Friday, September 5, 2008

Moving Past McBush, Building a Better Future with Obama

I remember not that long ago, President Bill Clinton vowed to work with us to build a bridge to the 21st Century. And build it, we did! During the Clinton years, we saw record economic growth that made everyone more prosperous. We had a world community that respected us and loved us. We had a nation we could be proud of, and America was on the right track.

Now fast forward eight years to today. George W. Bush has taken us across the bridge, but back into the 20th Century. We have become a nation with an overstretched military stuck fighting an unwinnable occupation when they should be keeping our nation safe. We have an economy in ruins and an incredibly shrinking middle class. We have a climate in crisis and an energy emergency that's made us dependent on hostile foreign regimes. We desperately need to change course, and most Americans know that.

When I saw John McCain utter "change is coming" at the Republican Convention last night, I simply wanted to rush to the bathroom and lose my dinner. How is he "change"? What will he "change". McCain's entire platform of "change" consists entirely of the same wrong policies that George W. Bush has used to wreck us in the first place. If Bush took us back across the bridge to the 20th Century, McCain will simply burn that bridge as he & Sarah Palin rush us back into the 19th Century Gilded Age.

The reason why I am a Democrat is that I want what's best for our country. I want us to have the best possible open society, the best possible education, the best possible jobs, the best possible health care, the best possible quality of life, the best possible relationship with our planet, and the best possible relationship with our fellow human beings. That's why I admire what FDR did to bring us out of the Great Depression and defeat the threat of fascism. That's why I look up to JFK and his call for us to be a better people. That's why I will always love Bill & Hillary Clinton and I won't stop thinking about tomorrow.

And you know what? That's why I look forward to a brighter tomorrow with Democrats like Barack Obama and Joe Biden. When it comes to our nation's future, the Republican Party of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Sarah Palin simply don't get it. They want to apply 19th Century "ideas" in a 21st Century world. We need new ideas to solve the climate crisis, fix our economy, make our health care system work, and keep our nation secure. And today, Democrats have all the forward thinking ideas.

This election may not look like a cakewalk now. But you know what? We simply can't stop fighting. We have the upper hand now. We have the bright ideas. We have the unprecedented enthusiasm. We're looking forward to the future and we're proud if it.

Let's keep going. Let's keep working. Let's keep winning. Now is opportunity to put the past behind us, and move ahead to the future. We can do it... Yes we can!

2 comments:

Chuck Lasker said...

Exactly! As a Republican for Obama, these new Republican leaders - Bush, Cheney, McCain, Romney, Palin, etc. - they do NOT represent the views of true progressive Republicans. Their views are not only from the past, their from the fascist past of other nations, not America. Never in America has anyone been so anti-Constitution, fiscally-irresponsible, oppressive, and such destroyers of liberty.

atdnext said...

Chuck-

I'm so sorry. While I've never been a registered Republican myself, I grew up in a GOP household and most of my extended family are Republicans. The more I talk to them, the more disillusioned they feel. They don't like how Bush and Cheney have turned the party into a radical right fascist clan, and they don't like how McCain & Palin want to keep it that way.

Welcome home, Chuck! Come here as often as you'd like. While most of us here have been Democrats for quite a while, this blog is a safe refuge for all Democrats... Including new additions to the family! ;-)

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