"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality." -Dante Alighieri
In 1999, an important vote came up in the Illinois State Legislature. A bill was up for consideration that would have allowed some juveniles to be tried as adults. It was a hot-button issue at the time. The African American community was strongly opposed to it; the tough-on-crime crowd was eying it carefully, and was ready to pounce on anyone who voted against the measure.
It was a tough issue. One that required a lot of thought, and then a decisive decision.
Barack Obama? He voted "present."
Over the following years, several tough votes came up dealing with abortion rights. One of those issues was whether to pass legislation requiring doctors to provide medical care to babies who survived attempted abortions; at the time, these babies were left to die on the operating room tray.
Another tough issue! Another vote that required a lot of thought- and then a solid up-or-down vote.
Barack Obama? He voted "present." And then 6 more times, on other abortion rights issues, he again voted "present."
And THEN, 121 MORE times, on all kinds of different issues, over the course of his 8 years in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama voted "present" rather than giving a solid "yes" or "no" vote. A total of 129 times, Barack Obama decided not to decide.
To be fair, he voted over 4000 times while he was a state senator. So these "present" votes accounted for only 3% of his entire voting record- roughly 1 "present" vote for every 31 votes that came up. Not alot, right? pffffft, what's to worry about?
I mean, if he stays true to that sometimes-indecisive nature, then over the course of his 4-year term of office as President, he'll only refuse to work a total of about 43 days worth or so. And it will only be on controversial issues of great import- he'll be there for the Easter Egg rolls and Photo Ops with Eagle Scouts.
I'd like to ask 3% of you Obama supporters out there to show your unity with the Candidate by voting "present" on Tuesday, instead of a decisive "yes" or "no" on Obama. Because this election is important! And that's when HE sidesteps deciding, after all....
And it'll only be 3% of you. I'm sure he can win without you.
Barack- Present we can!
2 comments:
i'd like your sources cited, please. you don't even have to use APA format.
seriously... if you weren't such a hellraiser at some points in your life, i would encourage you to run for office. but the media would have a field day with you.
hey did you know 12 people actually subscribe to your blog through google reader? and also, you post 5.8 posts per week? also, people actually read more entries on your blog than the most recent post you've submitted? meaning they surf around your blog while reading it approximately 25% of the time? also, 7am and 1pm are your highest reader times. also, last week, your blog was read most on tuesday and friday.
those are the stats. i'll give you my source if you give me yours.
Post a Comment