign, which is putting on quite a few ad buys here. (Obama buying ads, which he is, doesn't mean much; he can afford to light cigarettes with hundred dollar bills after all those contributions from LKJ LJKLKJ and Bill Me Later.)

It gets complicated when you go to down-ballot races, both because our politics are complicated (we've got a fair number of RINOs and DINOs) and a third party viable enough to throw what would be a state-level DFL win to the Republicans. (It's why we've got a Republican governor in Pawlenty, for example, and half of the reason we're at least coin-flip to keep Coleman as a Senator; the other half being that, in a year in which a placebo Democrat could probably beat Coleman, the DFL chose Al Franken.)

The reason I can disagree with all of you is that almost no opinions/decisions are binary.

[Cat Health Problems]

i am sure this will interest lot of folks

[Business Opportunities]

well very nice stuff indeed

[Bryan Simmons]

I don't understand how a criminal defense lawyer can be a Republican. It's somewhat akin to being a "Jew for Hitler" or "American-Indians for Custer", in my opinion.

[Glen R. Graham]

Abraham Lincoln, Republican, criminal defense lawyer.
Robert Bennet, Washington, DC, Republican, criminal defense lawyer.
All former U.S. Attorneys, Republicans fired by the Bush Aministration, some now criminal defense lawyers.
"Mythical" Boston Legal Trial Lawyer - criminal defense lawyer - Denny Crane - NRA all the way!
Too many other Republican criminal defense lawyers to list.

[Glen R. Graham]

From Boston Legal, quoting - Denny Crane: "It's a good feeling, you know, to shoot a bad guy. Something you Democrats would never understand. Americans... we're homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys.

Lock and load!

There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."
-----------------
Here's my watch, here's my wallet, here's my gun, (bang) knee, (bang) left foot, (bang) right foot, thank God for Guns!

Quoting - Republican Criminal Defense Lawyer - Denny Crane.

Fight or flight, the instinct to survive. The right to self preservation.
The survival of the smartest.

[Health News]

Thank you for introducing me the wonderful information.And .....Totally boring.!

[l-arginine supplement]

I dont think some statement are still applicable to what the economy is experiencing right now.

[auto insurance quotes]

I wonder what things will be like this time next year... could be UGLY, could be FANTASTIC! Right now it just seems QUESTIONABLE

[moncler doudoune]

It's so nice to have you do all of the research for us. It makes our decision making so much easier!! Thanks.