Obama Offers the Better Chance of Building the America We Want to Live In

Yesterday, in a lightly reported story, Fred Bramante stepped down from John McCain's New Hampshire Leadership Committee and endorsed Barack Obama for president. Bramante, former chairman and current member of the state Board of Education, said that his opposition to McCain's educational plans was the main reason for his support of Obama.

Now, McCain's support for school vouchers (one of Bramante's major objections) has been part of his educational platform since day one; so, to an impartial observer, Bramante's defection to Obama may look like nothing more than an instance of a rat leaving a ship that looks to be sinking. For the undecided voter, the more telling part of the story should be the McCain campaign's angry, hateful response. They slammed Bramante as being, "Driven by opportunism and ego instead of determination and loyalty." They leave no room for the possibility that Bramante's based his decision, even in part, on his beliefs about education.

This is more of the McCain's campaign's "Good Guys-Real Americans" verses "Bad Guys-Anti-Americans" theme. Compare this to Barack Obama's tone in his interview with Rachael Maddow. Rachael, a staunch liberal, was essentially asking Obama why he wasn't going after the Republican Party and the conservative movement the way McCain goes after the Democratic party and the whole liberal movement.

Obama's most comprehensive answer is, "What I'm interested in, is how do we build a working majority for change?" He then goes on to describe ideas the Republicans have supported that he thinks have been bad for the country, but he is always careful not to demonize the whole Republican Party.

For all of McCain's talking about his history of standing against his party, his campaign shows his habit of polarizing people. With him in office, we can expect nothing more than a continuation of the us against them, Democrat-Republican gridlock that has held the United States hostage for years.

Senator Obama offers us a vision of an America pushed forward by a "working majority for change," where we can again debate ideas without demeaning the other party-an America where we can disagree without the anger and bile we see in McCain. Isn't that America at its best? Isn't that the America we want to live in?