Jon’s Journal - Jon Niola’s Official Blog

It is 2008, and we find our nation once again fighting for it’s independence - this time not from the tyranny of a king, but from the powerful, elite, special interests who have driven us to war, pillaged our treasury, and sold out our economy for their own personal gain.

Having said that, I formally endorse and pledge my full support to Barack Obama as my choice to lead our nation back onto the path of greatness.

The introduction of the United States Declaration of Independence seems fitting about now. Emphasis mine:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The phrase I emphasized, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, is fitting in this current situation. We need NEW leadership. NEW ideas. A NEW approach.

Electing another Clinton won’t do that. For all of Hillary’s experience, she is still part of that same “old Washington” way of thinking. Do we really want to have 28 years of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton?

I gave this primary a lot of thought. And many times I was leaning towards different candidates.

At one point, I was holding out for Al Gore. But that was not meant to be, and after further consideration he seems to be more influential as an outsider right now.

John Edwards was also another candidate I strongly considered. I liked his message about class, about poverty and the economic divides. Unfortunately he was unable to get the momentum going and his fundraising was anemic at best.

Hillary Clinton was a tough one because my opinion of her is so conflicted. Thinking of her does bring back memories of the days when the economy was much more robust and we were at peace. Things were good when Bill Clinton as president. But that was not Hillary’s doing. Nor can Bill claim total credit. And the manner in which she has run her campaign the past few months has been a total turn-off.

Then we have Barack Obama. I had never heard of him until he gave his speech against the Iraq war in 2002. It was a bold thing to do, being that at the time the majority of the public having been mislead by Bush’s lies was supportive of going to war. He also gave a passionate speech at the 2004 democratic convention. But to me he was just that senator from Illinois that I did not know much about.

Over the course of the last six months I have watched and listened and watched and listened some more. I watched almost every debate. And I come away with an opinion of Barack Obama that not only is he articulate and extremely intelligent, but I believe he might be one of the last few honest, sincere politicians out there. Watching him speak about the issues that effect us all, I get the distinct impression that he REALLY does care about us all.

But being a president is not all about speeches and ideas. It is about managing and delegating authority over the largest economy in the world along with the most advanced military in the world.

So I decided to spend some time focusing on Barack’s skills and I became even more sold. Two areas that I think make him strongest and most electable: his fundraising and his judgement.

1. Fundraising
It is an unfortunate fact, but to be an effective candidate and win elections you have to raise and spend money. Lot’s of it. Barack’s ability to raise money is almost unbelievable. He has managed to break every fundraising record there is, set new records, and go on to break his own records. In fact, the the single-month record haul of $55 million in February was five times that that presumptive republican nominee John McCain raised.

What makes these totals even more impressive is the fact that Obama does NOT accept money from PAC’s or lobbyists and instead relies on individual contributors. He is trying to keep the bad money out of the system as best he can.

For the month of March Obama’s average campaign donation was just $96 dollars, but he had over 442,000 donors for the month.

You do not get 442,000 people in one month to open up their wallets and give you money during a recession unless you are really connecting with them and they believe in you.

2. Judgment
Another characteristic of Barack Obama is his keen judgment. He has a strong grasp of the issues and is often ahead of everyone else in this regard.

First you have his strong opposition to the Iraq war. This speech was thoughtful, moving, and most of all prescient. This passage is of particular note:

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda

Everything he said there is true and came to be.

Then there was Barack Obama’s foresight of the current mortgage crisis. Not only did he see it coming, he sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernake and Treasury Secretary Paulson urging them to hold a summit to try and preempt this crisis.

If we had a responsive government with leadership like Barack Obama is capable of providing, perhaps the 1% of American households that lost their homes since this crisis began might have been able to save their homes.

Judgment is not about always being right, but about seeing the facts and making sound decisions based on those facts. And Barack Obama has proven time and time again he is a person of sound judgment and character.

The 2008 democratic primary race is one for the ages. Never in my life have I seen such a tight, hard-fought primary contest before and I might never see one again. Had this been any other year Hillary Clinton would have had this locked up ages ago. Most would not have guessed that Barack Obama, a relative newcomer on the national scene, would be such a powerful and charismatic opponent for Hillary Clinton.

For all the drama of this primary season, in the end it will make for a better nominee. The organizations built on the ground will be invaluable for the general election, and honestly if Barack Obama can sustain the full-on barrage he has taken from the Clintons, arguably one of the most powerful political machines out there, and come out of it ahead like he has I think he is more than ready to take on John McCain.

I am ready to put my faith into something new and I believe we can change the course of our history with this election, and Barack Obama has my full support.

–Jon