Troy stated:
That's why I didn't vote last year. I couldn't yoke myself (read: be partially responsible for) any of their policies.
Just a question: do you feel even a little responsible for what he's doing? After all, you helped him get into office. And should you feel responsible?
Not accusing, just asking.
It's a good question.
Do I feel responsible? No, not really. I have not even felt a tinge of guilt over it. I never even considered whether I was responsible until your post.
I still think he is better than McCain would have ever been. I understood going in that I was voting for a person I disagreed with on many issues. It's the nature of politics in a democracy. Now, I could choose to avoid participating altogether. I have considered that, but I just am not there yet. I think Obama proposed many good things in his campaign. Those are what I voted for. If he renigs on them, it is his fault, not mine.
It does disappoint me that he went full steam after the issues I disagreed with him on. What has disappointed me most is his not standing up to the wall street banking mentality and politics as usual in Washington. "Too big to fail" should disappear. And corporate lobbyists need to lose their control. Those were changes he acted like he would make, but instead he has only delivered the changes I held my nose over while appeasing corporate and corrupt America time and time again. In the end, I disagreed with him on some issues, but I agreed with him on more "moral" issues than I agreed with McCain on. And still do. The nature of a democracy is that we do not get the candidate we want, but the compromise candidate that we can agree on. Unfortunately, McCain eliminated the candidate I would have voted for over Obama in the primary, but I was not about to vote for McCain.
The problem is that I can't fire Obama. Although I probably wouldn't fire him yet. He has delivered on changing the attitude of our foreign policy from one that would always lead to war to one that might lead to peace. I believe strongly in talking with our international "enemies" as I try to talk to my neighborhood "enemies" in real life. Although, "enemies" more than likely don't want to talk to me.
The inevitable nature of voting for someone that is not yourself is that they will do some things you disagree with, and sometimes we even do things that we disagree with. It seems awfully similar to being part of a church. Love overcomes a multitude of sins, but all too often we just don't love one another and act like sharks with blood in the water when someone stumbles or does something we disagree with. Other people are always going to do things that I don't agree with because they are not me. We need to learn to live with people that approach things differently than ourselves. More than likely, we will even learn from them. I cannot isolate myself and surround myself with only people that do things the way I want them done if I want to have any sort of impact on the people around me.
I think our nation is at a very unusual situation due to technology. We are able to isolate ourselves into hives of similar people in a cable/digital world. We get our news from people we agree with. We only visit sites we agree with. While all the while relationships with real neighbors and co-workers dwindle. We have lost the ability to civilly interact with those we disagree with. We call them "idiots", "unpatriotic", and "ignorant". I fear that this tribal mentality will lead to more heartache and pain. We have to learn to live with people we disagree with, whether as a nation or as a people in the church.
