A Need for Change

"Fifty percent of voters who were 44 and younger supported Mr. Obama in Iowa, compared with 16 percent for Mrs. Clinton, according to a poll of Democrats entering caucus sites Thursday. Over all, 52 percent of voters said they backed the candidate who would bring needed change, and Mr. Obama won 51 percent of their support."

-The New York Times

After reviewing the results of Thursday night’s Democratic caucus in Iowa, I am quite pleased with the outcome. This is not necessarily because Obama came out on top for the Democrats (for those that don’t know, I support Obama, although I have not promised my vote to him at this time), but because it seems as though the people of this country (well, at least Iowa) want something it desperately needs ─ changeI am not trying to jump on the anti-Bush bandwagon and cry that he is uneducated (Yale sounds like a great school to me), uninterested in finding the truth, detached from reality and generally quite stupid. He is none of those things. The only reason anyone harbors those ideas is because of commentary they are consistently exposed to in the media (look for a future post on the problems of the media), put out because it is popular to do so (I am primarily thinking of Jon Stewart but the majority of anchors from other news programs will most likely substitute) and from those who were part of the administration that are trying to claim some of their dignity back by putting down Bush themselves.While I have supported the majority of Bush’s policies and the way he runs his administration, I am aware he is no longer a good president. Bush is currently unable to govern this country effectively due to the broad misconceptions about him, his ideas, his vision and his abilities. He is relegated to giving insignificant press conferences, preparing insignificant statements on policy, and even worse, preparing for his departure from the White House instead of the rest of the time he has to spend in it. Our country is sick of a Washington that can’t get its act together (overall support for the President and Congress are close to all-time lows) and more importantly, sick of a Washington that on the surface appears to be business as usual ─ fighting for special interests, corporate profits, the people already on top and ideas that promote war. This country needs a new president; one that hasn’t spent their entire life in Washington but still has an idea how it works ─ someone who has the ability to motivate and lead people toward a better future by taking control of the country and bringing it back together. The Iowa caucus is a very good sign that the voters go along with my sentiments. Voters want change and in Iowa, at least on the democratic side, the voters who wanted change voted for Obama. That is a very powerful statistic ─ one that I personally hope rings true next in New Hampshire.

Joe Mignano