I decided to vote for Obama some time ago, though I’m not a registered Democrat, and I’m not 100% in favor of his policies. In fact, I voted Libertarian in every Presidential election I could until 2004, when I voted for Kerry (in an desperate effort to vote Bush out of office). Irregardless, I try to vote the issues, not the person…and on the issues that matter most to me, and to the country, I line up with Obama. These issues include:

• The War on Terror and its consequences
• The invasion of Iraq
• Guantanamo Bay, the use of torture, and habeas corpus
• Supreme Court nominations
• Health care reform

Luckily, on all these issues, I agree with a single candiate’s position; Obama’s. On the other hand, since I still have a small-government inclination, we disagree more on some economic issues; in addition, I’m highly skeptical of his energy plan without a nuclear component (that he presently avoids explicitly supporting).

But the differences there are trumped by the agreement on the truly important points; issues that I also have almost a perfect disagreement with McCain over. (Ironically, McCain and I probably see much closer to eye to eye on the issues that are less relevant to me for the election). So it’s really a no-brainer. I’ll talk more about the topics above in some upcoming posts, but the takeaway is that I’m close to Obama’s position on pretty much all of those. So no surprises from me in November, and no WAY any of these debates could make a difference. To me, it’s not about the dog-and-pony show; it’s about the issues.