Artificially Sweetened

Why I Believe

That creaky sound you hear? It’s the sound of me opening wordpress again. Yes, I’m still alive. And I promise my next post will have cute baby toddler future olympic sprinter photos – and a rant about my endocrine practice. But I can’t not write about politics right now.

One of the interesting things about this internet community that we’ve made for ourselves is that the things that connect us cross party affiliations and geography. You – or your kid – can get diabetes whether you’ve voted Republican all your life or would sooner vote for your cat than for McCain. Infertility doesn’t care whether you’re blue or red. And adoptive parents and families come in all stripes of the rainbow. As I’ve watched the conventions and the debate and the reactions to them in the different forums that I read, I’ve felt compelled to explain why I believe that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the best choice for our country.

“The thought of [McCain] being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.” — Senator Thad Cochran (R) of Mississippi

With rising conflict around the world and a sinking economy here, I don’t want a president who already – during the campaign – is war-mongering against Iran and Russia. I don’t want a president who doesn’t know how to pronounce the names of foreign leaders (who has a vice presidential nominee who didn’t have a passport until 2007). Even joking about “sending Iran an airmail message” doesn’t send a positive message about our commitment to working things out in the least violent way possible to the rest of the world.

And as a diabetic, the thought of McCain’s health plan terrifies me. It effectively makes state-level laws requiring insurance coverage of say, mammograms or diabetic supplies useless. It calls for taxing employer health plans in order to provide us with a $2500/person $5000/family tax credit (and if you don’t pay taxes because you’re too poor? I guess you’re screwed.) to the end of encouraging more people to rely upon the free market for their insurance policies. I notice that Mr. McCain doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of his employer sponsored health plan – perhaps he’d like to try and get health care on the free market at age 72 with a history of melanoma. He’d probably have to sell a house or two.

I had the pleasure of briefly crossing paths with the Obamas a long long time ago – when he was running for State Senate in Illinois. I have friends who worked on his campaigns then and have worked on them every since. He is a truly thoughtful, informed, and pragmatic man who I believe will make this country a better place for all of us – and help to restore the U.S. image in the eyes of the world. We don’t have the luxury of another fat-cat cowboy in the oval office. It’s time – yes – for change.

And since you probably knew I would say that, read this – a conservative for Obama.