And in all honesty, when I changed my registration this year, I unchecked my “Republican” party affiliation, and went with “None”..  So that is saying something.

My prediction for the future? President Obama will have a few months of easy sailing, but then the Congressional leadership will go hog-wild, and the President is going to be forced to reign them in. While in Congress, its easy to just go along, as President, Obama is going to have to consider the interest of the entire country.

The Republican Party is going to have to sit down and figure out how its going to come back from this. Now that the Democrats have almost complete control, does the GOP sit back and wait for the inevitable implosion, or does it stick to its guns and try to pick their battles wisely?

Either way, they will have another chance 2 years from now. 

I believe out of the 3 debates, John McCain had his best showing… Obama was flustered, and was playing defense the entire night.

Unfortunately, Obama is at a point in the campaign where he just needs to coast into the Presidency, so his major goal tonight was to not fall off his bike, and I think he accomplished that.

If you don’t know who “Joe the Plumber” was, or what was said… Then, you are probably at a loss at why there was so much attention paid to it. Here is Joe speaking with the folks at Fox News:

Yes, I’m a bit pissed off.

I sat through this debate, and basically watched as 2 Senators tap-danced around every question asked. Got in their political points, and basically committed to saddle the American people with BILLIONS of dollars of extra spending. Whether its by mandating health care or buying up bad mortgages, both candidates basically told me that while they feel my pain, I’m going to have to pay for everyone else so that we can be “fair.”

What if someone came in to your work and said, ”From now on, we’re going to average the salary of everyone in the office, and everyone will get paid that amount…” Regardless of how hard you work, or how much knowledge/skill you have, you will get paid as much as the guy that comes in late and surfs for porn all day… Yep, that seems fair.

Damn it… I should have popped in a DVD and ignored this debate… I’d probably feel a lot better. 

I don’t know what those in Congress were thinking when they drafted a 100+ page document, and forcing a vote within hours of its release. I wouldn’t buy a car without sleeping on the deal, and this bill is a hell of a lot more than a car… This is $700 BILLION!

I think people should have the time to read and digest this, and not be ram-rodded into voting for a bill just because a few at the top told them to.

I’m actually proud of those congressmen/women that voted against this bill. As one congressman said, this bill is a “crap sandwich”… You shouldn’t be forced to take a bite until you look around to see if there is anything else to eat.

Many Democrats poo poo’ed all those warnings because poor people were now able to buy houses… Now guess what? We’re in a crisis that could lead to a major financial disaster.

But who do you think is in charge of “fixing” this problem in Congress… yep, the same people that turned a blind eye to begin with… Somehow Barney Frank and Charles Shumer. Who both ridiculed those warnings when they were before their committees.

Somehow that doesn’t really inspire me with confidence.

UPDATE: I found this video that illustrates what I’m talking about…

Just a little bit about my political views to give you perspective.

I truly believe that the government should be involved in my personal life as little as possible. I’m willing to pay a fair amount of taxes to make sure that I’m protected from people that wish to do me harm (be that terrorists or unscrupulous corporations.) I’m willing to pay a little toward the “common good” like scientific research and education. Heck, I’m even willing to donate some spare change to help hurricane victims and those that are devastated by disease or famine.

I only say this to confirm that I’m not some nutcase bastard who wants to hole up in the mountains and screw everyone else. I can see some legitimate uses for government, and thus, I’m willing to pitch in and pay for it if need be. I’m not looking for hand-outs and I truly believe that people would be better off if they would pull themselves up instead of expecting someone to help them.

Anyway, back to the subject of this post… Why I won’t vote for Obama. I’ve been arguing a lot with my co-workers as of late about why I like McCain and Palin. I’ve argued the “experience” issue, I’ve argued the against the “more of the same” argument… But at the end of the day, I still wonder to myself, “Why don’t you like Obama?” He doesn’t really seem like that bad of a guy. He’s definitely not the boogie man, and to be honest, I’m not entirely crazy with McCain either. Heck, I’ve listened to many of Obama’s speeches, and well… He certainly can give a good one.

