Republican Options Leave No Reasonable Alternatives to Obama

I proudly cast my ballot for Ron Paul in the 2008 primaries in the hopes that splitting the Republican vote could result in a party that would be pushed more towards its Libertarian roots and away from the continuing plunge into economically ignorant and religiously zealous authoritarianism. Once the Republican presidential primaries roll around to my irrelevantly blue home state of Washington in 2012, I will again check the box next to Paul’s name when I cast my vote.

But make no mistake, when election day arrives and it comes time to choose from the Mitt and Barry show, there is absolutely no way a practical and pragmatic human being can vote for anyone other than Barack Obama.

I never bought into the “Hope and Change” mantra of Obama’s 2008 campaign and Obama’s weak-kneed performance throughout repeated political firestorms, coupled with an outright atrocious record on civil liberties, has done little to improve my faith in our commander-in-chief.

So why re-elect him? Why give four more years to a president whose leadership has been, at best, lackluster? Because there is no sane, reasonable, or even colorable alternative.

Mitt Romney (and it is going to be Mitt Romney, for all you still hopeful Paul fans out there) has demonstrated in his primary season flight to the right that he will double down on the disastrous policies that were the foundations on George W. Bush’s ruinous presidency.

From promising to extend and expand the Bush tax cuts, thereby continuing the unfettered fleecing of the bottom 80% for the benefit of the top 20%, to blasting Obama for daring to slow the growth of a defense budget that is nearing the backbreaking $700 billion annual mark, Romney has demonstrated that he has no interest in pursuing anything more than the tired ideas of failed administrations that have cost us millions of jobs and thousands of lives.

Obama is far from perfect; his support of the indefinite detention of Americans and his continued retreats from Republican obstructionism border on the unforgiveable. However, I challenge anyone to name the Republican administration under which we would see the cessation of torture and the repeal of openly discriminatory law such as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. You think Wall Street or big business would even catch a whiff of regulation from a Romney administration? This is Mr. Bain we’re talking about here.

For all his faults, Obama has shown that he is willing to work to move this country forward, while still keeping the majority of his campaign promises. It’s hard to imagine the same performance from a candidate whose promises change depending on the crowd he’s talking to.

So come November I will be casting a vote for Barack Obama; not because I am overjoyed with his performance, but because when my grandkids ask me what I did when the barbarians were at the gates, seeking to effectuate a corporate raid on the country itself, I’ll be able to say that I did the right thing.

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