Campaign Thoughts

It has been brought to my attention that Senator John McCain has suspended his campaign for the presidency in order to work on the financial crisis we are now facing. He believes it is so important that it is worth suspending the campaign, postponing Friday's debate, and coming up with a bipartisan solution to the crisis.

What's wrong with this?

The fact that it simply is not true.

Hammered by the polls in the last week, John McCain has made another shrewd political maneuver, hoping he can once again pull the wool over Americans' eyes. The man who about a month agao believed there wasn't imending financial doom is trying to save his campaign by more smoke and mirrors.

He's a Senator, after all. His vote, as well as Obama's will cancel each other out. There is little a single legislator can possibly do. In addition, as the nominee for a far more critical post -- that of the next president -- he most definitely needs to be campaigning. He needs to be assuring people he can fix this crisis because it will not be going away by January 20th.

Instead, he's attempting to use this as a way of saying, "I am a leader. This is more important than the campaign."

Leaders are supposed to be able to multi-task. Apparently John McCain is incapable of doing so. Heck, even George W. Bush was able to campaign and continue with his rape of Iraq. That isn't good leadership. It's a political move.

I hope Barack Obama doesn't bite.

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I read this article yesterday. I believe it is very telling.

CNN Commentary

Sarah Palin is being victimized by sexist treatment. Personally, I find it abhoring. She is a woman, yes. That is no reason she should be treated any differently than anyone else in this election. And the treatment she's receiving is solely because she is a woman. I am personally offended.

How can the McCain campaign continue to mistreat women so? How can they refuse to allow Governor Palin the chance she deserves as the vice presidential candidate? Once again, the Republicans are despicable.

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Economic arguments for the past several years have often dumbed down to a tax debate. It is terrible, Conservatives would claim, to tax the rich to benefit the poor. It's the behavior of the poor that has led them to their state. Why should a successful financial whiz have to fit the bill for their incompetence?

Why, then, are those same people expected the government to bail them out of the crisis they created? It was their incompetence that caused this mess. Why should I, as someone who isn't a rich financial whiz, have to pay for the incompetence of the few thousand people who put us in this situation?

Taxes are going to be raised, whether Obama or McCain is our next president. The question now becomes: Do you want to pay for the arrogance of the "masters of the universe" down on Wall Street (McCain's way), or do you think that they should pay for their own mess (Obama's way)?

No wonder McCain suspended his campaign. The answer to who will be the better president is becoming clearer every day.

How Your Candidates Handle Crises

Last week's troubles on Wall Street represent the first true crisis for Barack Obama and John McCain as presidential candidates. Their reactions are telling.

Barack Obama, showing the calm and confidence of a true leader, assured us that it was not a time to panic. He knew we were in trouble and supported assistance to stop the bleeding, but refused to make rash decisions. That is the presence of mind we want in a leader.

John McCain has flip-flopped on the economy for a while now. Not so long ago, he boldly claimed the economy was strong. Last week, a career deregulator supported regulation. He accused Obama of getting advice from those who caused the failed economy. Aside from lying, he was hiding the truth -- that the very deregulating policy he has supported led to last week's trouble. John McCain looked like anything but a leader.

This flies in the face of one of the biggest arguments for McCain. He is, unquestionably, the more experienced candidate. So why did he behave so poorly in crisis while the less experienced Obama handle it like a leader?

It's simple: Barack Obama is a leader and John McCain is not.

Barack Obama carries with him all the characteristics of great leadership. He is charismatic. He is intelligent. He is calm. He gives his followers real hope. These are qualities shared by our better presidents, be it Andrew Jackson, Theodore or Franklin Roosevelt, or Ronald Reagan. Experience doesn't necessarily make you a leader. It is a quality you must possess before experience.

And what of John McCain's extensive experience? No doubt he is everything advertised -- a war hero, a devoted public servant, etc. But scratch the surface a bit. He was a military man. His career in the military consisted of following orders. As a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he was forced to follow orders under extreme conditions. He went on to a respectable career in legislature. Senators by nature follow the pack -- the pack being their party's platform. So, again, John McCain has experience following.

Remember, nothing here is not admirable. John McCain is a good man. No, he's a great man. But he is not equipped to be a great leader. His decisions as a presidential candidate have only reinforced that truth.

It's perhaps the biggest reason Barack Obama must be our next president.

Reflecting On The Day

It has been seven years now since the day that changed everything. Seven years and the world is unquestionably a different place.

Much has happened since the planes hit and the buildings fell. Some of it was for the good, most hasn't. And now we approach an election where we are to decide the course of the next four years.

