Over 1.2 Million Reasons To Vote For Obama

(Cross-posted at MyDD)

This diary is not a guilt trip, though some will perceive it as such. This is just a quick reminder, and it serves to demonstrate why this Clinton supporter will be voting for Barack Obama in November. There are numerous reasons, but these are the ones which are on my mind today:

I'm voting for Obama in memory of over 4000 of our young men and women who have died in uniform.

And I'm not just voting for US troops.

I'm voting for Obama for the Iraqis who carry coffins and pictures of their fallen through the streets.

My vote for Obama is a vote against violence.

My vote for Obama is a vote against suffering.

My vote for Obama is a vote against death.

 

I'm voting for Obama for their fallen sons, daughters and husbands. . .

. . .and for ours.

As our soldiers die, the unrepentant chimp who fancies himself a king tap dances for reporters. Nothing could stop me from opposing the Party which chose him.

I will not stand idly by while a man who jokes about war seeks the White House.

I forgave Hillary Clinton and John Edwards for their AUMF votes, but part of me is happy to see John McCain facing a young man who spoke out against the war from the very beginning. It will create sharper contrast, and I will be happy to put a man with that sort of wisdom, judgment, and foresight into office. The Iraq war is just one reason to vote for him, but it's been weighing heavily on my mind in recent weeks, as fall approaches. I'm voting for Barack Obama for one of my best friends - a woman I've known since I was 9 and she was 10 years old - and for her brother, who won't be with us at her wedding in September, because George W. Bush sent him to die. I'm voting for the Democratic nominee, even though he wasn't my first choice, to end a failed war - one which "should never have been authorized, and should never have been waged."