I never thought I would say this, but Karl Rove wrote a very impartial and meaningful article in the WSJ and I agree with him. I ask the liberals to hold their breath for a few moments and actually read the article and while you are it take a bitter pill and actually hear the Palin speech ( I recommend her recent speech on her return to Alaska, less crowd and fewer chants of “Palin, Palin” to raise your blood pressure) and you will see why she is such a big hit. It is not the words coming out of her mouth it is the way she delivers them. I am reminded of the Reese Witherspoon character in “Legally Blond”.
While I do agree with Karl Rove about how Obama should not be attacking Palin and why it is a losing proposition for him, I believe the Obama campaigns conundrum is how do you respond when Palin has completely sucked all the oxygen of media coverage and seriously thrown them off their message. The interest that she has evoked and because of this reformist aura around her, she has actually been able to define Obama rather then it being the other way around. The egos in Obama campaign just could not resist the temptation to take a few pot shots at her.
I think it would be in Obama-Biden’s interest to resist the urge to take shots at Palin and keep the attacks on John McCain. The media frenzy would die down in a few days and it may die quicker if they don’t keep making statements about Pigs and Lipsticks giving the McCain campaign even more fodder. You have to give to the McCain campaign that they have been able to control the message very well.
Moreover the left wing should stop hyperventilating about how John McCain could pick Sarah Palin, instead of somebody experienced if they want to win this election. I think part of the reason why Democrats are so off message is because they didn’t think Sarah Palin was a worthy opponent. They were expecting somebody formidable with a lot of experience and instead got given a replica of the right wing Barack Obama. How do you tarnish their Obama without tarnishing your own.
Sooner or later people will know she is just another politician. When the dust settles, Barack Obama does not want to come out more bruised then Sarah Palin.
He should stay above the fray and keep his focus on John McCain. His fighting for the Presidency not the VP’s spot
John McCain runs an ad completely distorting Obama’s vote on sex education for children and the media runs the news with the headline “Obama aide questions John McCain’s honour“. Are you freaking kidding me? Have they completely lost their mind? How about saying what is true “John McCain has sold his soul to win this election” or ”John McCain takes a chapter from George Bush’s book”. The same Karl Rovian tactics that brought down John McCain’s campaign in South Carolina in 2000 are now being used by John McCain himself against Barack Obama.
When will the media start playing an impartial role and start reporting the news based on its merits. When they are not completely fawning over Barack Obama, they are reporting half truths and lies about the other campaign.
After going for months how he would run a clean campaign and how he is different from George Bush, McCain has even stopped keeping up the pretenses. He is milking his POW status, everytime he opens his mouth and now with Sarah Palin on the ticket any kind of criticism is either questioning his patriotism or being sexist.
The Senator should hope that Sarah Palin will deliver him the Presidency, because, the way he has run his campaign, he has completely lost respect among independent minded people. I not only question his honour, I also question his judgement.
This is the same John McCain who introduced an immigration reform bill but then buckled under pressure from the right wing of his party. He wants to lead the country but only wants to listen to right wing.
This is the same John McCain who wanted to reform the electoral process but now has the same people run his campaign that he tried to shut down in 2000.
This is the same John McCain who wants to do something about climate change but then goes out and selects as VP, somebody who questions whether human beings are even responsible for climate change.
This is the same John McCain who wants America to have a comprehensive energy policy, but the only policy he can come up with is the slogan “Drill, baby drill”. Let me ask the Senator – Would this oil production be controlled by the government i.e nationalised or be sold on the free market? If it goes on the free market how on earth does this solve our energy needs, as whoever pays the highest price gets the oil, which is no different from what we have today. This does nothing to alleviate our energy needs as it is no different from what we have today. You can increase the supply of oil all you want, all it does is increase the demand for oil. Like I wrote earlier drilling in ANWR only means cheaper oil for the Chinese.
