President and Vice President of the United States

OK, I read the bios and statements of all eight tickets on my ballot. But I am running out of time and won’t waste it going through all of them. All of the third parties this year are a joke and aren’t worth it. (This includes the Libertarians, who I am usually inclined toward.)

Anybody who has been reading my blog or listening to my podcast this year knows my choice here, I’ve talked about it multiple times.

I disagree with Barack Obama on a lot of things, mainly in the area of Domestic Policy. I will be angry and annoyed at many things he does. But on foreign policy, which I generally believe is more important, I am very closely aligned with Obama’s positions.

But more importantly, there is an issue of temperament and process. From reading his books, especially his second book, one thing is clear. Obama is a thoughtful person. He considers issues carefully and deliberately. He takes into account and respects the opinions even of those he disagrees with adamantly. He is calm and cool in a crisis. He does not act impulsively. He acts out of rational analysis, not out of emotion.

This is the kind of person who should always be President. It is not what we have had for the past 8 years (arguably for the last 16 years actually). It is certainly not what John McCain would provide. But it is what is needed.

And yes, I believe the post-partisan message Obama has expounded in his 2004 Convention Speech and with regularity since then. I hope that his “Progressive” supporters that expect him to push strongly for highly partisan left-wing policies will be sorely disappointed. Of course, it could just as well be me who is sorely disappointed. As I said, I expect to be quite upset with many things Obama does.

But not only do I believe he is better than the alternatives, I believe that on balance he will be a positive force more in line with what I would want than not.

So my vote:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden (Democratic Party Nominees)