The Rants of Issachar
Saturday, October 25, 2008
I'm a Christian and I would prefer an Obama Presidency
My friend Caleb said he'd be interested to read a post on how I reconcile reconciling my support for Obama and your faith, so here it is.
The short answer is "fairly easily".
I assume that the real issue behind his question is how I can reconcile Obama's stance on abortion with my faith. To be sure Obama has one of the most extreme positions on abortion in US politics. (And that's saying something). As far as I can tell he has yet to support any restriction on abortion at any time for any reason. This leads me to conclude that he believes that abortion is legitimate at any time for any reason. I disagree, and I don't think many people (American or Canadian) agree with Obama on this. All other things being equal I would prefer a candidate who did not have such extreme views.
By contrast, McCain has more moderate views. (I believe he supports some restrictions on abortion, but not outlawing it entirely, someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
But will a McCain Presidency make any difference to abortion law in the US compared with an Obama one? I suspect that it would not. McCain has explicitly stated that he will not apply an abortion litmus test on Supreme court appointments. If this is the case Roe vs. Wade will not be overturned. Where Obama's Presidency might make a difference is if he were to veto a bill restricting abortion. But I don't think this should be a concern if congress actually passed a reasonable law. Obama's main stated reason for not voting for abortion laws is when they don't contain exceptions for "the health of the mother". Many point out that "health of the mother" could mean anything. That's true, but who's fault is that? A 21 year old intern could write a bill that explicitly laid out acceptable health risks for which late term abortions could be allowed or not allowed. If congress can't get it's act together enough to write a bill that lays this out clearly, then I think the fault for that lies with congress. And if a bill comes up that outlaws abortion regardless of any risks to a woman's health, then any Christian should vote against it. I think that President Obama would have difficulty vetoing a bill that had wide public support. Especially in his first term.
So as far as abortion goes, I suspect that there would be no practical difference between an Obama Presidency and a McCain one. I'm sure there would be huge rhetorical difference, but I'm not interested in that.
Caleb also sent me a link to what he described as the best objections to Obama in one place. I don't think they really related to "reconcilling my faith and my support of Obama, but here's my reaction:
Abortion
Already discussed.
Taxes
Not terribly relevant as a "faith objection to Obama". Obama's tax proposals are consistent with Christian faith.
Radical Associations.
Again, not terribly relevant, but Obama has stated that he does not agree with Jeremiah Wright's anti-white preaching. I see no reason not to believe him. I think the Bill Ayers thing says more about Palin than it does about Obama. Palin implies fairly regularly that Obama supports terrorists. Really, talking about "radical associations" is nothing more than an attempt at guilt by association. "These people are bad, Obama knows them, therefore he's bad". I expect more.
ACORN
I know very little about the ACORN thing. What I do know is that Americans have an absolutely ridiculous system of running elections. It's not that hard. Canada does it quite well. Have people register. Let them register at the polls if they can show ID that shows where they live and have photo ID or if someone who meets those requirements will vouch for them. Keep track of the registrations, and go after people who violate the voting laws using the information they provide when they vote. And for crying out loud, use paper ballots! Run your elections properly and you won't have problems like ACORN. And stop gerrymandering the districts.
As I understand it, the issue with ACORN surrounds getting voters registered and people registering non-existent voters. I'd be a lot more sympathetic if both parties hadn't both tried to make voter registration difficult in areas less likely to vote for them. Until the Republicans & Democrats clean up their acts, it's a plague on both their houses for me.
Foreign Policy
Admittedly this is one of my concerns about Obama and one reason I initially supported McCain. It's obvious by now that invading Iraq was a mistake overall, but just picking up and leaving would be a bad idea too. Two errors do not cancel each other out. Fortunately that's not Obama's position and while I'm not completely convinced that Obama has it right, I don't think McCain knows what to do either. Given how much the will of the American people to prosecute the war properly was damaged by the Abu Ghraib thing and the Guantanamo mess, McCain's flip flopping over torture is more than a little troubling. The US can win the war. It can't win it if it loses heart of the American public. Torture is immoral, and water boarding is torture. Handing people over to be tortured along with a list of questions to be asked is also immoral. The US public knows this, and I'm a tad concerned that McCain doesn't.
That pretty much covers it.
The short answer is "fairly easily".
