A Republican Who Likes Obama

I'm an elected Republican and I'm happy with Barack Obama ... sort of.

Of course I'm unhappy with him monkeying around with the economy, but he's not doing any worse than Bush on that stuff.

Here's why I'm happy:

1. Obama stepped up to the plate on medical marijuana. Under Bush (and Clinton), the feds would arrest people involved with medical marijuana even where it was legal under the laws of those states. For those who think Republicans are supposed to hate marijuana, that's missing the important principle. Republicans believe (or used to believe) in federalism and states' rights. If a state wants to allow medical marijuana, the feds should respect that. Obama does.

2. Obama is pushing to end the crack/powder disparity. Long ago the feds made the same stiff penalties apply to 5 grams of crack cocaine and 500 grams of powder cocaine. Many felt this was unfair since the drugs are essentially the same and since crack is used more heavily by poor blacks vs. wealthy whites using powder. Of course Obama should go farther, but he's done more than Clinton did on it.

3. Obama is right on the torture issue. I've been sickened by reading how some of our nation's top officials justify torturing people because 9/11 changed things. Baloney. Torture is wrong. We're better than that. I'm waiting to hear Bush answer the question: Who would Jesus torture?
Same on this point for Gitmo. Time to close it down.

4. Obama is right on opening up dialogue with other countries. Yes, I do think governments in places like Iran, Cuba and Venezuela stink. But we work with plenty of other countries that stink too. The talks probably won't lead anywhere meaningful - those leaders will stay rotten. But not talking is worse.

5. Obama understood that belt-tightening starts at the top - a view not shared by the Democrat leadership in Guilderland. On his first day in office he instituted a pay freeze for top officials in the White House. Grandstanding? Maybe, but good policy anyway.

There's more, but I give Obama credit for doing the right thing on some tough issues. Now if only he could get past that whole socialist mentality and start to recognize that capitalism is better ...

Something wrong with liberals and Democrats (Republicans too)

Paul Krugman wrote a column in the New York Times on May 28th that stands out as something that bothers me about liberals and Democrats, though I have similar gripes about conservatives and Republicans.

In his op-ed piece (which non-subscribers can read at the Free Democracy blog), Krugman thoroughly criticizes President Bush for the war in Iraq. He goes further and attacks the three principal GOP candidates for statements they have made about 9/11, Osama, and Iraq.

I agree wholeheartedly with Krugman's criticisms of Bush, Giuliani, Romney and McCain. What irks me is his failure to hold Democrats responsible for going along with the war. In other columns he has been somewhat critical of Hillary for not admitting error in voting for the war. He seems positive about John Edwards for admitting he was wrong.

All of the most prominent leading Democrats share responsibility for the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and John Kerry voted for it. Why do so many liberals and Democrats turn a blind eye to this? Why do they get off the hook just because they're Democrats? Even our local congressman, Michael McNulty, voted for the war. He continued to support the war for a long time. Local Democrats and the local media completely excused this.

Most striking is how liberals like Krugman ignore Republicans who opposed the war from the beginning. I take this personally in that I ran for Congress opposing the war against a Democrat (McNulty) who persistently supported the war, yet there was absolutely no support for me from liberals, and no criticism of him for his position from them or the media.

And in the current presidential race, there is a Republican who opposed the war from the beginning. Ron Paul should be the choice of everyone who opposes the war. But Krugman, who represents both liberals and the media, steadfastly ignores Ron Paul.

This behavior shows that liberals use the war as a tool for partisanship. They don't care about the war itself, but rather they care about it as a means to attack Republicans. Of course I think conservatives and Republicans do the same. That's what's refreshing about people like Ron Paul. He says what he believes, votes the way he thinks is right, and never (in my experience) makes it about labels like liberal Democrat or conservative Republican.