I should know better than this. I really should. I've been avoiding this thread because I knew it would be upsetting. And I'm tired, in more ways than one.
But I've heard several people (on both sides) complaining about all the politics on the boards and the ridiculous assertions made by the opposing side (whichever that is) and how some of them have taken to avoiding the boards entirely because of it. So I just had to look in and see what it was all about. (I also sent a letter to the mods list, but if anyone responded, I never saw it.) I felt guilty enough skipping over a major thread in this section, though I've learned to trust that things won't get out of hand (or that I or one of the admins will hear about it if it starts to).
So here I am. And there's a lot to see.
Lipstick? You're going to go off about lipstick? A phrase which both candidates have used before? Which Obama has consistently used to describe poor policy proposals? But suddenly we have a woman in the race who has used the word (and therefore "owns" it?!), so of course it has to be about her. And when some people in the crowd took it that way and he didn't immediately respond, then of course that means he agrees.
Does that mean I should go on about McCain's cheerful singing of "Bomb, bomb, bomb... bomb, bomb Iran"? Or his forgetting how many houses he owns? Or his wife's assertion that Palin has foreign policy experience because her state is physically closest to Russia? Or... I could go on.
It's ridiculous. Several grueling, tiring months, with cameras in your face 24/7 and a hungry news media ready to put anything under a huge microscope, just to fill airtime... some flubs are guaranteed of anyone human.
But McCain seems to have made a habit of it. His "Straight Talk Express" drove his campaign right off a cliff back in 2000. And while he's learned from that, he still can't seem to take questions without floundering. Not a very presidential quality.
And don't talk to me about left-wing smear campaigns. Not when the right invented swift boating and most of the tools of the trade.
But none of that should matter when it comes time to vote. We need to focus on the issues.
Iraq? We never should have been there in the first place. Bush wanted it. He ignored or buried the evidence he didn't like and went so far as to manufacture evidence he didn't have. The violence the surge (and, more, the change in tactics which many - including The New York Times - had been calling for since long before it was put into effect) has in some way helped to quell wasn't a problem before we invaded, creating chaos and resentment. A unilateral action that has made our enemies (not all of whom belong to or even have ties to Al Qaida) stronger, not weaker. Because it showed the doubters that we will impose our authority and beliefs on them, we will invade and take over and do whatever we want, secure in our own arrogance and might. That's what it looks like to them, and it hasn't helped our cause one bit. Al Qaida's presence in Iraq is stronger now than it was before we invaded. We created the vacuum that they helped fill, and built up the resentment that drove people to accept them.
And how have we "won"? Violence has settled down to only slightly more than it was before we invaded? Only a few more American soldiers are being killed than were before? If that's victory, then great. I'm truly glad we've come that far. Does that mean we can
finally stop throwing billions of dollars into fixing what we broke (while the elected government pulls in yet more billions in oil revenue and fails to lift a finger) and actually bring the troops home? If that's what it means, then I'll gladly say we've won.
Taxes? Analysts have shown that 98% of us would have lower taxes under Obama than McCain. And yet Obama is much closer to having an actual balanced budget, purely from allowing Bush's tax cuts for the ultra-rich to expire, forcing them to finally pay their share. McCain? If he's given any thought to balancing the budget or even slowing the increase in our national debt (which Bush has raised by the trillion), I haven't heard a word of it.
And you can't just wave away the debt. It hurts our economy, hurts the dollar, and more... do you know who owns a large portion of that debt? China. A totalitarian communist country known for human rights violations (as well as being one of the biggest financial supporters of the genocide in Darfur). A growing economic and global power to whom we are becoming ever more dependent and indebted.
Isn't it funny how the deficit goes up during times of economic distress and goes down during the good times?
Isn't it funny how the good times come under Democratic leadership, while the deficit goes up under the leadership of the tax-cut-and-spend Republicans?
And you're going to tell me that Bush's tax cuts for himself and his cronies have helped? They've had nearly 8 years to do so, and the economy is in worse shape than it's been in decades. Despite the stimulus a war usually provides.
And you're going to criticize Obama for changing his policies? Right, because we've done so well with a leader who will stubbornly "stay the course" no matter what happens, no matter how the situation changes, no matter what effects his policies have once put into place, no matter what the experts say... Stay the course. No, that's the last thing we need.
As for Palin... She's the governor of our most sparsely populated and second-most remote state. Her experience with the Federal government can just about be summed up by her request to her constituents to pray for Congress to approve billions of dollars of pork for the one state which makes more money than it ever uses. And then she goes and falsely accuses Obama of asking for some ridiculous amount of pork? And this is the woman (and, let me say clearly, I have absolutely no bias for or against her gender) who, if anything happens to a certain 72-year-old with a history of skin cancer, would become president?
We need a leader who talks to experts. Experts with differing views. And not just talks to them, but
listens to them. Considers what they have to say (even if he doesn't like it), and then makes his own (informed!) decision. Gives us a thought-out policy instead of vague hand-waving and pretty slogans.
We need a leader who will help us fix the system. Who will fight the influence of lobbyists, who allow the big guys to literally write the laws themselves. Who will fight to change campaign finance, allowing our elected officials to focus on actually working for the people instead of constantly looking for more funds wherever they can get them.
We need a leader who can rise above petty inconsequentials like stray remarks and mudslinging.
We need a leader with a positive, thought-out message. Not one who smiles and talks about his respect for the other side, while running a campaign almost entirely composed of negative ads.
We need a leader who can see that offshore drilling will do little to help us. That it'll be years before we see any returns, that those returns will likely be a drop in the bucket compared to our ever-increasing demand, that the world's oil supply will still be running out at an alarming rate, and that our dependence on oil is not only tying us to our enemies but hurting our environment and ultimately poisoning us.
We need a leader who understands the nuances of foreign policy, who sees our place in the world as one country among many - something more and more important as the trend of globalization grows on many fronts. Who can see gray areas and complexities instead of focusing on a propaganda-supported black-and-white crusade against a "transcendent evil" with a burning faith that blinds him to all else.
We need a leader who can see the problems we've had over the past 8 years and can put us on a better path, not one who has voted for those disastrous policies at least 90% of the time.
We need a leader who can stick to his principles. Not one who can denounce things like torture and fringe elements in one campaign and then turn around and embrace them to get an edge in the next.
We need a leader who can be our face to the world. Who can speak clearly and well. Who can inspire. Who can listen to and understand what other countries (allies, neutrals, and enemies) are saying, and respond to them appropriately.
We need a leader like Barack Obama. And it scares the heck out of me that the race is this close. I feared the choice Americans would make 4 years ago. Now, the country is worse off than we were, and half the people who voted to keep us on this track have come to disapprove of it. And yet, they're coming right back, ready to vote for it again. Maybe not the same exact thing, but frighteningly close.
