Part of the reason Obama makes people feel good about voting for him: One step toward redemption?

It's something that I haven't heard mentioned yet, I think, is an important, if intangible, factor.

We're Americans. We want people to like us. We do not like being looked at by the rest of the world as villains which, indeed, we have become.

We're AMERICANS. We're the good guys, remember? The heroes. We do the right thing. We're a moral beacon... oh, wait.
Seven years of Bush and a pre-emptive war based on calculations and lies have decimated our image in the eyes of the world.
We have no credibility and very little respect from the rest of the civilized world. We are hated and reviled.
We have squandered the good will and admiration of countries and continents.
We are murderers, rapists, liars, thugs and thieves.
We are racist and anti-Muslim.
We are conceited cowboys with loaded guns and big britches.

OK, we know the charges and agree with them, much as we despise the actions that - against our will - have earned the epithets.
What can be done to un-do the image we have been assigned, thanks to Bush & Co.?

The shortest route between two points is a straight line.
Voting for Obama will get us there much more quickly than we ever could have imagined before he came on the scene.
Why?

Well, yes - his middle name IS 'Hussein.' What will that say to the millions of Muslims in the world who think we hate them all?
And, yes, Obama happens to be black. And whites are voting for him in droves. And young people who have never known, in their political lives,
the feeling of hope and involvement that his campaign generates.
Us, racist? Intolerant?
Us, anti-Muslim?
Why, no, sir, I think you're roundly mistaken.


Edited to add: I am writing this while trying to listen to the coverage on MSNBC, so I hope this post is coherent. The spirit in which I'm writing it is
a celebratory one. I am for Edwards but also love Obama and, if Edwards turns out to not be viable, would be very proud to vote for Obama. On his
resume and intelligence alone, he could bring us into an entirely new era. Just the fact that so many more people than normally do are getting involved
in the electoral process really thrills me, and I believe that Obama is largely responsible for this new turn.
(And if Hillary is the nominee, I would happily vote for her, as well).

I'm getting very verbose because I'm so excited!

I'm saying that, in spite of the way Republicans have used his middle name to try to dissuade people from liking him,
to the rest of the world it might be considered a good thing. It could show that we are NOT prejudiced in that regard.

This guy is a snake oil salesman. It makes me sick that it's looking like we'll be stuck with him.

I refuse to vote for him. If he is our nominee, I'll write in a vote. I made a vow in 2000 never to vote for a Republican so a write-in vote will be it for me.

What a world we live in now. Thanks to Obama I now know that "fairy tale" is racist code for what I don't know.

Some people feel good about voting for Obama. These people, almost universally, don't know what he stands for. In person and on these boards, folks have called me a liar when I've pointed out that he intends to keep a large force in Iraq indefinitely, in order to strike back at -- in his words -- "al Qaeda."

We're supposed to have an informed electorate. Obama voters are not informed. They don't know that Edwards and Hillary both plan to get us out of Iraq faster than Obama does; they don't know that both Edwards and Hillary have plans for universal health care, while Obama plans to leave 15 million poor Americans without coverage.

This has been deliberate. Barack Obama has campaigned on personality, and not on the issues. He has consciously left his supporters uninformed -- his campaign even trains his supporters not to talk about his policies, but to tell others about their moments of personal transformation towards becoming an Obama supporter.

This isn't the action of a leader. Barack Obama is a demagogue. Like Bush and others who rely on personal appeal rather than policy, Obama is denying the electorate of a chance to gain a better understanding of the issues. His rallies, with their "fired up, ready to go," are designed to engage people's emotions while leaving them uninformed. His supporters may feel good about voting for him, but he's won them over by manipulating their emotions rather than inspiring their minds.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=demagogue

I don't think anything can be said about Obama's campaign that would be both positive and true. I'm disappointed that he chose this sickening, hollow shell of an approach to a Presidential campaign, and I'm disappointed that so many people have been willing to turn their backs on the poor because a demagogue made them feel good.