Why I’m Still Voting Obama in 2012

In 2008, there was no bigger Obama supporter than me.  I campaigned for him, I literally defended him on the streets of Philadelphia, I watched every debate, and he inspired me not to just take an interest in the causes I thought important (women’s rights, LGBT rights, immigration policy) but in the political process as a whole.  For the first time, he engaged my generation, a generation every other candidate wrote off as too apathetic to address.  In Barack Obama’s America, women, students, and people of color were welcomed into an arena which was overwhelming (and is still overwhelmingly) a place for privileged white men.

My love has waned some in the past four years.  While I am grateful of that which he has accomplished (repealing DADT, ending the war in Iraq, pushing through comprehensive healthcare), there are also parts of his presidency I have found problematic (stopping Plan B from being available over-the-counter, more deportations during his term than during President Bush’s, keeping Guantanamo Bay open as well as approving a measure which allows American citizens to be detained indefinitely.)  I understand the complexities of the political process, and I know concessions much be made to the Republican party in order to keep the government running; it is the cost of doing business, and, while I find it reprehensible, I am not naive.

But in spite of any dissatisfaction I have felt towards President Obama in the past four years, today I understood with absolute clarity why I will vote for him in 2012, not because he is the only moderate choice in a field of extremists, but because I remembered why he excited me in 2008.

During a press conference today, President Obama was asked about Sandra Fluke and the absolutely disgusting remarks Rush Limbaugh made about her on his show.  When asked to address “the war on women” and whether or not it was a fabricated issue created by Democrats to win women’s votes, President Obama said, “Women can make up their own minds.”  And that is what everything boils down to in the end.

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul: every one of those candidates is always telling me (and all women) what we should be doing.  We shouldn’t expect insurance to cover birth control (while Viagra is paid for), we shouldn’t expect safe access to abortion (because we shouldn’t ever want one since wanting one makes us either irresponsible sluts or selfish bitches who put our own comfort and emotional well-being above the babies we should feel honored to bear,) we shouldn’t expect the government to help us care for the children we did not want to bear in the first place (because real Americans never require help and can do everything by their bootstraps,) and we should never complain if we are treated unfairly by men (because cries of racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism are all PC accusations thrown at men to “cloud the real issues.”)  In a GOP-run world, I cannot make up my own mind because my mind is not as good as a man’s.

So that is why I am voting for President Obama in 2012.  Problematic as his administration may be at times, at least, in Barack Obama’s America, my thoughts, beliefs, and opinions still matter.