I'd rather like the US to stay on top of the world economy. I enjoy my comfy life of rich excess, military safety, and so on. In that sense, you'd think I'd vote Republican. However, I liken Bush to a bully on a playground. You can only play world police so long before the rest of the world gets tired of it and, together, bring you down. The only reason we enjoy our position as top dog is because we have always had the cooperation of other nations.
We are losing allies under this administration. Much of the work that has gone on in building relationships with other countries, establishing a realistic and functional UN, drafting treaties to slow pollution, etc. has been effectively undone by Bush. While I don't particularly care if the citizens of other countries "like" us or not, I do care whether or not they are our political allies.
I would like to see a president with a little less hostile, frightening foreign policy.
In addition, Bush has already shown his inexcusable incompetence in managing the US economy. He has turned one of the largest surpluses in history into the largest deficit in history. His administration is the first since the great depression to see a loss of American jobs.
And, to top it all off, he scoffs at the constitution and repeatedly channels the Christian God repeatedly in all of his speeches. I find this distasteful and totally unconscionable. I do not agree with any of his "faith-based" initiatives, and do not believe faith should have any role whatsoever in a president's policies that affect all Americans, not just those with similar faith.
In short, I am unhappy with pretty much everything Bush has done in his four lousy years. I think Kerry speaks well, makes a number of good points, and seems to have a more logical, wiser, and more reserved opinion about all of Bush's hot-button topics. I respect him for saying that he does not feel that he can legislate his beliefs upon others who do not share them. I respect him for saying that the war on terror has been an abject failure. I don't expect that Kerry will go down in history as one of the best American presidents, but, in my eyes, there's no way he could possibly do more harm than Bush.
- Warren