If you're referring to Obama, he wasn't a senator when the Iraq Resolution was put to Congress for vote. He did vote for Patriot II and he did vote for FISA.
You neglected to point out that, while senator, Mr. Obama has consistently voted to continue war funding, dear.
So will you not vote at all? Because when there are two possible outcomes, it seems there must always be a preference to be had, even if not ideal. Protest votes, or idealistic votes for marginal candidates can result in your least preferred outcome. Not voting, the same. Better to just squinch your eyes shut and punch that card, pull that lever, whatever.
Also, the presidential decision aside, how do you make your choices down through state and local elections? In much of the country, those elections can actually impact your life more directly than who is sitting in the oval office.
We will vote, we always do. However, the argument that by not voting for one of the two puppets propped up for us means that our votes are wasted is a matter of opinion, not fact. In point of fact, our votes are at the very least noted. They do not contribute to placing someone we do
not believe in or trust into a position of power. And, at the end of the day, we can say, We voted, we voted our conscience, and we did not contribute to putting this person into power.
For me, that's worth a whole hell of a lot more than being able to say that I voted for the winner.
As for our local elections.. well... where we are there is definitely the good old boys club. No one would ever think that California has rednecks, but we do. They're descended from miners and prospectors. In any event, we live in a close knit community, where you can be 40 or 50 miles away from your home turf and see folks you know and who know you. That means that all you have to do is ask the right people the right questions, and you get at the real person (running for office) VERY quickly.