John McCain is a perfect example of when single minded focus on one single issue can become tunnel vision. Senator McCain is now so vested in the outcome of the Iraq war, that he is losing focus on the war that needs to be fought against Al Qaeda. This war is small and highly mobile. It involves part old fashioned sleuthing, part law enforcement and when need be special operations. The war, McCain wants to win is not the same as the one that America needs to win. He accuses anybody and everybody who wants the Iraqi security forces to take on more responsibility, and the Shite dominated Iraqi government to reconcile with the Sunnis, as unpatriotic and wishing for American defeat.
The over simplification of the challenges during the year and half of campaigning has made McCain forget what Islamic terrorism is? Now everything happening in the Middle East or any other part of the world if Muslims are involved gets clubbed under the umbrella of Islamic terrorism.What Sen. McCain has forgotten is that if America’s war is against Al Qaeda and Islamic insurgents who want to attack us, then we must fight them where they are, in Afghanistan. Iraq has already realized that supporting Al Qaeda is not in their interest, that they do not share the same ideology as them. Their marriage was a marriage of convenience until it dissolved when they turned against them and defeated them with the American support. Now America needs to put pressure on the Iraqis to reconcile and wean them off their dependence on Americans for everything.
America’s distraction in Iraq has only allowed Al Qaeda and the Taliban to regroup and become more powerful in the mountains along Pak-Afghan border. The rag tag groups of these insurgents are becoming increasingly emboldened and attacking NATO forces with increasing ferocity. The recent tensions with Russia also, increase the possibility of the Russian secret agencies wanting to arm the Taliban and other groups in order to create more problems for the NATO and American forces.
Senator McCain should be commended for pushing for the troop surge in Iraq which has led to US military successes in Iraq, but correcting a wrong should not be considered as some brilliant move especially when a lot of other, very brave Americans in the military lost their careers for saying that we did not go their with enough troops to begin with. Senator McCain wants to keep the American troops in Iraq until we win and are able to come back with honour. What he has repeatedly failed to show, is what our victory in Iraq means and what would it look like? Without the Iraqis reconciling, American forces would never be able to leave the country as any kind of security and power vacuum would only act as a fertile ground for the growth of Al Qaeda. Recently there were reports from Anbar province after the handover to the Shite dominated security forces of increasing hostility between the Shite security forces and the Sunni militia which was responsible for defeating the Al Qaeda in that area. The Shite dominated government security forces do not trust the Sunnis and vice versa.
Its time for the Iraqis to shed their own blood and treasure for their own country and time for Senator McCain to support a deadline.
I just heard Cindy McCain’s speech. She appeared to be a very smart, articulate, very well travelled, compassionate woman. She studied at USC, California and has done a lot of charitable work. Her views while being conservative are reasonable. A lot of this must have, at some stage, rubbed off on John McCain. How does he then go out to pick Sarah Palin, a book banning, religious zealot who thinks Iraq war is a mission from God, that the solution to America’s energy problems is to drill bay drill and then drill some more, that just because she sold a symbol of excesses of her own party on Ebay it some how makes her a maverick and a reformer.
I am beginning to think Karl Rove may have been right, this is a political choice rather then governing one.
I thought after eight years of George Bush, America would have had enough of this single issue insanity and was ready forsome comprehensive leadership on all fronts. We had two solid candidates whose policies were in the middle, you may not agree with everything they may say but you understood the logic behind it. For those who have read my musings before I would have been happy with having either of these two candidates as the President.
Obama may be short on experience but he has some solid ideas, and team capable of delivering those. He gained my respect when he took a stand against the so called gas-tax holiday whileeverybody else pandered. I didn’t agree with him on demand for a timelinefor troop withdrawal from Iraq as I believe we need to solve the mess we created but then again the cynic in me saw it as a pander to the left wing. I hoped that he has enough smart people around him to make him see the logic against such a move and his position evolved with time.
John McCain is a true American hero, with policies and ideas enough to the center to lead atleast 80% of Americans. At the end of the day Americans don’t care about just one issue(or atleast I hope).He has the capability and the experience to once again raise America’s credibility in the world after eight years of George Bush, and show the leadership to resolve the issues facing us at home. He may have his shortcomings on the economy but hey that is why you have advisers.
