Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

It's been awhile, but I think I can remember why I voted for Obama. Actually, it was more a vote against McCain-Palin than it was a vote for Obama.

Initially, John McCain was going to get my vote. He was a cancer-survivor, which was a bit of a concern given the economic and foreign relations problems we were facing, but when he chose a VP running mate who seemed to me to be woefully unprepared to be POTUS if she had to, I began to consider Obama. Then at one point, McCain responded in an interview that he really didn't know much about economics and would have to appoint other people who did, I began to really have doubts. His hawkishness with regard to continuing the wars and his seemingly sole focus on supporting anything the Pentagon wanted also began to be an issue with me. He was beginning to look sadly one-dimensional as the potential leader of the free world. Then when he so clearly permitted his political handlers make his campaign a totally negative affair, Joe the Plumber, etc., he pretty much lost my vote.

Did I think Barack Obama was a terrific alternative? No.He was too inexperienced and too liberal for me, but he was very smart, understood the Constitution, young, healthy and he had backed himself wit one of the more experienced and respected Senators in Washington as his VP running-mate. If I had one major concern, particularly as the depth of the financial crisis became more apparent as we got close to the election, it was whether Obama would be smart enough to deal with the crisis and then be fiscally conservative enough to begin to reverse the trend of increased spending and debt we had seen since 2000.

My decision to give him my vote was conditioned with the thought that if he didn't work out in four years, I'd vote to have him replaced. That's pretty much what has happened, and that's what I'll do.

So did I vote for him based on any of the factors you cited above? No, I didn't. Like I will be in the 2012 elections, I think I was thoughtful and unemotional in choosing who would get my vote. Others may disagree, but that's what elections are for, I think.