More Obama?

In all my years, I've never supported or voted for an incumbent President for re-election. In fact, I've given up on endorsing candidates altogether, after being let down once too many.

But here's one I almost can't resist.

It's fair to criticize President Obama from the left. I wouldn't hesitate to vote for Green candidate Jill Stein if only we had instant-runoff voting. After all, Stein - not Mitt Romney - is the credible opposition to Obama. You may remember that I flatly refused to endorse Obama in 2008, simply because he wasn't progressive enough. Given the realities today, however, a vote for Obama sends a message against an increasingly dangerous media consensus.

The Media's cocky efforts to manipulate this election are unprecedented. Particularly shocking was the reaction to the first debate between Obama and Romney - popularly known as the Big Bird debate. After Romney sneered and rambled his way through the forum, The Media not only insisted for weeks that he had won it, but vilified anybody who dared to dissent from this unshakable precept. But none of this should be a surprise, because this is the first presidential election after the Citizens United ruling, and right-wing groups have been caught buying positive media coverage.

That doesn't mean I've settled on voting for Obama - though it's tempting. Obama is personally likable, but we have a right to expect his policies to be more progressive.

Some on the left may have hoped for us to snub Obama outright, but that ship sailed in 1996 when we were denied the chance to vote for a stronger alternative to Bill Clinton - whose legacy was in shambles by this point in his term. Obama has built a much stronger record than the disappointing Clinton. We were told by Democratic hacks to keep quiet and vote for Clinton then, so people can't very well tell us not to support Obama now.

Obama has had more positive accomplishments than any other President in decades. He signed a major health care bill - though it had been weakened by Congress. He also enacted a long-overdue economic stimulus package, much-needed financial reform laws, and the popular Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Plus, the Obama administration effectively ended the illegal Iraq War and took down Osama bin Laden.

We should all agree on this: The Republican Party no longer represents American values. They've produced a stampede of one intolerable act after another. What's more to say? Now that we've established this, we're torn on who to vote for instead, and this dilemma will hamstring us until instant-runoff voting is implemented. In the meantime, I want to see Romney lose by a wide enough margin to drain the swagger from the GOP establishment for years to come. I can't wait to laugh right in their faces.