http://90days90reasons.com/55.php
01
Obama is the first president in U.S. history to acknowledge the right of gay couples to marry and enjoy the full benefits of marriage in the eyes of the law. read essay →
— Ben Gibbard
02
President Obama faced down the GOP and the health industry to finally reform American healthcare. read essay →
— Roger Ebert
03
Obama has fully funded the Violence Against Women Act. read essay →
— George Saunders
04
Obama is the first President in a generation to make a car go further on a gallon of gas. read essay →
— Adam Werbach
05
Supreme Court Supreme Court Supreme Court. read essay →
— Andrew Sean Greer
06
Obama teaches us to believe hope can lead to real change. read essay →
— Roxane Gay
07
President Obama understands the world writ large. read essay →
— Jesse Eisenberg
08
Obama understands the promise and perils of the new global order in a way his opponent does not. read essay →
— Reza Aslan
09
President Obama will create support for at-risk youth, addressing juvenile crime and school drop-outs. read essay →
— John Prendergast
& Sia Sanneh
10
Barack Obama is not a robot.
read essay →
— Jim James
11
Obama cares about women's health and he proved it. read essay →
— Thao Nguyen
12
During his second term we will not hear the following things from President Obama—although we may have heard them from his political opponents.
read essay →
— Lemony Snicket
13
I LIKE WINNING.
read essay →
— John Hodgman
14
Because this is an election with existential implications. read essay →
— Paul Simon
15
Obama has made financing higher education easier. read essay →
— Emily Raboteau
16
Obama has worked to curb urban violence. read essay →
— Russell Simmons
17
I’m voting for Obama because I love money, but I’m not money’s b----.
read essay →
— Patton Oswalt
18
Mitt Romney opposes marriage equality. read essay →
— Rick Moody
19
Obama turned our state blue.
read essay →
— Mac McCaughan
20
Think of the alternative.
read essay →
— David Cross
21
President Obama promotes an openness that his opponent hopes to quash.
read essay →
— Molly Shannon
22
Vote for Obama—because the Republicans don’t even want you to vote.
read essay →
— Majora Carter
23
Republicans seek to have America run by and for a permanent aristocracy.
read essay →
— Michael Stipe & Tom Gilroy
24
Obama demonstrated prudent and effective leadership in helping bring about the fall of Muammar Gadhafi.
read essay →
— Khaled Hosseini
25
Obama has supported and cultivated the rights of Americans with disabilities.
read essay →
— Colin Meloy
26
President Obama supports women’s right to choose.
read essay →
— Jamaica Kincaid
27
Romney wants to nullify the Environmental Protection Agency's power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
read essay →
— Jonathan Franzen
28
Because corporations are not people. People are better.
read essay →
— Nate Mendel
29
Barack Obama supports equal pay for equal work.
read essay →
— Judd Apatow
30
Because the liberal Messiah does not exist.
read essay →
— Sherman Alexie
31
Because the Republican Party is pre-Galilean.
read essay →
— Ishmael Reed
32
President Obama supports the DREAM act.
read essay →
— Edwidge Danticat
33
Barack Obama believes the American Dream should be open to everyone, not just the elite.
read essay →
— Craig Newmark
34
Leadership begins with character.
read essay →
— Elizabeth Gilbert
35
Obama repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
read essay →
— Dana Spiotta
36
Mitt Romney plans to remove regulations on air and water quality and cut off funding for the National Labor Relations Board.
read essay →
— Marilynne Robinson
37
Romney is hiding millions in tax havens around the world.
read essay →
— Michael Ian Black
38
I am voting to re-elect Barack Obama because of what he represents to the children of color in this country.
read essay →
— Gerald Richards
39
President Obama has taken the first step toward bold immigration reform.
read essay →
— Miguel Arteta
40
Because I love the social contract.
read essay →
— Emily Barton
41
I’m voting for Obama, the storyteller, the wordsmith.
read essay →
— Julia Alvarez
42
President Obama has done something about mountaintop removal.
read essay →
— Jedediah Purdy
43
It’s not my job to worry about those people.
read essay →
— Mitt Romney
44
Thanks to President Obama, nearly 50 million American women have access to contraception and preventive health services.
read essay →
— Isabel Allende
45
Mitt Romney will approve the proposed Keystone Pipeline.
read essay →
— Bill McKibben
46
Obama signed legislation to protect consumers from the predatory lending practices of credit card companies.
read essay →
— Whitney Pastorek
47
If Romney is elected, affordable healthcare reverts to an aspirational, unachievable goal for millions of Americans.
read essay →
— Tom Scharpling
48
Mitt Romney is disdainful of “government assistance,” because he’s never known anyone who needed it.
read essay →
— Moby
49
Obama still has some respect for the truth.
read essay →
— John Sayles
50
Globally, fewer people will suffer with Obama in office.
read essay →
— Michelle Tea
51
Obama is on the right side of land use and transportation policy.
read essay →
— Tim Halbur
52
I have noticed something in Mitt Romney’s name.
read essay →
— David Lynch
53
If Mitt Romney is elected, insurance companies will continue to discriminate against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
read essay →
— Charles C. Mann
54
President Obama understands the voiceless.
read essay →
— Dee-1
Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson is a musician and surfer. His most recent album is Jack Johnson & Friends - Best of Kokua Festival which came out earlier this year.
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REASON 55: Barack Obama understands the threat of climate change.
I’ve met President Obama twice, and both times he gave me a hug, not a handshake. Maybe that’s not a good enough reason to vote for him but it sure makes me trust him more. This past spring my high school football team beat Obama’s high school football team for the Hawai’i state championship. That’s definitely not a good reason to vote for him, that’s just me bragging that we are from the same state. I’m lucky enough to still live here in Hawai’i where the sunsets are beautiful, but they are not black and white. It’s a complex place, just as the rest of the world around it.
In 2009 the world was no less complex. That January I traveled to Washington DC to play music at President Obama’s Home State Ball in celebration of his inauguration. It was a historic day, and I felt blessed to be involved. The air outside was freezing but people everywhere, including myself, were warm with a sense of hope. But I also remember hoping that people weren’t letting their hopes become unrealistic. Anyone who was expecting all of our problems to be solved in four years wasn’t paying attention to the depth of the issues or the congressional elections.
Now I find myself patiently hopeful, realizing that sometimes evolution is better than revolution. Although there are several reasons that I will be voting for Obama in 2012, I’ll focus on one. As a father of three I could never consider voting for a candidate that mocks the idea of climate change. I’m voting for the candidate that believes climate change is “no joke” and is a “threat to our children’s future.” I want someone who understands the enormity of the problem and is willing to work toward a solution. In this upcoming election I will be voting for President Obama not only for his pledged support of renewable energy in the future, but also for the work that he has already done.
Mitt Romney has said, “I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet.” Well I love surfing in those oceans and I want my kids and their kids to be able to do the same. President Obama is a body surfer, which in Hawaii actually does count as one more reason to vote for him. He has a profound respect for nature and an understanding of the work that we need to do to keep it in balance. It’s nice to think that one of the most influential men in the world is able to find joy in something as simple as riding waves. I hope that one day we have a chance to surf together, but not in the near future. I’m hoping he’ll be too busy for the next four years.
—Jack Johnson
Oahu, Hawaii
