Election Day 2012

[DGFone]

So we just let Africa starve off?

So we just let more people bomb us, because it's okay to kill Americans?

It's believes like these that just make me feel insulted. That Americans don't have a right to defend ourselves, or help anyone for that matter.

[Azdgari]

From what I can tell, and I'm just speaking honestly, I feel like most people who strongly dislike Obama cite that he "has not improved the economy" or "hasn't done anything". It's true; one of Obama's major flaws is his inability to communicate his accomplishments with the people. However, he has improved the economy, slowly (What did you expect? Although I dislike taking snipes at either party in particular, the last republican president left our economy destroyed, our international image tarnished, and led us into a fruitless war that has costed us $750 billion dollars we desperately need for education and healthcare as well as thousands of American lives. It goes much further than that, but it's a bit irrelevant). Obama has improved relations with the Middle East, and he has accomplished much, much more counter terrorism in one still unfinished term than Bush did. He also did it with a fraction of the collateral and financial damage Bush inflicted doing it, and he didn't start a war. "The damage done to Al Qaeda by the Obama administration represents America’s greatest national security success since the fall of the Soviet Union and the peaceful integration of Eastern European countries in the 1990s." - Americanprogress.org. Pretty much only one Al-Qaeda leader remains, the military under Obama has eliminated all other major Al Qaeda players. That in itself is a remarkable legacy.

What does Mitt bring to the table? In a time of Occupy, a time when people are discontent with the distribution of wealth, does it seem appropriate to appoint a mega-rich businessman, whose prior company has a nasty reputation for cannibalizing other companies and leaving hundreds of employees out of work? While part of me is attracted to his knowledge of the economy, the knowledge that he will try to apply the utterly broken but Republican-championed policy of trickle down economics destroys any confidence I might have in him. In the history of America those policies have never worked, why should they start working now? Taxing the rich less and taxing me more doesn't sound too fair, thanks very much. Also, if Obamacare is eliminated, working class people out of college like my brother will be forced out of apartments back home, seeing as most low end jobs do not offer health care and the cost of it is too high to allow young people to also pay rent. Before someone says "well don't make it mandatory", just don't say that. I'm a perfectly healthy, athletic teenager who recently spent 2 months in the hospital and racked up over $750,000 in medical bills. If I didn't have insurance, my life and my family's life would be destroyed. Also, Mitt doesn't support gay marriage, and I see two possibilities for that: 1) he is a bigot (unlikely) OR 2) he is a coward who refuses to stand for what's right because it alienates him from his party and voters. And as Woeler already pointed out, he wants to interfere in Iran. The last thing this country needs is another war. Period.

In the coming term, Obama will have to focus on the economy. Is he the most knowledgeable person in the world about it? No. Does he have a cabinet of the most knowledgeable people in the world about it? Sure does. It's not like this decision is based solely on him. He has the world's foremost economic advisors at his ear, and I have confidence that he will come through for the American people. Now that he has ended the Iraq war (like he promised) and has accomplished most of what America needs done in terms of foreign policy, he can focus on the economy. Also, legalizing gay marriage would be nice. It's time for America to move past bigotry and religious ignorance into an age of freedom and tolerance.

Wall of text thanks. My two cents. Political debate ftw. Obama 2012.

[Panda-chan]

Agreed with Woeler and Azdgari here. Not that I'm at all an Obama fan, but to me is seems like the lesser of two evils. The last thing this country needs is more foreign wars, restrictions on gay marriage, and an economy going down the drain. Because that's exactly the direction we're headed if he's perfectly ok with 1% of the population as billionaires and the rest of us getting poorer and poorer. Since I'm on a phone I can't add much more to this rant lol but I agree with everything TPAM wrote.

Too bad I'm 16 and can't vote anyways lol.

EDIT: OP should make this topic a poll so we can see the results here

[Azdgari]

OP should make this topic a poll so we can see the results here

[Noah]

I edited it to make it a poll. I hope the OP doesn't mind x)

[Carl]

I'd pick Obama.
I'm not gonna go into my reasons for why because people would argue with me, it would get heated, I'd say something inappropriate for this site, and I'd probably end up banned over it, even though I usually stay out of politics. So yeah. Obama.

