By Steve Kirsch
February 3, 2008
Before the 2000 Presidential election, I published an analysis of George Bush which urged people not to vote for Bush because he would be a disaster as President since he had a track record of ignoring facts, ignoring science, and twisting the facts to support his misguided beliefs. Even though the evidence was there for everyone to see, most people don't look beyond the sound bites and nobody else predicted this that I'm aware of (if you know of anyone who did, please send me the link!). As everyone now knows, I was right on the money with my prediction.
I decided to do a similar in-depth analysis of the top 3 Democratic candidates for President for this election (see Who would make the best President?).
But now that we are down to two candidates, I've decided to publicly support
Obama. Here are my reasons:
1. Electability: He's more electable against Romney and McCain than Clinton is
2. Issues: Obama told me today he's committed to do whatever it takes to solve the
climate change problem and will consult with experts to set the goals for 2020
that are needed to address the problem. He said he is committed to "levels that
are necessary" to "get the job done." I had some concerns about his legislation which I've resolved by talking to
his policy person.
3. Leadership: He's a more inspirational leader than Clinton and it is going to take an
incredible leader to get the tasks done that we need to get done, climate change
being the most important.
4. Decision making ability: It was a mistake to have voted for the Iraq war without evidence beyond a
reasonable doubt of a threat to our country. There was never a "smoking gun"
piece of evidence to justify the war; there was never discovery of a plan to
attack America or the discovery of any WMD. Clinton has never admitted she made
a mistake. That is very troubling.
5. Integrity: He gives honest answers to questions, rather than politically correct
answers. That's a refreshing change.
See also Peter Norvig's
Hiring a President II Why I Endorse Obama. Norvig thinks like I do: very
logically. Equally interesting is Norvig's analysis in 2004:
Hiring a President which
came the same conclusions as the analysis of George Bush.that
I did in 2000.
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About the author
Steve Kirsch is a philanthropist and entrepreneur based in San Jose, CA. He is
CEO of Abaca, an anti-spam company. He has
donated millions of dollars to environmental and world safety issues.
Email: stk@ propel.com.
Phone: 650-279-1008