Published: May 06, 2008 09:17 pm         

Invictus Maneo: Kentucky Democrats should vote for Obama

Nancy Ortberg, a former teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., said “A Christian is not supposed to vote on one issue. It’s tempting, but (it’s important to have) the whole picture in mind, to think who is best suited to run the country and take it in a direction that we would support.”

Unfortunately, too many people are one- or two-issue voters, who use a broad brush to label politicians. These voters are most likely to base their views on abortion or gay marriage. They try to convince themselves and others they really do care about more than one or two issues, but deep down, will only support a pro-life or anti-gay candidate.

Although I think these voters are immature and unwise, I understand why they oppose Sen. Barack Obama.

However, I don’t understand why Kentucky voters are rallying around Sen. Hillary Clinton. Drive behind me or stop by my house and you’ll know I’m an Obama supporter from my bumper stickers and yard sign. I respect Clinton for running a good race, but it’s over, and voters who support her are hurting the Democratic party and its chances of winning the general election in November. It’s not that Democrats are faced with the lesser of two evils because both Clinton and Obama are strong and good candidates. But what began as a passionate debate has become a divisive argument.

I understand why Republicans, especially President Bush fans, bury their heads in the sand instead of dealing with the problems facing us. But Democrats should understand what is at stake.

Incomes, on average, have declined by 2.5 percent among the bottom fifth of families under Bush. Wealthy Americans, however, saw their incomes rise by 9 percent. With gas and food prices increasing each day, the poor will struggle more. McCain supports Bush’s tax breaks, even those for rich oil companies. Obama wants to lower taxes for families earning less than $75,000 a year and increase taxes on families making more than $102,000 to help balance the nation’s budget.

It has been five years since Bush declared “mission accomplished” in Iraq, and yet we’re still paying $3 billion a week to keep soldiers there. What’s worse, more than 4,000 of them have given their lives for a war caused by our “dependence on oil from the Middle East,” McCain implied Friday. All of Bush’s promises, such as cheaper gas, have proved untrue. Clinton, who approved the war, wants her vote back. But words are cheap. Obama, who opposed the war from the beginning, is the only one that can be trusted to switch gears and try something new.

Americans spend more on health care than any other country, but we don’t live longer or have healthier lives. On top of that, rates are climbing almost as fast as gas prices.

“Rich people and poor people both get sick, injured and hurt,” said a male freshman from the University of Central Florida in The Washington Post. “Having a system in place that doesn’t discriminate on ‘who can pay me more’ is needed.”

So what’s McCain’s answer? He doesn’t have one. With the opportunity to elect a health-care friendly president, this is a defining year for health care reform.

Instead of wrestling with these issues and fighting for the White House, Democrats are fighting amongst themselves.

“This has got to come to an end,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew told reporters in his hometown of Indianapolis last week.

After Tuesday's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, it look like Kentucky will become a battle state. Obama has won the most delegates, the most states and most votes. Clinton can only catch up in votes, and if super delegates give her the nomination, many voters will feel cheated.

“Only the super delegates can award the nomination to Senator Clinton, but to do so risks doing to our party in 2008 what Republicans did to our country in 2000,” Andrew said.

The ship is sinking. In order to beat John McSame — as in the same as Bush — “we need to patch those holes, heal the rift,” Andrew said.

In a few weeks Kentucky Democrats will be given a chance to start fixing leaks. Having seen the most recent polls in Kentucky, I'm reaching for a paddle as Republicans laugh from the shore.