Why I am an Obamanian.

My Obama sign is up in the front yard.



Really, Obama's delegate nomination is a small victory, since he and Clinton are essentially on the same raft for the issues. There are, however three major things that make me happy that he is the nominee:

1. He'd make a Great Figurehead: The president is a figurehead for the country, more than anything else. As far as policy goes it is Congress that sets the agenda, the president is just there to allow things through. What the president needs to be good at, however, is mobilizing and energizing. Without a leader who is an excellent public figure it is very hard to get public support for important initiatives. Hillary is good enough, as good as McCain, at least, but Barack is in a league of his own. Every time I read through or watch one of his speeches, I am struck by the unabashed elegance and intelligence that they display. In the time of Larry-the-cable-guy, a well-thought-out and intelligent piece of writing is hard to come by.


2. No Political Dynasties: The whole idea of having a set of "Bushes" or "Kennedys" or "Clintons" trading back and forth in government is intensely distasteful to me. It speaks to an inherent laziness of the public, and lays bare the popularity contest nature of modern elections. Having a president be the first gentleman is really quite absurd when you think about it. It encroaches on Aristocracy, and we all know how well that works.


3. Network Neutrality Support: The one major issue (for me) that Hillary and Barack differ on is net neutrality. Barack takes a very clear pro-neutral standpoint, which is what the net needs, while Hillary has said that internet companies might have the right to charge whatever they want for data throughput. This is not a life or death issue, but it could vastly change the net as we know it, and as someone who has made his livlihood on the free and open Internet, I side heavily with Barack on this issue.

So, this is why I am glad that Barack has the nomination, and not Hillary. As far as the Obama - McCain race goes, I am eagerly anticipating the debates that these two will have, though McCain has started down a direction that I really dislike. I severely doubt that I will have much support for McCain in the coming months, but you never know.

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