And why I think Obama's the best person for the job...

Hi, Brad! There was some debate over which Brad this was (Croy or Henderson...)

So, the issues I agree with specifically:
1. Based on the advice of military experts, Obama has pledged to remove troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.
2. He and Biden are committed to multilateral diplomacy and rebuilding the US's alliances around the world, unlike the pre-emptive and unilateral policies of Bush (which McCain endorses). This, I feel, can make strides towards counteracting the US's policies the past eight, if not 40 years that has led to our current positions re: the "War on Terror."
3. Obama/Biden are pro-choice and resoundingly back reproductive rights, efforts to combat violence against women, gender-equitable medical research and stem cell research.
4. Their platform states, and independent research backs them up, that they would lower taxes on the income levels that most need it, unlike McCain, who would make Bush's tax cuts permanent, "lower taxes" in general (supposedly) while making health care premiums taxable.
5. Universal health care.
6. His labor policies in general: raising the minimum wage, working to protect unions and workers' right to organize, and to amend NAFTA and combat CAFTA.
7. Obama/Biden pledge to increase the Family Medical Leave Act and to work for other legislation that would make balancing family and work easier, such as paid leave and adding leave to the FMLA that would allow parents to take off work for their children's academic activities.

What he does that McCain doesn't:
1. He doesn't employ a politics of fear to sway voters. In his words, "It's never been about me. It's about you." He conjures hope.
2. He has demonstrated through the types and amount of legislation that he has authored, co-authored/sponsored that he can operate bipartisan-ly (if you can say it that way).
3. He's never stood idly by and laughed while someone called Hillary Clinton a bitch; that is, he doesn't have a long history of treating women like shit (such as, offering his current wife up to the Miss Buffalo Chip contest at Sturgis or calling her a cunt when she teased him about his thinning hair; divorcing his first wife when she was incapacitated in a wheel chair; ogling Palin in public, etc, etc.).
4. Obama did not get where he is based on his family pedigree; he made it to Harvard on skill and intelligence, not because his daddy was an admiral/Senator/CIA director. Not that I have anything against those with such a pedigree, but our current crop (Bush/McCain) certainly don't make the case that good breeding really amounts to...anything but a bunch of misanthropes.
5. Obama has a history of engaged public service, as much as Palin/the GOP wants to denigrate the role community organizers play in getting shit done and changing people's lives.
6. He doesn't conflate faith and democracy. He doesn't exploit the religious right for personal gain. Although, he was put through the ringer for his religious affiliation (and, for the record, I think Rev. Wright hit the nail on the head), unlike Palin and her wackjob "pray for a gas pipeline."
7. His neoliberal rhetoric isn't as nearly exploitative of global workers, or at least takes into account the situation of global workers. He's pro-labor.
8. He uses the fucking internet. He doesn't claim to have invented the Blackberry. He doesn't have a brigade of lobbyists working for his campaign. He used U2 for his campaign song, and isn't a member of a party that keeps getting cease and desist orders from artists who do not want their music associated with him.
9. Obama is in no way associated with the devil incarnate, Karl Rove. Having Rove in your employ should immediately disqualify any future candidate from contention for the presidency as it reflects directly on their judgment and character.