But during the past few months John McCain has taken a sharp turn to the right. He has given up on unifying the country and decided to consolidate his base. John McCain has all of sudden decided that it is more important for America to worry about issues like abortion and gun control then worry about jobs and food. He went ahead and picked a moose hunter from Alaska as his running mate.
He decided that it was more important for people to pay less in taxes, then for their money to mean anything. So while you may have more dollars in your paycheck they don’t go as far as they used to when its time to put food on the table. What good is the tax cut I got under Bush when all it did is increase our debt, and decreased the value of the US Dollar. I may be taking more money in terms of dollars but it sure isn’t buying a lot.
He decided that it was more important to have a women as his running mate just for the sake of it while taking away their right to choose. What good are the children when you don’t have a job to raise them and food to feed them? For them it is important only to give birth to human life but once you are born you are screwed. What kind of logic is that?
He decided that it was important to scare people that the other party would take away their guns.What good are the guns when you don’t have healthcare when you fall sick? Is the 2nd amendment going to pay for your medical bills? An equal number of Americans are either uninsured or underinsured as compared to gunowners. What about their rights? I am for your right to 2nd amendment if you are for a women’s right to chose.
John McCain has decided that it is more important for Americans to fill their Hummers then leave behind a world that is inhabitable for the next generation. Why is it, that the party of life is also the first one to deny that we are destroying the planet?
Why is it that the party that is for free trade, then turns around and doesn’t want anybody to come in and live in their country. We will take your cheap labour and your cheap products but we don’t want you coming in no matter what you have to contribute. They keep forgetting that this is a nation of immigrants.
He decided that it is time to bash government, a government he surely has been part of for the last eight years. We just went through eight years of government watchdogs being systematically neutralised in the name of smaller government to the point where we have nobody inspecting the food that is being imported into the country, we have toys being imported with toxic levels of lead, we have tyres being imported which don’t meet safety standards, we have crumbling infrastructure all across the country with crumbling bridges. We have a government which wasn’t able to provide emergency services to a whole city during hurricane Katrina.
I am just venting because I was listening to the speeches from the RNC last night, listening to them yell and scream, how big government is bad for us. I kept wondering where these people were during the last eight years because they didn’t seem to realize that they were the ones in power during six out those eight years and the remaining two they will not let anybody else do anything. They are the government.
They keep screaming how they have protected us from any terrorist attacks during the last 6 years, but I guess it is OK if you die in a hurricane or when a bridge gives way underneath you. We will not allow any foreign terrorists to kill you, we will kill you ourselves, that seems to be their motto.
Sarah Palin’s speech to RNC convention has been good so far, its funny, laced with enough jabs at Obama, Biden and the Democratic Congress. I don’t like anything i hear but it is still a good speech, considering she has no national experience. Looks like those hours of practise have paid off. Cindy McCain could not have been happier, seeing the sigh of relief she let out after Palin was finished. Question is when there are no teleprompters to read from, would she still be able name Ahmadinejad on the map. This election is turning quite intriguing, either way we are going to end up with two really inexperienced candidates, only i agree with one more then i agree with the other.
After hearing all the speakers at the RNC convention harp on VP nominee Sarah Palin’s executive experience, Sen. McCain has decided to pull his name from the top of the Republican ticket, and run as VP to Sarah Palin, given her extensive experience as the mayor of Wasilla and then the governor of Alaska. As the Senator mentioned that since he had never managed any kind of a budget and never had to make any executive decisions, he felt he did not have enough experience to be running for the top job in the land.
The conservatives in the Republican party really got thrown off by John McCain’s curve ball. Waking up in the morning after praying all night for Mitt Romney to find that McCain had selected a virtual nobody from Alaska as his running mate, they are having a real hard time trying to get their minions excited about the pick. Here are a examples of the their talking points -
-She calls her husband “First Dude”
- Her favourite meal is “Moose Stew”
-She’s a lifelong member of NRA
-Former beauty queen.
-Alaska first female governor and youngest ever.
The last one get buried underneath everything else. We wouldn’t want to highlight the inexperience now, would we.
