Paulites For Obama?

How can I write "The Conservative Soul" and find myself rooting for Obama? How can my core beliefs resonate with the libertarianism of Ron Paul and yet allow for support of an urban liberal like Obama? Good questions. One short answer: because conservatism faces a deeper threat from corrupt Republicans than from honest liberals. Because, after eight years of big government Christianism, a unifying liberalism is something I can live with. Because I want to win the long war against the Jihadists - and we need to unite the country again to do it. Because grow-ups know that any democratic society needs at least two parties and that the alternation of right and left - without tipping into extremism - is a healthy thing. And then - what this reader wrote:

I have a fondness for Ron Paul because he’s the first candidate for president whose views actually mirror my own in most respects, but Barak Obama is the first to actually inspire me. And if anecdotal evidence compiled from my like-minded friends is worth anything, I’m not alone.

We disagree with his political philosophy and very nearly all his positions, and yet are drawn to him and universally agree that we’d be proud to have him as our president. And maybe that pride is enough. We were too young at the time to really understand Reagan, and since we’ve had nothing but a litany of poor choices with unsurprising results. If we can’t realize our vision for America, at least, maybe in Obama we can truly admire our leader for the first time.

Don’t be surprised if many of the young people enthusiastically supporting Paul today wind up crossing the line in a general election and using some of that enthusiasm in support of Obama. I’m sure there are many who gravitate to Paul because of individual issues or out of anger against the establishment. Those followers will drift to third-parties or sit out the election altogether. But there are more, like me, who gravitate to him because of his faith in personal freedom and in the fundamental belief in the human spirit such conviction implies. Obama may not satisfy our thirst for liberty, but he certainly appeals to the human spirit.

There are a lot of us.