I assume that the real issue behind his question is how I can reconcile Obama's stance on abortion with my faith. To be sure Obama has one of the most extreme positions on abortion in US politics. (And that's saying something). As far as I can tell he has yet to support any restriction on abortion at any time for any reason. This leads me to conclude that he believes that abortion is legitimate at any time for any reason. I disagree, and I don't think many people (American or Canadian) agree with Obama on this. All other things being equal I would prefer a candidate who did not have such extreme views.
By contrast, McCain has more moderate views. (I believe he supports some restrictions on abortion, but not outlawing it entirely, someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
But will a McCain Presidency make any difference to abortion law in the US compared with an Obama one? I suspect that it would not. McCain has explicitly stated that he will not apply an abortion litmus test on Supreme court appointments. If this is the case Roe vs. Wade will not be overturned. Where Obama's Presidency might make a difference is if he were to veto a bill restricting abortion. But I don't think this should be a concern if congress actually passed a reasonable law. Obama's main stated reason for not voting for abortion laws is when they don't contain exceptions for "the health of the mother". Many point out that "health of the mother" could mean anything. That's true, but who's fault is that? A 21 year old intern could write a bill that explicitly laid out acceptable health risks for which late term abortions could be allowed or not allowed. If congress can't get it's act together enough to write a bill that lays this out clearly, then I think the fault for that lies with congress. And if a bill comes up that outlaws abortion regardless of any risks to a woman's health, then any Christian should vote against it. I think that President Obama would have difficulty vetoing a bill that had wide public support. Especially in his first term.
So as far as abortion goes, I suspect that there would be no practical difference between an Obama Presidency and a McCain one. I'm sure there would be huge rhetorical difference, but I'm not interested in that.
Caleb also sent me a link to what he described as the best objections to Obama in one place. I don't think they really related to "reconcilling my faith and my support of Obama, but here's my reaction:
Abortion
Already discussed.
Taxes
Not terribly relevant as a "faith objection to Obama". Obama's tax proposals are consistent with Christian faith.
Radical Associations.
Again, not terribly relevant, but Obama has stated that he does not agree with Jeremiah Wright's anti-white preaching. I see no reason not to believe him. I think the Bill Ayers thing says more about Palin than it does about Obama. Palin implies fairly regularly that Obama supports terrorists. Really, talking about "radical associations" is nothing more than an attempt at guilt by association. "These people are bad, Obama knows them, therefore he's bad". I expect more.
ACORN
I know very little about the ACORN thing. What I do know is that Americans have an absolutely ridiculous system of running elections. It's not that hard. Canada does it quite well. Have people register. Let them register at the polls if they can show ID that shows where they live and have photo ID or if someone who meets those requirements will vouch for them. Keep track of the registrations, and go after people who violate the voting laws using the information they provide when they vote. And for crying out loud, use paper ballots! Run your elections properly and you won't have problems like ACORN. And stop gerrymandering the districts.
As I understand it, the issue with ACORN surrounds getting voters registered and people registering non-existent voters. I'd be a lot more sympathetic if both parties hadn't both tried to make voter registration difficult in areas less likely to vote for them. Until the Republicans & Democrats clean up their acts, it's a plague on both their houses for me.
Foreign Policy
Admittedly this is one of my concerns about Obama and one reason I initially supported McCain. It's obvious by now that invading Iraq was a mistake overall, but just picking up and leaving would be a bad idea too. Two errors do not cancel each other out. Fortunately that's not Obama's position and while I'm not completely convinced that Obama has it right, I don't think McCain knows what to do either. Given how much the will of the American people to prosecute the war properly was damaged by the Abu Ghraib thing and the Guantanamo mess, McCain's flip flopping over torture is more than a little troubling. The US can win the war. It can't win it if it loses heart of the American public. Torture is immoral, and water boarding is torture. Handing people over to be tortured along with a list of questions to be asked is also immoral. The US public knows this, and I'm a tad concerned that McCain doesn't.
That pretty much covers it.
2 Comments:
Posted by: 
issacharComments that are off topic and insulting will be deleted. Kevron, please confine your comments to the threads they apply to on other blogs.
issacharComments that are off topic and insulting will be deleted. Kevron, please confine your comments to the threads they apply to on other blogs.