I can come up with no other explanation for John McCain’s selection of Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, as his running mate other then that he is desperately vying for the disgruntled supposedly Hillary, but not-Hillary, supporters.
As a Republican argument for experience, I don’t see anybody as inexperienced as Gov. Palin come as close to being the POTUS as Sarah Palin. Talk about on the job training. The Mayor of Los Angeles has more experience running an institution of much more larger scale then the state of Alaska (no disrespect to Alaskans, but that is how it is). The total population of Alaska is less then 700,000 people. How does that prepare one to be the second in line to be the President ??
In her own words after being elected the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin remarked ” The voter’s of Alaska took a chance on a virtual nobody by electing her”. Well if that is the case why are the Karl Roves in Sen. McCain’s trying to scare people about Sen. Obama.
Any Hillary supporters who support Gov. Palin couldn’t have been Hillary Supporters to begin with, since the two are diametrically opposite on issues near and dear to female Democrats. She is not just pro-life, she is anti-choice. She is a moose burger chomping, commercial fisher, animal hunting member of the NRA. I guess it is OK to hunt animals but not OK to destroy a few cells in the human body. How can they even consider voting for somebody like that.
What is even more intriguing to me, is that the same conservative advisers to John McCain, who get so riled up at the suggestion that blacks would be supporting Obama because he is black, calling it reverse racism, have no problem with assuming that women would just vote for women because of gender without regard for issues. Does anybody else see the disconnect?
John Kerry couldnot have come close to number of flip flops John McCain has done over the past few months. After being against the tax cuts, off shore drilling, immigration reform John McCain has now reversed his positions on all of those issues.
Now reports are emerging that John McCain has decided on a VP but then John McCain say he hasn’t. Which one is it Senator? Have you or haven’t you?
On a more serious note, Karl Rove is reported to be playing a more important role in the McCain Campaign. Jonathan Martin of Politico.com reported that Karl Rove called Sen. Lieberman to ask him to withdraw his name from the pool of McCain’s VP hopefuls. I actually welcome this development for the simple reason that Karl Rove actually motivates Democrats and independents who want to be rid of his style of sleazy politics. If Senator McCain wants to set himself apart from Bush, he will also have to set himself apart from Karl Rove.
I am so tired of the Democratic party acting like a bunch of wimps and allowing the Republicans to dictate the conversation on everything from their patriotism to their machismo.
Here is a sample -
Senior Democratic officials are expressing serious concerns about the political risks posed by Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High tonight …
A common concern: that the stadium appearance plays against Obama’s convention goal of lowering his star wattage and connecting with average Americans and gives Republicans a chance to drive home their message that the Democratic nominee is a narcissistic celebrity candidate.
How about telling the Republicans that we are taking this opportunity to celebrate democracy by giving 75000 people an opportunity to participate in a democratic process, unlike the Republicans in their country club atmosphere of multi-millionaires party members and lobbyists at their convention.
How about telling them we are taking this opportunity to celebrate the millions of young people who have been inspired by the Obama campaign and have participated in the Democratic process for the first time.
How about telling the Republicans that they could have has one at the Invesco stadium but they could not find Americans rich enough to become party members considering you need to have 5 million dollars and 4+ houses to qualify for membership.
Barack Obama has inspired millions of people across the world to be less cynical and dare to hope for the first time, but off course the Republicans wouldn’t want that to happen because then we might actually wake up and realize that it is their policies for the last eight years that have made life so difficult for the ordinary American.
Surprisingly almost thirty percent of American still support George W Bush. For these people Bush could do no wrong. That is almost 90 million Americans and they are a vast majority of the Republican party. Comparing John McCain to George Bush just endears him more to this group of people, who any other day would not give him the time of day because he is too liberal for them. I feel by attacking McCain and comparing him repeatedly to George Bush, the Democrats are simply raising his stock among conservatives, who otherwise would never vote for him or his policies.
