Jill Stein vs Barack Obama: Why We Should Elect Our First Woman President in 2012

Obama has betrayed those of us who voted for hope and change. Yet because Romney is unfit to be president, some are inclined to vote for Obama out of fear. I too am apprehensive — not just of a Romney administration, but also of another Obama administration. Luckily, there's another option.

I assume those who share my progressive concerns know that voting for Romney would be irresponsible. To vote for Obama is equally reckless. Obama has advanced the interests of the 1% ever since he got into office.

The media foster the excuse that “the Republicans made him do it.” It doesn’t wash.

Obama was not forced by Republicans to appoint insider Timothy Geithner to his cabinet or to escalate the war in Afghanistan. Obama was not forced by Republicans to sit on his tongue when he could have addressed the nation from the Oval Office on prime time television and explained why the public option in health care was the best option for the 99%, or why we needed to let the tax cuts for the rich expire, or how unemployment insurance stimulated the economy, or why the economy needed a twenty-million job stimulus program.  

Had he got out in front and fought for us, whatever the result, we would at least know we had a president who was on our side. Instead, not only did none of the relevant people-friendly policies pass, we realized Obama was missing in action where our interests were concerned.

Obama has not only failed us with his omissions. Obama has become Bush on steroids: multiplying drone attacks overseas and anywhere in the U.S., and also authorizing secret courts.

Obama also signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which gives the executive branch the right to threaten any activist or dissident with indefinite incarceration, including American citizens. The only thing holding back the implementation of the NDAA is that Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges and others went to court and a federal judge struck down the relevant portion as unconstitutional. 

Obama has sullied the presidency by bragging about being the “hitman in chief.” Obama campaigned in support of whistleblowers but, as president, he used the 1917 Espionage Act six times to prosecute federal whistleblowers who leaked information to the media — twice the number brought in the entire previous 95 years.  

Green presidential candidate Jill Stein promises a massive jobs program, meaningful health care reform, action on climate change, withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, an equitable tax system, and a defense of women’s rights. A Jill Stein presidency heralds a democracy liberated from corporate domination. Unlike Obama and Romney, Stein accepts no corporate campaign contributions. 

There are millions of us who want to see the kind of change Jill Stein represents. There is no plausible argument against voting for her: whether Obama or Romney win, each will promote the interests of the 1%. The only people who need to fear us voting our needs by voting for Jill Stein are Obama, Romney, and the 1%.