Top 10 Obama List...give or take a few

Is one allowed to do a top 10 list if:
a - it makes no attempt at humor
b - there aren't ten reasons...yet?!

I've been jotting down reasons as I think of them, although I don't know if I have ten good ones yet, but here they are - My Top 10 Reasons I decided to vote to Barack Obama:

1 - Diplomacy - As he said at the appearance we went to on Wednesday, quoting JFK, "We must never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate." If your neighbor is throwing rocks at your dog, or spraying pesticides on your flowers, which will get the best results - to do the same thing to him or to knock on his door and ask if you can talk about what is happening? Maybe there is an easy, peaceful way to work it out once you understand what is causing him to do what he's doing.
2 - A Different kind of Role Model - I saw a 20-something black man the other day walking toward me. He had a baseball cap on tilted sideways. His pants were down past his hips with his underwear showing. His clothes were all baggy and he had gold chains around his neck. After weeks of following Obama so closely, it struck me that this young man looked like an anachronism. And I felt sorry for him, wishing he had a better role model to look up to then rap stars and basketball players. Maybe not an entirely PC reason, but it’s what I was thinking at the time.
3 - Anti-Groupthink - I remember from 30+ years ago Social Psych class, that JFK used to appoint someone in his cabinet meetings to play devil's advocate. He didn't want yes men (yes people?) on his staff. From what I've read in 2 separate accounts, Obama will call people he knows who have opinions on things that don't agree with his. He wants to know both sides of an issue before he makes his decision on where he stands on an issue. He will even warn the person he's asking that he probably won't agree with what he is saying, but he just wants to know all there is to know so he can take both sides into account.
4 - Validation - The students, the "Young People", are so energized by Obama, I would hate to see them feel like all their energy and excitement was wasted. And I would especially hate it if they felt disillusioned by the Democratic Party. What would make it many times worse would be if after all their hard work, which gave Obama the clear lead in delegates, popular votes and states won, if a bunch of fat cat politicians came in in the form of super delegates and told them basically. "That's cute that you all got so excited, but we know better what's best for you, so we're going to put someone else in place."
5 - From a strategic general election-winning standpoint, it will be a lot easier for the R's to attack Hillary than Obama. Partially because he's black, but also because there's just not a lot there to dislike, I think the R's will look all the worse for going negative on him.
6 - Somewhat related, do we really want the next 7 months to be all about travelgate, and all those goofy things they threw at Hillary for 8 years? Let's just get all that Clinton stuff in the rearview mirror...including Bill himself. He just looks worse everyday, every time he gives a speech. It's enough to make one wonder if the R's weren't right about him.
7 - With Healthcare such a pressing issue, we would hear all about "Hillarycare" and socialized medicine instead of the real facts and approaches to best attack the issue of our terrible healthcare system. Let's start from a position of working together instead of Hillary's legacy of telling everyone what we're going to do.
8 - The Lies - The Bosnia Sniper lie doesn't seem like that big a deal. I have a hard time remembering details of things that happened to me 10 years ago, though if it had to do with people shooting at me, I'm thinking I'd probably remember that a little more clearly. But she messed up so many parts of the story, even when she'd told the story repeatedly and then claimed to be sleep deprived, (and if she's easily affected by sleep derivation, do we really want her answering the phone at 3a.m...and can someone please tell me why she is wearing a pearl necklace and bright red lipstick at 3a.m.?!). I just don't want 4-8 more years of the lies and obfuscations and of Bill defending her and making things up himself (she didn't tell the story at 11 at night, she told it at a luncheon speech).
9 - It's not all about Obama - Beside the #1 reason at the top of this list - diplomacy - I think the biggest reason I want Obama to be the nominee is the effect he'll have on the rest of the races. So many R's and independents will come out to vote against Hillary, that they'll also then vote for the other R's on the ballot. If those types stay home, not only does it give Obama a better chance to win, it gives all the other D's on the ballot a better chance to win. The best chance the R’s have to win isn’t John McCain, it’s Hillary.

(I guess I had more reasons than I realized!)

10 - The impact around the world of not only voting a black man, ok half-black, whatever, as President will be huge, especially in Mexico, Africa and South America, but even more so, how angry can teenage male suicide bombers get against a country with a President named Barack Hussein Obama. There is a huge cleansing effect on the world and, even more so at home, where he is not as polarizing a figure as Hillary is.

But wait, there's more!

11 - Truth to Power - there was a great article in Time Magazine some months back that listed all of the speeches Obama has given where he has told his audience the exact opposite of what they wanted to hear. The example I remember best was about merit pay - the teachers very much oppose the idea. Obama is for it. He has done the same thing in speeches he's given to unions.

And finally...for now:

12 - Don't you want your daughter to be the first Woman President?!

And here are some other articles I've bookmarked through the months as evidence of why I'm such an enthusiastic supporter. The top 3 are written by the conservative columnist for the New York Times, David Brooks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/opinion/04brooks.html?th&emc=th

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/opinion/18brooks.html?th&emc=th

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html?th&emc=th

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/opinion/10cohen.html?th&emc=th

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/04/04/notes040408.DTL

Obama as a professor at U of Chicago:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/20/12119/122/324/424784

I had a nightmare last night that I was lucky enough to be at a party with all kinds of important people and I saw a friend who was talking with Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, and when the friend saw me, he called me over and said to them, I'd like to introduce my friend:

(turning first to them and then pointing to me, he said) Obama? Lama?...Ding dong.

Ok, you find a better way to make it into a joke!