John McCain of ‘08 is nothing compared to John McCain of ‘00. The John McCain who is considered a maverick does no longer exist, and has been replaced by John McCain who is so lock step with the Bush policies that you would think that George Bush was running for a third term. What they should do is let John McCain of ‘00 attack John McCain of ‘08. McCain of ‘00 is anathema to the base of the Republican party which believes it is taking a chance by nominating him. The best way to discourage that base from turning out to vote for him is by embracing McCain ‘00 and highlighting his maverick streak.
McCain has flip flopped enough this time around that nobody know anymore what he really is. He has sold out his convictions and his principles to get the nomination of the Republican party. The characteristics that endeared him to so many independents earlier have been sold off to get the vote of the conservative base. Can independents really trust him either to follow the middle path and work in a bipartisan manner. I don’t think so.
I always knew that John McCain did not always like or trust Valdimir Putin, but the recent statements coming from the Senator from Arizona would have one think that the Russians tanks were sitting just outside of Phoenix. Did I miss something, I know Georgia is very near and dear to Americans being a democracy and all(is it really??), but why is he taking it so personally.
I have heard stories of John McCain’s temper, but could never picture how it could effect his being an effective President. But his recent statements, coupled with his tendency to take unsubstantiated statements from the media and Saakashvilli as facts and his own hot headedness, for the first time I am actually glad that Bush is the President instead of McCain. If he was there we would probably be already preparing for Armageddon.
Here are a few examples of his statements today excerpted from his interview with editors of U.S. News
Republican presidential candidate John McCain kept up his criticism today of the Russian invasion of Georgia, noting that he spoke again this morning with Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili and discussed the latest abuses by Russian troops. “There is a clause in this cease-fire that the Russians are using as a loophole for maintaining their presence there,” McCain said in an interview with U.S. News editors.
No Shit Sherlock, that is why it is called negotiations.
The Arizona senatorsaid he has talked to Saakashvili every day during the current crisis. McCain also referred to media reports that “the Russian troops reeked with alcohol and are looting.
Maybe you should campaign in Georgia for their Presidency and just to show that he has not forgotten about ordinary Americans while he fighting for the Georgians, here is another excerpt -
Pivoting to the presidential campaign, McCain said: “It’s very clear that the overriding issue is the economy. Americans are hurting very badly…but I also think that national security is an underlying issue because we have just found out in the last few days that we live in a very dangerous world and there are situations which can arise which were not readily foreseen, certainly not by average citizens…that require experience, knowledge, and judgment.
Never thought I would say it twice but thank your lucky stars George Bush is the President.
Senator McCain proclaimed “Today we are all Georgians” at a campaign stop yesterday in PA. WOW, when did that happen, I did not get any notice of any changes in my citizenship. I am absolutely amazed by this recent revival among the neo conservatives in the last few months. With the Iraq war stabilizing a bit since the troop surge and Barack Obama’s poll numbers stalling since the Democratic primaries, the Neo-conservatives think that that maybe they didn’t screw things up badly enough the first time and are starting to creep out of the woodwork and and have found a ready ear in Senator McCain.
Just when you would think that United States was going to get out of the business of policing the world and focus on the economy at home, Mr. Saakashvilli of Georgia decided to rile Vladimir Putin one too many times. I am surprised at the absolute naivete of this guy to think that he could pull something off like this and not get the reaction that he got from Russia. Russia had obviously been planning this long and hard, not something I can say about Mr. Saakashvilli and his handlers at the State Dept or his advisers in the McCain campaign.
It is with absolutely amazement that I hear the statements coming from this guy, the repeated references to the wars of the past, evoking the invasions of Prague, Poland and Afghanistan, the references to being the beacon of democracy, a free economy, freedom of press, evoke images of Ahmad Chalabi before the Iraq war and his rounds of the cable news networks in 2002. It was as if he was trying to get the United States and West to start a war with Russia. The script was too good, not to have come out of the neo conservative book who want to use the American military and economic power to advance their idea of democracy.
While I still haven’t completely gotten on board Obama train, the rhetoric coming from Senator McCain scares me even more. I don’t think we can have another four years of these idiots in power.
