Barrack Obama Scares Me

Barrack Obama scares me. Yes, I'm a grown man, and he is only a man; but he scares me -- and he's done it twice. How twice? Actually, it's been many times twice. You see, I was not in agreement with many of his views. That scared me because of his possibility of winning the election. And then he changed his mind on almost all of his views -- and that scared me again because he became inconsistent.

The first and most shocking change was his stance on Iraq. One of the only politicians "to vote against the war" -- that's what he says, but he wasn't in the US Senate when the vote was taken. How could he vote? Anyway, all during the Democrat primaries, he tells voters how he will withdraw troops in 18 months. He is adamant about this. Not long after, Hillary Clinton drops out, and Mr. Obama takes a trip to Iraq. When he returns, he decides that he will defer to his generals and let them decide. Isn't that what President Bush is doing? Isn't that what John McCain said he would do? This was Mr. Obama's big issue. This is what got him to where he is, but he has changed his mind about it.

Early on in President Bush's first term, he convinced Congress to cut income taxes on all wage earners. The Democrats have always claimed that it was a tax cut for the wealthy (we'll discuss this in another lesson), but everyone got the benefit of the tax cut -- even those who don't even pay taxes got a check for $600.00. And even the Democrats voted for it. So why do they claim it was not a good idea? They voted for it, didn't they?

Well, Mr. Obama wants to let those tax cuts expire, and he wants to tax only the top 1% of wage earners at a higher percentage. These were people who made well over $500,000 a year. He also claims that he will give other tax payers a further cut.

Since his first plan to tax only the top 1%, he has now changed to tax higher those who make more than $200,000 per year.

First, I don't believe in overtaxing the wealthy. Mr. Obama demonizes wealth. He talks of the wealthy people and profitable businesses as if they all achieved their wealth through illegal or unethical means, and that is not true. The wealthy are the ones who are capable of creating new businesses and new jobs. The top 50% of wage earners in America pay over 95% of the income taxes. They are already overtaxed. They need an incentive to help us keep our economy strong.

Second, I believe that everyone should pay the same percentage of taxes. I am in favor of a flat tax.

Third, I fear that Mr. Obama will lower his tax increase range even further from $200,000 a year in income to $100,000 or less. Or worse, he'll decide that no one can get a tax cut and rates will be raised on everyone. He has changed his mind more than once. He can change it again. But just think for a change ... it's Congress who controls tax rates, not the president. The president cannot raise or lower taxes. He can only suggest it.

Another issue that concerns me about Mr. Obama, but one on which he has not changed his mind, is abortion. Mr. Obama is not only in favor of abortion on demand, but he spoke on the floor of the Illinois legislature in favor of a bill that would allow doctors to kill a baby that survived an abortion.

I am not against abortion if the mother's life is in danger or she has been a victim of rape or incest, but I cannot understand why anyone would want to give permission to any medical personnel to kill a baby that has survived an abortion.

When Mr. Obama began his run for the presidency, he told all Americans that his campaign would not be about race. To the credit of those running against him, they have not made it about race either. However, every time Mr. Obama's poll numbers dip a little bit, he has injected false claims of race into his speeches. He has said that people will attack his funny name -- that he doesn't look like those other guys on the dollar bills -- that he's black. No one ever said that. He said that. Why would he inject race when it has not been brought up? Doesn't he realize that he wouldn't be the Democrat nominee if white people hadn't voted for him? The black population in America is less than 15% of the total population. Mr. Obama would have to be receiving white support to be ahead. So who is injecting race? Just think for a change ... 90% of African Americans are said to be voting for Mr. Obama; but White Americans are split between the two candidates. Who is voting based on race?

Mr. Obama had only been a US Senator for 143 days when he began his run for the presidency. In an effort to better understand Mr. Obama's politial philosophy, many have sought out his voting record in the Illinois legislature to see where he stands on critical issues. Those people have been disappointed. In many of the votes, Mr. Obama voted "present" -- not "for" or "against" -- in the majority of critical votes in Illinois. His votes have been viewed as a way to avoid taking a stand on important issues and to keep him from being criticized either way. This has not helped people to make up their minds about Mr. Obama's candidacy.

In recent weeks, Mr. Obama went on a world tour. I guess it was to look "presidential" for the voters, but I got the impression that he was running for president of the world, not the president of the United States. He even made comments in his speeches that blamed America for problems in the world, and I was not impressed by those statements.

The United States is called upon all the time to defend those who are weak and abused, and yet we are the doormat and whipping boy of the world. The United States is the reason that Europe is free. The United States is the reason that communism in the world has been greatly minimized and almost completely eliminated. The United States government and its private citizens give more money to needy countries than any other country in the world even though we make up only 4% of the world's population. And we are the bad guys? We are the problem? I cannot vote for anyone who even hints at the idea that America is somehow responsible for the problems of the world. Why doesn't some other nation step up? Because they either can't or they won't.

Within the past week, Russia invaded the country of Georgia. Both had been members of the former Soviet Union. During this invasion, Mr. Obama took a break from his vacation in Hawaii to address the situation -- or not address it. While Russians were killing innocent Georgians, Mr. Obama called for all sides to begin dialog and that he would wait for all the facts to come in before making any further statements. What else do you need to know? Russia invaded Georgia, our ally, and is killing innocent people. I wondered if this was the kind of presidential response we could expect from him in foreign policy issues ... I wasn't impressed at all.

It has often been said that people can be judged by the company they keep. I'm not going to belabor this point because there has been enough coverage of this for anyone to read, but I can't ignore the fact that Mr. Obama associates regularly with people with whom I would never ever be friends or from whom I would never ever seek advice.

Additionally, his wife is a loose cannon. She has said some things on the campaign trail that are not complimentary of America or its citizens, and I would be afraid of her making over-zealous remarks as the first lady. I find her outlook on America to be insulting.

Lastly for me, but certainly not the last of his changed ideas and opinions, is his outlook on energy and drilling. Mr. Obama began this campaign not wanting any drilling to take place in either ocean, off the coast of Florida, or in Alaska. With recent polls showing that well over 60% of Americans want oil companies to be given permission to drill, Mr. Obama has once again changed and has agreed to some compromise in this area.

Does the man have any core beliefs that will remain constant, or does he just rely on polls? I am all for politicians being responsive to the voters, but there are some things that they are supposed to know more about than us.

Mr. Obama has reached a point where he cannot convince me to vote for him. He has changed his mind on so many things or used poor judgment in so many issues, that I will never know what to expect from him. His inconsistency and different views have created a situation where I cannot trust him with my future over the next four years.