Barack Obama: Nothing is Changing

Listening to a politician, especially an American one, talking about hope and change and freedom and morals and values is hard for me to stomach. Those words can be spewed out of anyone's mouth, but they can be difficult to back-up. Unfortunately, naive and misinformed people alike tend to latch onto these catchy phrases, vote for these politicians, and get what they deserve. It has happened before in 2000 and 2004 with George W. Bush, and it is happening again in 2008 with Barack Obama.

With numerous celebrities and elites alike filling his pockets with millions of dollars, it's no wonder Obama won on November 4th. On the world stage and in office, charisma, charm, and speaking ability will only get one so far. However, many a voter will look past the real issues and focus on artificial attributes and minor opinions. Let's look past the cult of personality that has formed around Barack Obama and look at some of his policies.

If you're going to talk about change Barack, it would help if you didn't continue the cycle of greed and corruption in the American economy and on Wall Street by voting in accordance with John McCain for the $850 billion dollar bailout. It will do nothing to help the American economy (in fact it wasn't even needed), and continued government intervention in the economy is simply a bad idea. All of the most successful economies in the world have the least government intervention. Obama is hard to predict on tax issues: he states numerous tax cuts, but with spending bound to increase during his tenure as president, the debt will only get larger and inflation will become increasingly insurmountable. He also plans to increase the size of government with more regulatory bodies, which doesn't bode well based on this fact: "When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators" (P.J. O'Rourke). When it comes to the economy, Barack Obama is not going to change what needs to be changed.

If you're going to talk about change Barack, I would expect immediate withdrawal from Iraq, instead of continuing the military presence in the Middle East, antagonizing Iran and Pakistan, and continually backing Israel when they are no better than the Palestinians and the majority of the Muslims in the region. Immersing oneself in the most volatile region in the world is clearly a bad idea, and it is not worth the lives of thousands of soldiers, unless you ask those who are making millions off of the wars: the American arms companies, the oil companies with connections to Bush and Cheney, and the elites who lust for a New World Order. War has been common place from Israel to Afghanistan for hundreds of years; no effort by the United States will be able to solve the epic quagmire that has been created in Iraq due to numerous financial, religious, cultural, and social factors. Instead, leaving Iraq immediately is the best solution (especially considering that most Iraqi's want their freedom back from the United States). This pre-emptive war was illegal and must not be condoned by any future governments; however, Obama is not accepting this fact, and it will only lead to more hatred of the United States around the world. When it comes to foreign policy, Barack Obama is not going to change what needs to be changed.

Obama voted "present" 129 times in his 8 years in the Illinois Senate. Do you know what that means? It means he was there in the Senate building and could have voted on important issues, but lacked the courage to do so. Obama does what he can to cover himself and to not offend anyone; therefore, even though I agree with many of his social issues and his energy and health care reform plans, I am skeptical that his policies will not see the light of day. His lack of initiative and leadership in the political arena is not Presidential material. John McCain has many flaws in policy, but his edge here is undeniable. His service in the military plus his experience and openness in Senate all prove the amount of passion and leadership he exemplifies.

The majority of the American people seem to be too easily manipulated to stand up against the establishment and demand real action from real leaders. The political system in the United States is severely flawed, as authoritarianism and big government is ripping away democracy and liberty from the American people. The War on Terror and the increased illusion of security slowly takes away freedoms from Americans everyday. Barack Obama, once again, does not plan to change any of these facts.

Barack Obama will be President of the World's last remaining superpower because of media and corporate manipulation, race, and appearances. As the common saying goes, "don't judge a book by its cover". Americans made this mistake and it will only lead to negative events. Looking down at the political landscape in the United States, even in this time of supposed hope and change, I am beginning to lose hope of my own.