The GOP is feigning outrage at Obama’s decision to forego matching public funds for his campaign. Did the GOP or the McCain camp really, even for a moment, think that Obama camp would agree to public financing after the vast advantage they have had over McCain in fund raising. I mean who is being naive here?
It would be akin to fighting with one hand tied behind your back, especially with all the 527 groups getting their knives ready to stick in Obama’s back for upcoming fall campaign.
Ok, I am not the biggest Obama supporter out there, but my blood starts to boil every time one of the Republicans tries to paint any person as weak on terror or a flip flopper just because their decisions are based on facts and logic and not on some kind of party line, ideology or book.
Fox news has this article on a memo released by a McCain adviser Steve Schmidt who held a similar role in Bush – Cheney 2004 team.
Their basic premise is that Obama is a flip flopper for refusing public financing after saying last year that he would consider it. The other accusations, are a play on his statements regarding NAFTA, IRAQ, tax increases and Jerusalem.
My sense of outrage is because, any person who has followed the two campaigns closely and doesn’t just follow the sound bites knows where each candidate stands on issues, and knows when there is a change in position. I would take Obama’s flip flops on any day then take these seismic changes in policy positions from John McCain on
Bush’s Tax Cuts – He was against them before he was for them.
Torture - McCain denounces Supreme Courtfor ruling on GitmoDetainees. As per McCain we can hold people without cause for as long as we like, as long as we don’t drown them
Environment – but its ok to drill offshore.
Give me a break. I mean now I am starting to lose respect for Senator McCain.
On a side note – how many of you wish John Kerry would just disappear from the Obama Campaign. I for one believe the guy is just plan bad luck. They should name him “The Cooler”
John McCain just got sucker punched by Barack Obama. After months of going back and forth about whether he was going to accept public financing, as I am sure Senator McCain was hoping he would, Barack Obama finally comes out and refuses public financing giving himself the advantage of limitless spending.
For the Clinton supporters who have just seen their candidate vanquished in the primaries and are still licking their wounds and nursing their pride their are very few choices on the horizon.I liked all three candidates, I would have voted for any one of them any day. I finally decided to take the plunge aound Feburary and back Senator Clinton, and since then differences between Obama and Hillary have become increasingly glaring. She was much more experienced and brings so much more to the table then the other guy. If my reason for supporting Clinton were that she had much more experience I don’t think my reason should change now that she is no longer in the picture.
Which brings me to title of this blog I am trying to decide who between the two of them will do less damage to the country. My take on this so far is if McCain wins in 2008, given his age Clinton would be able to mount a good campaign in 2012 against him even if he is the incumbent. If Obama wins, he would have to be really good President, I mean better then JFK (given the current situation) for him to be able to run for a second term unchallenged within the Democratic Party. No average, can not do this time. I tend to believe that while democracy may suck it is the best form of government out there and their is no such thing as Utopia like Senator Obama would like us to believe. You need some of the the things that the people are criticising today, for government to function, to have a proper debate about issues and policies.
Here is my list of issues with the Obama campaign -
Lobbyists – Nothing has brought more shame to this profession then the likes of Jack Abramoff’s, Duke Cunnigham’s, but we would be naive to think that Washington could function without lobbyists. Lobbyists are an absolute necessity for the government to function as they provide a view(no matter how lopsided) into the functioning of a business. Businesses need lobbyist to explain to politicians how business works and vice versa. In their zeal to rid themselves of lobbyist both Obama and McCain are falling over each other to see who can get rid of the most, where anybody and everybody is being painted with the same brush and frankly it is starting to concern me.Everybody in Washington is a lobbyist at some time or the other. If you are a politician worth you mettle and have a cause you believe in you should become a lobbyist after you come out of politics in order to further that casue. Now I am not that naive to believe that all these people are saints but are n’t we getting carried away a little.You and I could be painted a lobbyist if we worked for the federal government and the private sector. This alone should not preclude one from working for any administration. It is getting to the point of being ridiculous where are lot of good people are being kicked out of their positions. I want smart people running the country not necessarily the untainted ones.