It wasn’t until I saw a clip of Joe Biden giving a speech saying, “all this stuff about how different Barack Obama is, they just aren’t used to someone who is really smart. They are just not used to someone that is really educated. They just don’t know how to handle it. Because if he’s as smart as Barack is, he mustn’t be from my neighborhood.”

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks why I really don’t like Obama. Now it wasn’t the garbage that Joe Biden was saying, that’s normal stuff in politics… Its the arrogance and sense of intellectual superiority that Obama and frankly most of the Democratic party has.

I’m college educated (in Political Science no less), fairly successful in my career, and I think I have an above average level of intelligence. But every time I hear Obama, and most of the Democratic talking-heads on TV, its like watching a college lecture. Instead of talking TO me, they want to LECTURE me about how wrong I am, and how right they are. It is rarely someone saying, “You have a valid point, but here is why I think my way is better… ” Its always, “If you weren’t such an idiot, you would see it my way and everything would be great!”

I don’t want someone in the Presidency that thinks I’m an idiot. When a question is asked, I don’t want a long-winded response that may or may not actually ANSWER the question. Just answer the damn question. I don’t want to feel like I have to dissect your answer like I’m in a court of law to make sure you aren’t trying to con me into giving you all my money for a couple of magic beans. I don’t like show-offs and really hate people that think they are better than everyone else. You may well be smarter than me, but don’t you dare ACT like you are.

So that is my major beef with Obama. And to look back, its exactly the same thing with the past Democratic nominees. They always had that same sense of intellectual superiority that really angers me to the core.

It is this anger that will prevent me from ever voting for that type of person.

I have really been reluctant to post about politics on this blog… but I’m so pissed off that I just feel the need right now.

Seems like there are so many things to gripe about these days. The Democratic Presidential nominee is always complaining about something. While not really solving any problems… the Democrats just blame the President and say they will do better. They will MAKE it better. The GOVERNMENT will make it all better… but only if THEY are in office.

I may be mistaken, but THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN OFFICE. They hold the majority in Congress and as I see it, when they gained the majority, thats when things started looking bad. Now the political scientist in me, knows better than to make that kind of claim without supporting it with facts and figures… but unfortunately, my lazy blogger self is taking over, and I’m just going to state it without any conclusive facts. This is my opinion with no real basis but my limited knowlege of the situation. All I know is that when the Congress fails to accomplish ANYTHING worthwhile while it is in session, then there is something wrong.

The Democrats will blame the President, and will complain about how they were duped into getting into Iraq… Its not THEIR fault… Its never THEIR fault… There is always some boogie man that has to be at fault… NEVER themselves. If you can’t win the arguement, point at the other guy and blame him… Its a strategy that works great in politics.

And the President and the Republicans aren’t any better. The President really can’t do anything worthwhile, because he’s just coasting to the end. He’s a lame duck. The Republican nominee seems like he’s much the same. He seems to just be dodging the topics and trying to distance himself from the current administration. The best decision he’s made was to pick Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

So… where are YOUR solutions Mr. Pessimism?

Do I have any solutions myself?

Nope, not a one.

I’d love to be able to have cheap gas, I’d love it if my brother didn’t lose his house due to foreclosure, I’d love it if all our brave soldiers came home. But its not going to happen, until someone with REAL  and SUBSTANTIAL ideas steps up to the plate and gets them done.

Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening from any of the people in Washington. And there is no mass letter writing campaign, or billion-man march going to change that. Politics in Washington is just one big inbred mess. Nobody can get anything done, because nobody really wants to get anything done… it would be a disruption to their very comfy lives.

Better the country get all screwed up than have to do any real work.

The only bright spot that I hold out any hope in is the “Private Sector”… If there is any way to make money by developing a solution to our Gas problem, the “Private Sector” will come up with one. It won’t be some old guys in Congress, it will be 3 guys in a garage somewhere.

So here is to the little man.

May those guys in a garage come up with the next Great Idea soon before they get it foreclosed on.