If I hear the word “maverick” any more, I may vomit. What used to be a perfectly normal word has become a word I can’t stand to hear. Hell, I don’t even like the Dallas Mavericks anymore. And that movie, “Maverick” with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster?….used to be a really good movie. It sucks now. I’ll never watch it again. Thanks a lot, Sarah Palin.
Seriously though, I don’t see how the McCain/Palin campaign can do anything at this point but minimize damages to their party. Let’s be honest. When you’re beat, you’re beat. Go ahead and give it the good ol’ college try, though.
I find it interesting that both McCain and Obama speak in the general rhetoric of “change” and “reform”, yet only Obama has seemed to develop a more rational and much clearer vision of what that means realistically. It seems that McCain is hard pressed to find answers to some of the important questions that Obama seems to answer with relative ease and conviction.
Obama is clearly more studied on economic issues. McCain allegedly didn’t even read the bailout bill, (the one that actually passed). Yet, here’s a guy who was so concerned with the financial crisis that he felt the need to suspend his campaign to go lend a helping hand in Washington. I don’t the public bought that one, Johnny. Or six pack, or whatever. Obama has spoken with knowledge and integrity on the subject. The Obama idea to create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that could help keep our roads and transit systems intact, while create loads of US jobs, is the exact kind of creative thinking our country needs.
Truth be told, maybe he was a “maverick” at one point. But not anymore. It seems like McCain has been increasingly moving farther to the right. It’s true he worked with Democrats in the past to create a patients bill of rights. He opposed unlimited offshore drilling when most Republicans were for it. Recently however, he opposed a bill that aimed to stop the torture of war prisoners. I think they call it “special interrogation technique” or “advanced asshole questioning”…or something. I thought he was tortured in Vietnam? Isn’t that a bit strange? I think maverick is the wrong word….more like wishy-washy or volatile.
The current attacks on Obama’s character are even more disgusting. I like playing the six degrees of separation game too, but not when it comes to the most important election of the modern world. The recent discovery of Sarah Palin’s “associations” with radical Alaskan groups only exacerbates the hypocrisy of the McCain campaign. Two can play at that game!
The recent debate was interesting to watch. Obama seemed to be much more at home and reasonable than McCain, who seemed a little agitated and over the top. By the way, did anybody see how quickly Fox News posted their “polls” after the debate? They said something like 82% thought McCain won the debate. None of the other networks posted their findings until later. (which were much different) I find it amazing that Fox is still in business.
Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin while hilarious, seems dangerous to me. It’s all well and good to joke and have fun, but there is a real possibility (albeit a small one) that Sarah Palin will be the next Vice President (or God forbid, President) of the United States. The point of the SNL skit was to mock Palin (and with good reason) but in some ways, she gained a small margin of credibility with the skit. Or at least gained some pop credibility in the over-saturated minds of young america.
It’s a long shot – and I hope i’m wrong.
Another long shot, but if McCain wins and replaces just one moderate on the Supreme Court (he has cited John Roberts) then Roe Vs Wade has the potential to be reversed and states will be allowed to impose absolute bans on abortions. Now, this is only made worse by the fact that he no longer supports rape and incest as factors in the case for an abortion. Not to mention he believes Viagra should be covered by insurance….but not birth control. Hmm. Odd.
I saw the Sarah Palin book in the airport bookstore this morning. It’s awfully slim. She and McCain like to criticize Obama for being “wordy”. Obama has written two books. Why is that a bad thing? If anything, we should want our leaders to posses a mastery of the english language and have the brainpower to put that talent to good use.
The real point of this lengthy post is this: Beyond every topic I just mentioned, the election of Barack Obama would represent so many things that are fundamentally important to us. Being of a mixed ethnic background, he represents America as it really is in the 21st century. As a metaphor it would be a symbol of a civil rights victory; re-establishing the belief that we are the most righteous country in the world. That we continue to care about equality and tolerance. It would energize us on the world stage, and help encourage democracy abroad. Moreover, Obama is a leader. There is no one better suited for the extremely difficult task of leading America in the 21st century.