So for Senator Obama to make lobbyist a political issue gives me pause for two reasons – if we get rid of all the lobbyist we get rid of a lot of smart people and, if we don’t, and, let them play a role then the Senator is being disingenuous by making this a political issue while at the same time claiming to be above politics.
Inspiration – That is one word I am starting to get so tired off, if I hear it again I swear I will decide not to vote. No doubt Senator Obama is inspiring a lot of people, question is inspiring them to do what?? Never thought I would say this in my lifetime – a lot of his supporters are far left wing people who call themselves progressive and open minded yet refuse to listen to reason or have an amicable discussion. I couldn’t believe the kind of ridicule and hatred they spewed on Clinton supporter’s during the campaign. They believe that if you yell loud enough and drown out the other voices you would be somehow right. I am starting to believe if Obama wins, the next four years would bring an administration full of left wing ideologues and it may not be any different from the current one which also has a vast majority of ideologues. It stands to reason that the very loud small minority of the democratic party which with the help of the media refused to let Clinton make her case for the nomination would not allow any kind of sane reasonable discussions on any other issues before this country unless it is meshes with their agenda. In the same manner is which the right wing of the republican party made it impossible for any kind of reform on immigration policies I don’t believe the left would be any different. A vast majority of the independents is about to get shafted again.
Leadership: A lot of people have put forth their case comparing Obama to JFK and MLK, the case made ever so strongly by Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy drawing the comparison themselves. With no small amount of trepidation in my heart I say the reason Kennedy has been so immortalised in history is because he lived for such a short time. Had Kennedy lived to finish his presidency and beyond I am not sure the world would be holding him in such high regard. While no doubt a great President, Kennedy also had a lot more experience in politics and government (6 yrs in House and 7 yrs in the Senate) as well as military career before he decided to run for President. Senator Obama doesn’t even come close. He is a great orator and speech writer but that is not the sole qualification for the job he is applying for.
A lot of people have tried to make a case by comparing how the military selects officers based on a certain criteria which they say Obama meets but here is my problem with that argument, yes Obama has a lot of leadership skills but is having a skill set only enough? The military does not select the officer based on the leadership skills displayed during the interview and put him in charge of 5000 men right away. Have we forgotten the time spent at West Point and process of promotions. This guy wants to run the country, no where else on this planet have I seen any country elect the most powerful person just on a prayer and a hope. I am honestly afraid for my future.
For those asking why I don’t hold Senator McCain to same standard – I have McCain’s career history to look at, in order to make my own decision, not so in Obama’s case.
Given all of the above points I am seriously considering if I would vote for Obama or McCain. My best case scenario is vote McCain at the top of the ticket and Democrat at the bottom. This will ensure that while we may have Republican president we will have a Democratic congress in order to ensure proper checks and balances.
Now if McCain really wanted to clinch my vote he would chose Bloomberg as his running mate.
Welcome to my blog, a result of the 2008 Presidential election. Never have I been so involved in politics and learnt so much about myself and others, as I have during this campaign. I think there are no conservatives or liberals in the real world. They only exist on TV and radio.
I am a moderate and independent. I don’t believe that anything in this world is black and white. We are just not afforded the luxury of simplicity as everything lies somewhere in that grey area. There is some good and some evil, everything else is in the middle.
Therefore, I am for limited use of capital punishment, and for a women’s right to choose.
I am for those so called enhanced interrogation techniques, but not for legalizing then. I believe if their is truly that scenario of a ticking bomb, hey by all means.
I believe human behaviour is responsible for climate change. I am not sure that Global warming is the only result of it though, as I think it is too narrow a term to encompass everything we are doing to the environment.
I am a fiscal conservative and thereby for smaller government and fewer entitlements but do believe we need to pay our fair share of taxes, I just don’t want to see my taxes wasted by the government.
I am for open borders all across the world. If you are for free trade and a global economy and against immigration you are only avoiding the inevitable.
There are things you make agree with this on this blog and things you may not. If you agree great drop me a line, if you don’t, feel free to drop me a line and tell me why. I will give you a chance to change my mind or you can give me a chance to change yours.
1independenthinker