[TheLionPrince]

I edited it to make it a poll. I hope the OP doesn't mind x)

I don't mind at all! This topic needed a poll!

Well, I'm not surprised that some of you are going to vote Obama. Most young voters vote for Democrats and liberals anyway.

@Woeler1 We still need a strong military. Obama and the military may have killed al-Qaeda's top leaders, but that still doesn't mean we should let our guard down. Terrorists still want to create another 9/11-like attack on our homeland.

Taxing the rich less and taxing me more doesn't sound too fair, thanks very much.

No, the rich still pay more taxes than the middle class and poor combined. The facts below speak for themselves.

On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.

The 10% of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70% of federal income taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Also, Mitt doesn't support gay marriage, and I see two possibilities for that: 1) he is a bigot (unlikely) OR 2) he is a coward who refuses to stand for what's right because it alienates him from his party and voters.

According to The Huffington Post, North Carolina became the 30th state to ban gay marriage. Even liberal California banned gay marriage until some activist judge overturned it. Think about it...30 out of 50 states (which amounts to 60%) don't think gay marriage is right. You might as well call those people in those states bigots too.

Same-sex marriage is not right, and opposing it doesn't mean we are are bigoted. It just means we have morals.

[Carl]

There is only something wrong with same-sex marriage if there is also something wrong with opposite-sex marriage.

[HasiraKali]

I know this isn't a same sex marriage thread but I'll just say that I fail to see how one couple's marriage is going to completely negate or "damage" another couple's. I don't get it. Love is love man.

Again, I know this thread isn't about same sex marriage, but I'm really passionate about it as I have many gay/lesbian friends. One of my closest friends went to New York this weekend to get married to her girlfriend. She's pretty religious and having to travel out of state and have a civil ceremony without family and friends there to celebrate with them? THAT'S not right. I'm sure we'll party when they get back, but that's not the point.

And I'm voting for Obama. Again.

[DGFone]

No personal offence, but I find Azdgari's arguments very ill-informed. Here's why:

"The damage done to Al Qaeda by the Obama administration represents America’s greatest national security success since the fall of the Soviet Union and the peaceful integration of Eastern European countries in the 1990s." - Americanprogress.org. Pretty much only one Al-Qaeda leader remains, the military under Obama has eliminated all other major Al Qaeda players. That in itself is a remarkable legacy.

Not really: Bush fights back invades after 9/11, and Obama finishes the job, therefore taking all the credit. Bush deserves the real credit, because all Obama did was order the last mission that actually got Osama. Bush actually started the search. If we wen't in the Middle East already, Osama would still be around. Say you are building a tower: Bush starts and gets to the second to last floor. Obama takes over and completes the last two floors. Clearly he built the entire tower! Not quite...

Also, if Obamacare is eliminated, working class people out of college like my brother will be forced out of apartments back home, seeing as most low end jobs do not offer health care and the cost of it is too high to allow young people to also pay rent. Before someone says "well don't make it mandatory", just don't say that. I'm a perfectly healthy, athletic teenager who recently spent 2 months in the hospital and racked up over $750,000 in medical bills. If I didn't have insurance, my life and my family's life would be destroyed.

If Obamacare was in place, I would be dead. THANK YOU. 2 months in the hospital? Try 8 years of fighting back against a disease that took you right up to death's door.

Now that he has ended the Iraq war (like he promised) and has accomplished most of what America needs done in terms of foreign policy, he can focus on the economy.

With everything war related, all Obama did was the clean up. The real work was done in the first half- aka, the Bush years. That's when we swept away Saddam, made the Taliban run, and finally allowed those nations to start getting around to fixing themselves. All Obama had to do was continue the plan and leave as scheduled. See the tower analogy for the first part.

In the coming term, Obama will have to focus on the economy.

So changing a nation full of individuals into a statistic will save the economy? I would much rather have the option to choose for myself than have some who "cares for me" (There is no possible way that they can) choose my life for me. I want to live as a free person, not as a slave. This means going republican, because they want us to choose for ourselves instead of deciding what is best for us.

It's time for America to move past bigotry and religious ignorance into an age of freedom and tolerance.

You do know that no non-religious president will ever be voted in? It's easy to on the internet that religious people are morons, but it's those morons who will be deciding your future for you...