Today is election day! All of you who are old enough to, go out and vote! There is no excuse for not voting. Choosing a president is an extremely important decision because not only does it effect us, it effects all the other nations as well. Right now, foreign policy is HUGE. How they will handle issues with other countries, threats to our country, protecting us, doing business with other countries, it’s all important. As well as other issues inside our nation. Please, go out and vote. I’m pleading this because I’m not old enough to vote but I want to so badly. Since this blog is basically my voice to the world, I can get my opinions out on here. If I were able to vote, I would choose Barack Obama as our next president.
I have my reasons, which I don’t really want to go in-depth right now. But I suppose I have to give some reasoning as to why I feel he’s the better candidate. Many people say that Obama is inexperienced and too young and all that jazz. However, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have an old, set in his ways, POW (Prisoner of War). McCain fought during the Vietnam War and was captured and kept as POW. Now, some may say that this shows his true loyalty to America. That may be true, obviously McCain is a loyal American, but him being a POW brings up several problems. 1. Who knows how they messed with him when he was kept prisoner. Torture? Or Physical Abuse? Whatever it is, it obviously had to have some effect on him, both mentally and physically. This can effect his judgement, decision making, and thought process on several things. I don’t want to take a risk like that. Not to mention that him being a POW and being involved in a War already, he’s probably already made a few enemies. We can’t start off a new era like that.
As for age, Obama is 47. That’s almost 50. Our current president, George Bush, is 62 (lets round down to 60). McCain is 72 (let’s round down to 70). So, 50, 60, 70. They are both 10 years apart from George Bush. So it’s an equal distance there. So it’s just a choice of whether you want a 70-year old or a 50-year old. If I may point out, 50 is middle aged, so when their calling Obama “young”, that’s quite a compliment. He may be young in terms of many other politicians. But that’s a good thing. He’s old enough to be responsible (obviously, the man is almost 50), but still fresh enough to bring new ideas and not be set in old ways. He won’t have the mind frame that many older politicians have. Oh and for the record, Bill Clinton was 47 when he became president, the same age as Obama is now. Theodore Roosevelt was 42, and my favorite President of all time, John F. Kennedy, was 43.
JFK, got us through SO much, particularly with Cuba and the Soviet Union. He was able to handle it at the age of 43, even younger than Obama is now. So this stigma of him being “too young” is completely and utterly ridiculous.
Now, I’m not saying that Obama is the 100% best person to be President. Many people question about his background. However, from the choice that we have right now, McCain or Obama, I have to say Obama. We have a limited choice. People need to understand that. They can verbally bash one candidate or the other all they want, but they need to realize that in the end, it’s going to be who has the least amount of cons.
One thing that I definitely do NOT like about McCain’s plans and ideas is his energy policy. I totally understand that he wants us to try and get away from depending on other countries for our energy needs. However, he has said several times, when he is listing our options, that nuclear power is one of them. WRONG. By using nuclear power, we are subjecting our planet to a quicker demise. Nuclear waste is NON-BIODEGRADABLE. It is radioactive and is harmful to humans, plants and animals. Do you know what happens to nuclear waste? They store it! Because we have no other way to get rid of it. They bury it in repositories under the ocean floor and other places like that. This is because it takes thousands of years for it to decay! So they just have to hide it until then! But if we keep using more and more nuclear power, there isn’t going to be enough room to hide all that waste. Not to mention that the concentrated amounts of waste can be harmful if not treated correctly. Any leaks, or any by-products of the breaking down of these substances can be extremely radioactive and cause sickness and death. To put it in a nutshell, nuclear waste = danger. So I am extremely angry whenever McCain promotes the use of nuclear power. I have not heard Obama promote it like McCain has, but in the event that he does, that is an issue that I will have with ANY presidential candidate.
I’m getting a bit off track here because the issue of global warming and the enviroment is something that is very important to me. But anyway, when it comes down to it, I feel that Obama should be our president. Not only do we need a Democratic President to get a little change, but we need a fresh start. I’m not saying that Obama is too young, I’m saying that he may have fresh ideas. Because he is by no means “too young”. Almost 50 is middle aged, that’s not too young. However, when compared to several other older politicians, his ideas appear new and fresh. That is something that we need.
P.S. Obama’s grandmother passed away yesterday. My prayers go out to his family. The only tough part is that if he wins this election, his only wish probably would’ve been to have his grandmother live one more day, and maybe she could’ve seen he grandson become the President of the United States of America. 
that was my birthday