Why Obama Must Win
by Maggie Van Ostrand
This year, the road to the White House is full of mud. Some might call it by another name. It's amazing that either candidate can maneuver through it long enough to get to their own conventions. As a recovered Republican, it's time for me to speak up.
If they have to walk, crawl, or get pushed to the polls in a wheelchair, every man, woman, and eligible child must vote this November. We have a national emergency -- we're globally disliked and we're not used to it. We want to get back to being respected by the rest of the world, the way it used to be. A lot of us don't like Bush either and we intend to change things, and not put another out-of-touch billionaire in the White House.
The Republicans are giving new dimensions to the meaning of the phrase, "dirty politics." They must think we're all pretty stupid, or even they wouldn't pull some of the most low-down tricks since Caligula reigned. (Some say he still does.) Their strategy is so pitifully obvious, it's insulting. It goes something like this:
Obama appeared before hundreds of thousands of American-flag-waving expats and Europeans in Germany, following his appearance before an estimated 82,000 enthusiastic supporters in Portland, and preceding his appearance in Denver before an anticipated 75,000. McCain makes fun of this, calling Obama a "rock star." What's McCain then, a "mock star?" I almost feel sorry for McCain, since he appears unable to attract anything like the Obama fans he disparages -- McCain had to find out where a lot of people would be, and go to them for his photo op. He ended up at a biker rally, offering up his wife, Cindy, as a contestant in their beauty contest, but he failed to find out first that the beauty contest was part nude. A very silly mistake. Should we have a president in the Oval Office who doesn't always know what's happening around him?
Obama says something sensible, smart, and solid. McCain mocks, then he begins saying the same things. Somewhere in his mind, he must know Obama is correct. It didn't take long after making fun of Obama's suggestion for people to keep their tires filled with proper air pressure, that McCain finally had to admit Obama was right. The gasoline tax suspension was another dumb talking point, a fantasy on which McMock cannot deliver and it wouldn't help if he could. Obama told us the truth -- suspension of gas tax will not do any good at the gas pump in the long run. But McMock is still pushing it. He must think very little of Americans' common sense, those same people he once defended in war.
Obama is presidential in appearance and demeanor. McCain mocks him for being "that way" when he's "not in the Oval office." Yet McCain is saying "When I'm president…" Say what?
Obama inspires ordinary people to do extraordinary things. McCain hasn't yet figured out that his wife really shouldn't wear a lapel full of bling bling when appearing before blue collar workers who can't afford to make a payment on their pick-ups.
Obama, a decent, moral man of integrity, ran a clean campaign and took the high road … for as long as he could. He has not mentioned McCain's connection with the Keating Five, about which you can read here:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1989-11-29/news/mccain-the-most-reprehensible-of-the-keating-five
One comment in this incisive article is As the [Lincoln Savings & Loan] failure deepened, the sheer magnitude of the losses hit the press. Billions of dollars had been squandered. The Keating Five became shorthand for the kind of political influence that money can buy. The five senators were linked as the gang who went to bat for an S&L bandit.
S&L ''trading cards'' came out. The Keating Five card showed Charles Keating holding up his hand, with a senator's head adorning each finger. McCain was on Keating's pinkie.
Throw down that gauntlet now Barry baby. The time is right.
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