Liking and Disliking Politicians

What, in your opinion, is a good reason for either liking or disliking a certain politician?

Tonight, I was discussing politics with a couple of the ladies who go to a discipleship program our church hosts. We talked about politics in general, then I asked one of the ladies if she paid much attention to politics. She said no, she didn't. I asked why not, and this was her answer: "Because Obama is an idiot."

Okay.

I then proceeded to ask her what she thought of Bush. She said she had approved of him. I asked why. "Mainly, because he's a Christian, and prayed for our country."

Alrighty.

Those two things are just fine and dandy. Now why do you approve and/or disapprove of them?

Sorry, but the argument "He's an idiot" just doesn't hold much water for me. Anybody can be an 'idiot'- sometimes, I'm an idiot. But why am I an idiot? Why is President Obama an idiot? Do you have a specific reason for why you think that? Is that your only argument?

I generally get asked, at this point, why I disapprove of President Obama. I disapprove of him because, for starters, he does not believe in the Constitution. (Reading assignment- 'Constitution' in The Audacity of Hope.) He thinks it is outdated, and should go the way of the dinosaur. Next, much of his economic policy and thinking on various other issues is Communist or Socialist in substance or implication. Communism and Socialism are essentially totalitarian regimes- something that is not American, and never will be.

I disagree with President Obama because I think that, while he may or may not have the best interests of the American people at heart, he is for bigger government and several other issues that I won't bore you with in this post.

I disapproved of President Bush because of several pieces of legislation and actions he took during his terms. For starters, the PATRIOT act. For those of my readers who may not be informed as to what the PATRIOT act is, let me enlighten you. The PATRIOT act allows the federal government (more like the President, really) to imprison any person, American citizen or no, on the simple belief or suspicion of seditious/terrorist/traitorous acts against the federal government or any government official.

Yeah, that's real nice. Then, we have the Iraq war and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. I am not precisely sure why we went into either. The explanation for Iraq was changed several times (from terrorist activities to WMD's to promoting democracy), and I haven't done much research into our occupation of Afghanistan. But preemptive war is not right. Preemptive is where you take measures to prevent something before it happens. But what are we preventing in Iraq? A dictatorship becoming more of a dictatorship? I'm pretty sure those Iraqis will go right back to a dictatorship when (if) we get out of Iraq. It'll happen. Sorry if that hurts your sensitive little feelings.

This is just a tiny sample of the reasons for my disliking Bush. There are more, believe me. ;)

This is more of a rant than anything- I'm a bit steamed right now. ^.^ Tomorrow or the next day, I'm going to attempt another, clarified post on gay marriage, mostly for a friend. :)