How Obama lost Me

OK, so as I promised, why I didn't vote for Obama either.

This one had me a bit more torn.  Obama has done more than any other president on marriage rights and equal treatment for people like me.  That isn't saying much.  He's led from behind, especially on DADT, and he's flip-flopped so often that I'm not sure I believe him.  But nonetheless, he's helped to turn public opinion in a positive direction.  If only he could articulate his opinion in a clear way.

Speaking of, he's also not W.

I wanted him to succeed.

I sort of knew that something wasn't right when a series of nominees had tax issues. As in nonpayment.  Treasury Secretary.  Wha...?  Say what you will about John Ashcroft, but he took down Arthur Andersen because it participated in the dishonesty of Enron and WorldCom and....  If this was the change we were hoping for (or the hope we were changing for?) then we were in trouble.

And we were.  Stimulus?  Where's my 6% unemployment rate?  I'm in the 'it probably helped' camp, but it wasn't helpful to over-promise what a fiscal expansion could do.  I like shiny trains.  But again, I don't see any vision as to how to deal with the debt, and I don't see any sense of humility.

"You didn't build that."  Yes, he was saying that private companies didn't build all of that infrastructure, but they did, with the government paying.  And who ultimately pays for these things?  The taxpayers, most of whom work for private business.  They sure did build that.

The way the GM bailout was handled.

The drone war in Pakistan.

The smashing of Libya and Mali to little bits, and more leading from behind in the Arab Spring, antagonizing the Egyptian public.  Oh, and a blatantly unconstitutional war.

My airport experiences have gotten worse, not better.  Pat-downs.  Naked scanners which ooze radiation.

My immigration experiences are no fun either, and I think that they are one of the single biggest contributors to anti-Americanism among educated people in foreign countries.

Basically, Obama's civil liberties record is like Bush's but a little worse in most respects.  There is no clear vision for the future, and what vision there is seems an awful lot like 19th-century Prussia.  While Romney is out of the question, so is Obama.

Since I am voting in a state which is out of play, Gary Johnson gets my vote.  He actually deserves it.  The Libertarian party has a history of nominating nutcases, but Johnson would actually be a good president.  He'll get one percent of the vote at most.

How Romney lost (or never had) me

I'm blatantly linking to someone who says what I'm thinking better than I can.  It encapsulates why I can't support the Republicans with a few exceptions this time around, and it encapsulates why I can't support Romney in particular.

This is something which I think a lot of people don't understand.  I'm worried about fiscal sustainability; I favor cutting benefits and tax deductions for the rich; I dislike a lot of what public sector unions stand for; and I favor tax reform more generally.  I even have some moderately socially conservative positions too, combined with my desire to smash the gender binary to little itty bitty pieces.  But, on Nov. 5, 2008, I woke up, went to work, checked the news, and felt sick for the rest of the day.  The voters of California painted a target on my chest, and at that moment I became radicalized.

Under federal law, I'm still considered less of a citizen than others because I'm not romantically attracted to women.  The particular issue in this link--the ability to sponsor someone--affects me personally.  So long as there are people out there defending the so-called DOMA and saying that I have no right to love whom I love on my terms, I can't support them. They can have better views on fiscal policy or public employee unions than the other guy, but this is personal.

See this Youtube video for what I mean.  Romney may have no core convictions--this isn't always bad in a politician--but he certainly acts like it in this instance.  I can't trust him to have no convictions in this case.  "Trust me, I'm lying?"

Those who aren't against me are with me, but I am against those who are against me. Sorry, that's how it works. You haven't earned my vote.  You're a disappointment.  Not being the other guy is not reason enough for me to vote for you.

Coming next:  How Obama lost me