Elections Matter

A little over 4 years ago, I dragged my wife to the opening of an Inconvenient Truth. It was premiering at Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. While we were waiting to watch the movie, I remarked to my wife that if an additional number of people that were in the movie theatre had voted for Al Gore in Florida in 2000, he would have been President. Would it have mattered?

Would Al Gore have ignored intelligence leading up to the September 11th attack and transferred the foremost terrorism expert Richard Clarke into cyber-terrorism the summer before the attack?

Probably not.

Would Al Gore have left the job undone in Afghanistan and manufactured evidence to support a war in Iraq that has led to the loss of over 4000 American lives, injured tens of thousands more and cost the country a minimum of $600 billion?

Emphatically not.

Would Al Gore have ignored the dependency on Middle East oil and allowed the country to continue to ignore investment in clean energy alternatives and allow us to continue to transfer wealth to the Middle East at unprecedented levels?

umm no.

Would Al Gore have ignored the signs of excess in the derivative market and chronically reduced oversight?

No

Would Al Gore have cut taxes on the top income groups to the point of turning a projected surplus in income to record deficits?

Inconceivable.

Elections matter. I often get more frustrated with the casual voter that says 'what difference does it make, they are all the same' than I do with those that repeat Sean Hannity talking points verbatim. At least the latter group has their beliefs. but the former clearly hasn't been paying attention.

Elections matter. And this election matters more than most.

This election matters if you think that it is time to restore our standing in the world.

This election matters if you think that it is time to responsibly begin to end the war in Iraq.

This election matters if you think that 50 million Americans without health care is a national tragedy.

This election matters if you think that the constitution is more than a piece of paper.

This election matters if you think that it is time to stop concentrating wealth at the top while the middle class can not afford education, health care, energy, and homes.

This election matters if you think we need to protect jobs at home by rewarding companies for keeping jobs here.

This election matters if you think reducing our deficit is necessary to keep our country solvent.

This election matters if you think your children deserve to grow up in a country that is as good as the one you grew up in.

This election matter if you have been paying attention to our nation's challenges and understand the candidates positions on addressing them.

John McCain is a great man who has served his country honorably, but he does not have the temperament and judgment to take us through the tough times ahead. There are going to be difficult times over the next few years and we are going to need someone to lead our country that can instill confidence that we can get through those trying times. In his most important decision, he chose a Vice President he thought would help him get elected rather than someone who would be a good partner in governing. That's not the judgment we need

Barack Obama is the man for the tough times ahead. He has a sharp mind and a strong ear, the best characteristics of Bill Clinton. Barack will challenge us to be better, something we have not been asked for many many years. He will not vilify his opponents and work across the aisle even though with a super-majority, he doesn't need to. While some have mocked his inspirational speeches as messianic, it is very cynical to think that we shouldn't want our leaders to inspire us.

We have had many Presidents, good and bad, but we have had few leaders. Arguably our last true leader was Ronald Reagan, we are long overdue for another.

Tomorrow when you cast your vote, I urge you to vote for Barack Obama because elections matter and we can do better. Yes We Can!