Change We Can Believe In

Sometimes when I head out of work during mid-day, I can't be bothered to fire up the old iPod, so I'll turn the dial to The Buddy Cianci Show on 630 WPRO. I'm a huge fan of Buddy, and while I disagree with him often, his no-holds-barred, shoot-from-the-hip style appeals to me greatly. Plus, he's Buddy, which rules.

So today I had to run some errands, so I dialed Buddy up while I did so. To my dismay, Buddy was not on air. Turns out he's winging his way back from Minneapolis, where he's been reporting from all week. In his stead was a gentleman named Moe (I can't seem to find what his last name is, but as soon as I do, I'll edit), who was taking calls. Buddy is usually pretty moderate and non-partisan towards both issues and his callers - if he disagrees, he'll let it be known - but after listening for a few minutes, it became clear that this Moe character had a clear lean to the right. "Whatever," I thought. I figured I could deal with it for the duration of my short drive.

A few calls in, an older gentleman who lived in "the most liberal city in a very liberal state" came on the air. He proceeded to state that he had several "normally liberal" friends who all refuse to vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming election. When asked why, he proceeded to claim that they had no idea who Barack Obama was. They "didn't know his qualifications, where he came from, or what he stands for," but they know John McCain. He's an American hero. They were going to vote for him. And our friend Moe nodded along in agreement.

And here's where I started shouting at my radio.

First of all, how is it possibly, in this day and age with the internet and 24-hour news cycles and the Daily Show for someone to not understand a candidate? You don't know where Barack Obama comes from? He wrote two fucking books about his background and the experiences that helped to shape him. Don't feel like thumbing through all those pages? Okay, well Newsweek has you covered. Last week's issue contained an extensive feature that gave a great crash course history of Obama's past. Or, you know, you could just Google it. You don't know Obama's stance on the issues? Try this. You don't understand Obama's voting record? Try this.

I know why I'm voting for Barack Obama. But I also know why I'm not voting for John McCain. I know what John McCain stands for. And I don't agree with it. A McCain presidency would be an absolute disaster. And I feel confident in saying that. Why? Because I've done my research. I've made an informed decision. I didn't just sit back and allow myself to be overcome with hype as so many potential voters have. I did my homework. I wish I could say the same for many of these people. I am all for bipartisanship and differences of opinion. I think you should vote for who you think is the best candidate. But that vote should be an informed decision. There should be substance behind it. It's said that "knowledge is power," and it scares me that so many will be casting votes in November without that knowledge.