A Republican for Obama
By Bradford Speers
In a post-Sept. 11 world where presidential signing statements, secret executive orders, legal ambiguity, out-sourced political prisons and domestic wire tapping are controlled from the White House, who would you rather have as president?
Option one: a senator with nothing to hide and no involvement in any of the aforementioned issues; or option two: a senator who already has eight years in the White House, who refuses to release any of the documents that would solidify her experience there and who voted to allow the expansion of powers to the Executive Branch while in the Senate.
Personally, I choose option one, and here is why. After Senator Hillary Clinton's win in the New Hampshire primary, she declared that she had "found her own voice."
She did, and she found it in her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
While Senator Clinton was in Florida preparing for Super Tuesday, it was Bill Clinton who went to South Carolina to campaign for his wife's ambitions.
Bill Clinton refused to speak on relevant issues, and instead chose the cheap way out -- race baiting. Instead of highlighting his or his wife's record on race, he challenged fellow Democrat Barack Obama's.
His comments did not work. Obama was the victor in Saturday's South Carolina primary, where he captured 55.4 percent of the electorate in an election in which roughly 500,000 Democrats participated.
The next day, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, endorsed Obama. And on Monday, Senator Ted Kennedy endorsed him as well.
Today, I am also endorsing Barack Obama.
I may not be a Kennedy. In fact, I'm not even a Democrat -- I am conservative. I don't have massive amounts of money to throw toward Obama's campaign, but I do have a vote -- and it counts.
Obama has stated his positions on a few issues -- positions that I completely agree with.
Obama says he would negotiate with world leaders whom the U.S. does not like, meaning, no more back-door, small-time diplomats taking care of the White House's dirty business; Obama wants everything up-front and transparent.
He is also willing to open up debate regarding the right of undocumented immigrants to obtain a worker's license.
He has made a pledge to decrease the amount of foreign oil consumed in the U.S. by 35 percent by the year 2030. The ramifications this would have on our environment aside, the political benefits of this move would be our country's real payoff.
Between China, the European Union and the United States, there is not enough crude oil to go around affordably and without war. Regardless of CO2 emissions, we must cut down our usage. Obama has touted the importance of this message more than Clinton.
There is more to his message of change then just a vague notion of progress. Obama wants to expel the old elitist politics run by lobbyists. How will American politics ever change if the voters keep falling victim to candidates like Clinton, who have made a living off of the old political scheme in Washington?
Obama has successfully ignored the Clintons' enticing and continual jabs at the race issue.
They have tried to paint him as the "black" candidate, when in fact, he is everyone's candidate, who also happens to be African American.
The Clintons have never represented honesty, morals or tact. In 2008, I hope we can move beyond their old ways, and that is why I am supporting Barack Obama.
Bradford Speers is a senior political science major.