To all the Dems out there who are sick of President Obama, I think I get it.

[cthulu2016]

6. Maybe I'm naive, but

I always assume that people speaking negatively of Obama from the left are planning to vote for Obama. And of those who are not, I doubt they are persuadable.

To me, the line is that one should never compromise what she believes to rationalize her own vote.

Vote for Obama (the best thing to do, IMO) but say whatever you think is true in specific, whatever it is, without worrying what someone else will make of it.

Some folks might feel that voting in a way not fully consistent with their principles somehow diminishes those principles. I don't see it that way. Voting is a practical act, not an expressive act. As expression it would be like, "Express who you are and the world as you understand it...in 25 words or less...without using the letter E."

So the only meaning to voting is the practical effect of your anonymous vote being in one column or another the next day.

Voting is an action within practical constraints. The two things need not always be aligned. Policy analysis or political analysis or moral analysis or self expression is whatever you make of it. I prefer not constraining thought and expression.

That said, if I had something to say that I sincerely believed would, in the real world, cause people to not vote for Obama I would probably not broadcast it. But I don't think I have any possible utterances that would, even though I am often critical.