But today, on 9/11, is not a day to be for Barack Obama or for John McCain. Today is a day to reflect.

I've done my share of this over the years. I've had to. I was down there that day. I didn't get to watch it all on TV -- I watched it right up close, a mere few blocks away. The building I'd worked it rocked and swayed when the second plane hit. I'd managed to make it a block from the Brooklyn Bridge as the first tower fell and only missed being covered by dust and soot by maybe a hundred feet. It was at least a week before I was able to sleep.

I'd written about it all here before. Claudia and I lost friends seven years ago. And America changed.

Today we have soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We have tensions mounting with Russia. We're in the midst of an energy crisis. We have the makings of a culture war that threatens what we as a nation stand for.

But all of that is for tomorrow.

For today, just today, we should remember those who lost their lives in lower Manhattan, in the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. Today we should remember where we were and what we did. And hopefully reflecting will allow us some perspective.

The Time Is Now

This message is for any American who believes that we as a nation are in worse shape now than we were eight years ago -- Americans who agree that George W. Bush has done a horrible job as president and his made our country a worse place.

OK, for the rest of you, which comprises most Americans at this point, I am going to ask you a simple question: why let it continue?

If you agree that George W. Bush has been terrible, why would you vote in a successor that agrees with what he has done? Why would you vote for someone who vows to continue the same course?

To me, it is insulting that John McCain would claim he is an agent of change when he has supported nearly every effort by George W. Bush to damage our nation.

Oh, and the whole "Obama will tax you" thing is just another Republican lie -- no surprise there.

If you think Bush was bad for America, why would you vote for McCain?

Is it experience? Experience at supporting bad policy is only bad experience.

Is it because he's a war hero? True, John McCain is a war hero. What he endured as a prisoner of war is something I couldn't even pretend to fathom. Still, and there is no getting around this, being captured and tortured by the enemy does not qualify you for president.

Is it for Sarah Palin? True, her story (so far) is pretty interesting. And, no doubt, having a woman in a position such as Vice President is long overdue. But I simply don't see an anti-choice "hockey mom" as being the spokesperson for female advancement in this country.

Is it because Obama supposedly lacks experience? Let me remind all that he is older now that John F. Kennedy was when he was elected. And the greatest peace time president in the last 150 years, Theodore Roosevelt, was 42 when he was sworn in.

So what is it, really? Why choose to stay the course, even when you know it is the wrong course?

Why elect a nicer George W. Bush?

If you vote for McCain, that is exactly what you are doing.

A Fight For America

On March 8, 1971, in a smoke-filled Madison Square Garden, two undefeated heavyweight champions met in the ring for what was to become one of the greatest -- and most important -- bouts in boxing history. Tied to the two fighters was political symbolism that made the fighters and the fight itself larger than a mere championship match. Joe Frazier, the undisputed heavyweight champion, was the symbol of the old guard -- the pro-Vietnam, pro-old ways of thinking regime. Muhammad Ali represented the anti-war, anti-establishment new guard.

This was just a boxing match.

Today, all the same symbolism is represented in our two presidential candidates. John McCain is the exact image of America as it has been for these past thirty-plus years. Barack Obama, like Muhammad Ali, represents a potential new America.

McCain may be a good man. He is a noted war hero. However, his belief system -- and his record of legislating -- is representative of the politics that have plagued our nation since the Vietnam War ended. He is Republican (from 1968, the height of the Vietnam era, through January 20, 2009, when Bush finally leaves, Republicans were in the White House 28 years to the Democrats' 12). He is a career party legislator. He stood by his party and his party's despite the personal attacks made upon him during his failed presidential run in 2000.

Barack Obama's career in the spotlight began, not surprisingly, with a phenomenal speech in 2004. He is young and new. But, more importantly, he's stood for what he's believed in -- not necessarily what his party believed in -- even when those within his own party cowered in fear of what was a very powerful Bush political machine. While McCain is part of the Silent Generation -- pre-Boomer, Obama straddles the divide between the Boomer Generation and my generation -- Generation X. He will be the first president to have been too young to participate in Vietnam.

As I have written here before, America has been on a slow decline. Everything we as a nation had once stood for has either gone dormant or is being killed off by the Bush Administration and the Neo-Con agenda -- and agenda to which Senator McCain subscribes. Here is a chance to put a stop to it.

On March 8, 1971, Joe Frazier won. Let's make sure the old guard doesn't win this one. It matters more.

Vote for Barack Obama.