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The election of November 4, 2008 is now over and Senator Obama has won a smashing victory over Senator McCain. He is the first black president in U.S. history.
With the financial debacle now going on, President-elect Obama has his work cut out for him.
Good luck, President Obama!
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During the campaign, Senator Obama visited Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Germany, France, etc.. The pressure was on him to make a good impression to counteract the McCain charges that Obama lacked foreign affairs experience. Obama looked good on his trip ...........especially when he sank a three-point basketball shot on his first attempt in front of a bunch of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. His Berlin speech was also very good.
Obama's presidential appearance apparently put pressure on President Bush to modify some of his screwed-up views on Iraq, e.g., a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawals.
Senator McCain might have been better off if he had not goaded Obama about Obama's need to visit the Iraq/Afghanistan war zones. Obama is a natural showman who does well in front of crowds. Maybe he faked out McCain into recommending the trip.....sort of like Brer Rabbit (Obama) telling Brer Fox (McCain) :
"Don't throw me in the briar patch, Brer Fox.!"
........and Brer Fox was dumb enough to do just that!
The credit crunch & stock market crash became virtually the only issue being discussed in the election campaign although McCain & Palin tried, in vain, to make the case that Obama was not ready for prime time and could not be trusted. The economic issue heavily favored Obama and he took a significant lead in the polls.
The liberal vs. conservative struggle between the Democrats and the Republicans has been going on for several decades. With the Obama (liberal) - McCain (conservative) contest, the liberal - conservative struggle continued unabated. Even with the Iraq War and Afghanistan War still going on and with the twin calamities - the energy crisis and global warming - approaching, the conservatives continue to think like conservatives and the liberals continue to think like liberals. It is like two fat men trying to go through a door at the same time....and neither will give way.
It is - in my opinion - becoming a little disheartening to continue to see the political emphasis on liberalism & conservatism when the emphasis should be on combating the energy crisis, the economic crisis, global warming, and, of course, the continuing War on Terror.
But most of the important political issues appear to break down along liberal & conservative lines. In my opinion, the liberal - conservative struggle will continue right up to the apocalypse.
Is this country doomed because of politics? Our founding fathers must be turning over in their graves!
Obama certainly fits the liberal tag. He usually votes for liberal causes and he has strongly opposed the Iraq War from the beginning.
McCain, the other hand, has inherited the conservative mantle even though, in the past, on some issues, he has sometimes been the Republican maverick who sided with liberals or moderates. However, McCain has been consistent in his support of the Iraq War. Actually, during the campaign, McCain appeared more in favor of the war than even President Bush!
On the Iraq War, McCain and Obama have been on opposite sides since the war started.
No other issue separated the two candidates as distinctly as the Iraq War does. You know exactly where each candidate stands!
Obama strongly believes that Afghanistan instead of Iraq should be the focus of U.S. War on Terror. McCain also believes that more effort should be put into the Afghanistan war but he doggedly sticks with Bush on winning the Iraq War, also.
Obama has been strongly criticized for his willingness to talk face-to-face to the Iranian leaders. McCain, apparently, has adopted the Bush-Condoleezza Rice approach to not enter into a dialog with the Iranians.
For their part, the Iranians don't seem to care one way or the other. They are going to do their thing, regardless!
During the campaign, both Obama & McCain appeared to somewhat recognize the seriousness of the situation. In my opinion, though, both are fairly weak on the subject. McCain's idea for a tax holiday on gasoline sales was a goofy idea to me.....it would actually increase gasoline usage when we need to go in the opposite direction. McCain does support offshore and Anwr drilling ....neither of which is going to solve the energy crisis but, at least, such drilling would eliminate the meaningless debates on such drilling.
Obama's ideas to lean heavily on alternative energy sources was probably a good idea if it had been implemented years ago. But, the problems with ethanol and the environmental devastation caused by the oil sands development have shown that we cannot count on alternative energy sources to replace oil at this time. Maybe in another decade....but not now! And we are in trouble now!
So, I was not satisfied with either candidate on the energy crisis issue. (T. Boone Pickens is making a lot of sense with his wind mill and natural gas ideas.)
Both candidates recognize the importance of the global warming problem.
One of McCain's biggest mistakes - next to acting as Brer Fox as described above - was to publicly state that economics was not his strong suit.......just as the country was entering a recession. Polls show the U.S. citizens strongly favor the Democrats on this issue.
Of course, McCain was not been helped by President Bush's complete lack of expertise in this area. Bush borrowed trillions and either siphoned the money off to rich supporters or used it to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq. (Note, the recent stimulus rebate money did go to the right people. Thanks, Mr. President! Try to do another stimulus rebate before you leave office!
Early in the campaign, McCain's acceptance of a master (Bush) - slave (McCain) relationship with President Bush was one that I could not understand. In 2000, the Bush people treated McCain with contempt and told serious lies, e.g., remember "McCain's black baby," about McCain. How could McCain continue to express affection for the Bush policies? He owed Bush nothing!
In the final few weeks of campaigning, McCain finally appeared to be trying to distance himself from Bush. But it was too late!
1. Germany in World War 2. The German side of World War 2. The war between Obama & McCain will probably be almost as vicious as World War 2 which was pretty vicious.
2. Rush Limbaugh. The unofficial mouthpiece for the conservative movement. His role is similar to the role of Goebbels, Germany's propaganda minister in World War 2. And Limbaugh is as good with propaganda as Goebbels ever was.
3. Conserrvatism vs. Liberalism. Conservatives vs. liberals is the major background issue in U.S. politics today. Neither side will give way.
4. Goebbels. The propaganda minister for Nazi Germany in World War 2. The all-time master at spreading propaganda. But, is he really better than Limbaugh?
The liberal - conservative debate continued for the 2008 presidential election. Obama is, no doubt, a dedicated liberal but McCain has, in the past, often adopted moderate or even liberal issues in addition to conservative issues. But now, he seems as frozen on the conservative issues as Obama is on the liberal issues. So, the liberal vs. conservative struggle continued.
Updated: 11/15/08
e-mail me @ vanc13@cox.net (Author: Van Cook)
Obama vs. McCain - Election of 2008