“YES WE CAN, YES WE CAN” was the cheer from a crowd of thousands as Obama was preparing to speak at the University of Miami. As the crowd’s excitment and anticipation built, I couldn’t help but to notice there were a large percentage of women with t-shirts that read “virgin voter”. Now, one may expect the younger crowd, who have recently reached legal voting age would be the ones wearing these shirts, but much to my surprise, there were just as many, if not more mother’s wearing the shirts. Women of all ages and sexual orientations were in attendance as first time voters.
One lesbian I spoke to had been living in the U.S. for 27 years, and just recently gained citizenship. The reason she wanted her citizenship, is so she could vote for Obama. The Cuban native told me, “My life has been great living in this country, but I have seen the middle class diminish over the past 8 years. The way things have been going in this country it reminds me too much of how it has been in Cuba where there are those who have, and those who have not. This great country just can’t afford more of the same it has experienced under the Bush regime. This is a free country where people can have a better life. I want to vote to help keep it that way.”
Another couple ladies I spoke with (pictured above) were a mother and daughter, both Latinas, who felt the same way. The daughter, a natural citizen born in the U.S. will be voting for the first time and the mother, recently gained citizenship simply so she could vote.
It looks as though many people in this country, young, old, gay and straight are saying “enough is enough”, and taking the necessary steps to do something about it….VOTE!
Other good new for the Obama campaign. Manny Diaz, mayor of Miami, has officially backed Obama for president. This endorsement is important as the large latin population of the Miami are hasn’t backed a Democrat for years. (Source-GayAgenda)
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Why I'm Voting for Obama
5. The Economy, Stupid - Is anyone else finding it ironic that the Republican president is bailing out Wall Street and that our tax money (about $9,000 for every household in America) is going into this trillion dollar crisis? It's ironic you see because the Republicans are anti-big government intervention, but I can't help but see bailout is the rich man's term for "welfare." If McCain is elected, it will be more of the same from the Bush administration. But if Obama is elected people that are struggling will get a much needed tax cut and the economy will get the boost it needs. The graph here shows that Obama will only increases taxes for the top 1% of the population and it will provide the just needed economic boost this nation needs.
4.The Perpetual War - Obama has been against the war from the get go, as have I. But here we are, thousands dead, billions of dollars still pouring into Iraq and still no long term solution to an end. Last summer I read Imperial Life in the Emerald City which goes into the depths of the stream of failed policy efforts due to nepotism being prioritized ahead of actual skill sets. And all this craziness of poor policy foundation building for Iraq has led to an incredible money sucking mess. Obama would get us out of Iraq responsibly, and appoint all the right policy expertise that Iraq so desperately needs.
3. Universal Healthcare - Obama's healthcare plan would allow everyone to have access to healthcare. See my number three for why not to vote McCain.
2. Voting Rights Advocate - It's no surprise that I'm a big on voting rights for everyone, especially the Asian and Pacific Islander community. When Obama first started his law career it was in the realm of civil rights and voting rights, which I always kinda knew but never really delved into. But when Obama mentioned at the APIA Town Hall Forum that he considered himself a big voting rights advocate, it made me feel all mushy inside. No politician ever sees voting as a "right", but rather a tool that will get them elected into office no matter what it takes. Obama's supreme ethical standards when it comes to topics around voting are those that I also feel deeply passionate about. It was at the forum that he mentioned issues such as how asking voters for I.D. when voting is a bad move and how individual states need to implement better transparency for voting laws. Obama would end deceptive voting practices if elected. And that's something I am totally on board with.
1. He is Me - Dreams From My Father was a life changing book for me, for one reason only. In his biography, I saw me. I saw my passion for community organizing. I saw him entwining altruism in all he did, like I try. I saw a leader who understood my perspectives on racial justice. I saw a person of color trying to make a real systematic policy change in a white supremacist society. He is the child of a Muslim, like me. And as I've seen his campaign progress I am struck by two strong values he's running it with. The first is the value of grassroots - this need that power is built from the bottom up and every voice of every single person matters. It's this grassroots value that is getting my non-voting friends asking how they can help or my immigrant father making hundreds of calls on behalf of Obama. The second value is that of positive messaging. This positive message of hope and change has inspired the youth, the dispassionate, the hopeless in a way this nation was needing desperately.
I've said this before and I'll say it again - "I need him to win because I have made it my life mission to fight against social injustices. I have made a commitment to make this work my life, my passion my work... And I need him to win, because he has made it his life work to do the same thing too... If Obama wins, I know that I’ll have a future and that my life path was not futile. If Obama wins, it means that someone with a life mission committed to fight social injustices can become president. And that gives me hope for my future. And I need that. I need to believe that more than ever.....
I want him to win because I am selfish and because in Obama, I see a little bit of what I aspire to be. And I have to have hope for that future for me."
Tazzy Star
Girl. Blogger. Desi. Activist. Academic
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