Obamanation

On the evening of the vice-presidential debate I was approached by some folks in my neighborhood about going door to door as part of a get out the vote effort. Feeling the buzz I acquired from the Sarah Palin drinking game and also the inspired feeling of being surrounded by people who think the Republicans are a bunch of idiots, I enthusiastically signed up to volunteer. The next day I met with the coordinator to get my instructions and the map of the area I was supposed to cover. When I took the packet from her hands I could feel the wind going out of my sails. The front page was a “contract” I was to sign stating that my goals were not just to register voters and encourage people to vote, but to sway undecided voters in the direction of Obama. I was so dismayed. I didn’t know what to do. I felt ethically conflicted.

You see, I am not voting for Obama. I understand that the Republicans are evil and I hate George Bush just as much as the other 73% of Americans. I just don’t agree that the opposite of Republicans=Evil is Democrats=good.

I have been with my partner for six years. She is a union electrician and has the best health insurance of any American I’ve ever met. I have no health insurance. Well, not really. I pay $85/month for catastrophic insurance that only precludes me from declaring bankruptcy if I’m hit by a bus. It doesn’t cover anything up to my $1500 deductible. I can’t get on my partner’s insurance because her union (IBEW local 46) only recognizes marriage that the federal government recognizes. (In fact, her union is one of only two organizations in Massachusetts that doesn’t recognize the gay marriages there.)

I am shocked when people somehow think that Obama is in favor of gay marriage. He has stated publicly that he is in favor of civil unions, not marriage. He does sneakily admit that he wants to overturn DOMA, which could cause recognition of gay marriage. This is progress, but why should I support someone who won’t declare his support for me in public? By refusing to publicly embrace equal rights for all, he is saying that separate but equal is ok. As a black man, he should know better. He is a disgrace to the civil rights activists that enabled the position he is currently in.

I know he has a health coverage plan but it does not impress me much. I suppose if I am part of a large pool of people I will be able to buy better coverage than I am buying now. But it will still take money out of my pocket that I can’t really afford to part with and put it in the pockets of insurance companies that make it their business to deny as many claims as possible. He wants to stop them from denying people for preexisting conditions but he has no plan for the random unsubstantiated denial of care that is common practice nowadays.

I wonder how many people will have to become as disenfranchised as myself before real change happens. I hope I don’t have to find out.