As Chris Matthews puts it: "Maybe Obama hasn't been so great, but it's his values that count." So, let's look at those.
He stands for:
Abortion rights
Gay rights, but not invading the "m" word (marriage) - Just changed his position to supporting gay marriage.
A government that is large and strong and can watch out for the people, protect them, save them, no matter
the cost
Give to help students, unions, the middle class
The rich are not paying their fair share. [It isn't fair that the top 1% are paying 40% of all of the income taxes
paid by Americans, they should pay more. "We've all got to sacrifice."]
If we tax the rich more, it'll pay for the others [which is actually numberswise impossible]
Level the playing field, the rich and Wall Street and businesses are taking unfair advantage and we're victimized by them.
We must fight unfairness [rich not paying enough, business has too much power...]
It's the speculators in oil that are causing the high price. [Disproven by all previous studies.]
The environment being clean, global warming is a big danger
Alternative energy
Efficient vehicles, green vehicles [Adds $8,000 of cost to vehicles now and 2025 stds, loses 250,000 jobs.]
Regulating coal and other polluters, and raising the cost of electricity (skyrocketing it) and of gas, so that
we are forced to use alternative energy [which will mostly not be feasible for about 10 years, so
Americans would have to pay for the difference in terms of lower living standards]
Fat cats, Wall Street, business are the enemies to fight. I'll be a warrior for the middle class. I'll level the
playing field.
Other than the accusations, all these values seem pretty reasonable, and the only question is how to attain them without causing harm.
WILLING TO LOOK AT THE FACTS AND DECIDE OBJECTIVELY?
Some people are quite emotional about Obama, as if he was actually the value and the defender of the value. And they'll fight any evidence that would suggest that he may not have the experience and knowledge to do as good a job as should be done.
But the key emotional issues are abortion rights, gay rights, and helping the poor, while some people buy into the "unfairness" accusations. The abortion rights and gay rights will not be changed, as it is impossible at this point to overcome the current and ever increasing public support for these - it will not make any difference if there is a Repub or a Dem in the White House. And, believe it or not, there is no truth to the accusation that the Repubs are not committed to the social nets. They absolutely will not allow a poor person to suffer and not be cared for, though they will expect people to be responsible to the point they are able. And they are absolutely committed to preserving SS and Medicare and working out a plan a majority can support - but it has to have fiscal responsibility (i.e. the revenue matches the costs over time) - the Dems have proposed no plan and only criticized the Repub plan/proposals - it is out of integrity to not produce a plan and to work out modifications of both sides' plans until reaching a workable plan.
NOTE THE CONVERSATION THAT IS BEING ENGAGED IN
If someone looks more deeply and then, in an objective way, looks at the conversation compared to the conversation and key words in Socialism, one can then determine which direction Obama might lead the country.
