I just posted a comment on another blog and in mid-sentence decided it was time to straighten the record about Obama's supporters, who are lately accused of being identity voters.  It's inaccurate.  I give you the issues:

1. Iraq.    Despite the fearmongering of the Bush Administration, many of us were against the war in Iraq from the start.  We supported Afghanistan, not because the Taliban were such an evil, but because bin Laden was there, and he had already proven to be a direct threat to American civilians.  Saddam did not pose a substantiated threat to the United States, and a number of us found it quite suspicious that the Bush Administration was simultaneously accusing Saddam of having WMD and not paying any heed to the independent inspectors who said the intelligence was suspect.

The war was a mistake, and we believe Americans, Iraqis, and our allies died and suffered needlessly for a private political agenda. We believe that our own party failed us in supporting the AUMF, as they had the Patriot Act, and we look to a President who exercised coolheaded, sound, and ultimately correct judgement on Iraq from the beginning.   Now, to the issue of "so why did he vote to fund the war if he was against it?"  I would argue that the Democrats, realizing their mistake in allowing the war, care so strongly for our soldiers that they wanted to see them fully equipped.  I do not blame Clinton for voting for funding, but I do suggest that her voting for the AUMF was a lack of judgement, and her inability to admit the mistake was a second lack of judgement.

2. Healthcare:  We believe that universal healthcare is the direction this country needs to move.  We also believe that those legally disallowed from paying into the healthcare system(children) should not suffer for their lack of financial participation.  However, we believe that men and women are not evil by nature and if given the option of health care coverage that did not require them to choose which bills to pay and which to avoid, they will choose coverage for themselves and their families.  We believe that mandating coverage without making coverage affordable will force low-income individuals and families into debt. We also believe that mandates will drive many lower-income individuals and families into CDHPs(consumer-driven health plans) with high-deductible HSAs(health savings accounts), which cripple individuals and families who already bear insurmountable credit card and other debts.

3. Social responsibility:   We believe that a government that tells us what is good for us generally does not know what is good for us.  We believe that Senator Obama engages us in the political process in ways that Senator Clinton and Senator McCain do not.  We believe that Senator Obama's call to the youth of America to give back to the country in exchange for educational subsidies is long overdue, and we want to believe that we are part of the system, not fighting the system.

I've been writing a 15-page paper all day and my hands hurt now, so I would like to open this up to other Obama supporters to share the issues that bring you to Obama.  Let's keep it civil, please.  We're almost at the point where fences have to be mended, so let's start doing that already.