In honor of tomorrow's Pennsylvania Primary, 5 reasons I support "Barry Obama."

After my all night renal GI adventure, I don’t have much energy to introduce this thing, but I felt it necessary to throw out my support for this uhhh…how do you say…ahh…yes…”once in a generation leader.”  Though I’m not exactly sure what that means, of the three remaining candidates, I am in Obama’s camp…since Kucinich is as my dear Spokompton pal Nate says…a pinko bleeding heart communist.  Now…onto five reasons I support Barack.   1. He’s young(er).  As stupid as it sounds, it’s the first time I actually feel somewhat of a peer connection to a politician.  And not just because he lists the fugees in his favorite music in his facebook profile. He looks younger and more connected to things I care about, like playing hoop (see his senior yearbook page above). 2. He’s an elitist.  Or I guess I should say he is elite.  He’s smart as all hell.  You don’t become editor of the Harvard Law Review chasin’ down armadillas.  He sounds presidential, drips with “informedness” when he speaks, and he has managed to run a campaign against the Clinton Party Train that 6 months ago was considered a LOCK for the whitehouse.  And he’s showed her up consistently.  I used to be a Hillary fan.  But Obama has proved a better candidate in most facets of this game, (save his nonsense healthcare plan, which I truly believe he has the humility to modify once he realizes it’s not working) so much so that Hillary’s low balling tactics to stay competitive in this race have me NEARLY despising her.  I am ready for a president that can answer questions spontaneously and intellegently.  To me, when Hillary speaks, despite the fact that she claims to be a gun toting, down on the farm American, she drips with condescension.  You can see that she’s not genuine by looking at her plastic smile as she speaks.  It looks like she’s wet herself, and she is trying to keep you from noticing that something is just not right.  Something about Obama seems more real to me.  I actually believe what he is saying.  No doubt, the guy is a politician, and clearly a good one.  But listening to him speak, I believe he can use those skills to move the country towards his values and beliefs (which I believe parallel my own).   I think Obama has a chance to be an ELITE president, one the whole world might be able to respect.  NOT an elitist…at least in the sense relevant to the job he’s running for…for more on that, see 3. 3. You know what?  Obama is better than the “gun clinging,” progress hating, reality tv watching, foreign people hating, (relative to much of the world) uneducated, flag lapel wearing, overly god fearing, inappropriately patriotic, ignorant ass, bitter Pennsylvanians that I do agree he inappropriately stereotyped publicly.  But…imagine for a moment that its PE class.  And you are a team captain.  And you are picking teams.  Only the game is deciding the direction the United States should move towards over the next 4 years.  Are you picking Obama, or the stereotypical American described above?  And at the certainty of being called a “typical liberal elitist” I would offer that the stereotype is not that far off for lots of Americans today, and I fear that many in our country are getting even closer to that sterotype (at least in the xenophobic, unjustifiably patriotic, and ingnorant ass sense).  The gap between the have’s and the have nots in this country is growing exponentially, unbeknownst to the many who would have a much easier time telling you about the real housewives of New York City, than the growing economic prowess in China. (I would be surprised if 50% of Americans could point out Shanghai on a map…seriously).  If you don’t believe me, read this article  from yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the town containing the very people that Obama put on blasts. ELITIST?  With regards to the presidency, I think an elitist is someone who puts America on a higher pedestal than everyone else in the world, not someone who criticizes the state of the current American populace.  Barack Obama has said he wants dialogue with Cuba and Iran.  The other two candidates say that’s ridiculous; they say that those countries need to become, and I am simplifying here, more like us before they would dare opening up dialogue.  Is that not elitist?  How much shit did Obama take for dressing in traditional Kenyan attire when meeting with politicians there?   Isn’t that type of culutural respect a good thing?  Would Hillary have done the same?  This nation needs to start demonstrating some humility.  We are flawed, and if we don’t recognize that soon, our growing population of “have nots” is going to become a permanent lower class staring at a tiny minority of wealthy, educated, privileged Americans reaping the benefits of emerging middle class economies in India and China.  And before you call me a leftist bigoted snob, consider this.  I’m a medical student planning on going into a lucrative specialty.  I am going to be in the “have’s” catergory.  For me, finances will hopefully never be an issue.  My frustration is rooted in the fallacy that is spoonfed to Americans on Fox News on a daily basis.  The American dream is alive and well in this country.  We are the world power, a shining example of how things should be done on this chaotic, unjust planet.  If that is the case, how come so many Americans are struggling?  It’s only going to get worse. We need to start acknowledging that our standard of living is too high to compete with giant nations in the rest of the world wanting a taste of what we’ve been stealing.  Elitist=thinking we are better than everyone else.  Let’s face it, national attitude is plagued with patriotic elitism.  And if we don’t decide to move in a new direction, we’ll sink that way.