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Saturday, November 01, 2008

Barack Obama for President

For those of us who envision an American foreign policy that balances aggression with circumspection, a domestic policy that favors policies towards the working and middle class, and a theory of governance that considers special interests to be an anathema to democracy, there is only one choice in this presidential election, and that is Barack Obama. At this critical juncture in the country's trajectory, at this moment where America is on the precipice of a major financial crises, strong, capable leadership is what is required, and this is exactly what Obama can deliver.

Obama's economic plan and health care plan, admittedly, would require some financial investment up front, but both would ensure long terms savings in consumer spending and would genuinely assure, at least in health care, real reform for the first time in years. On the environment, a topic that has all but disappeared from American public discourse, Obama would restore the environmental regulations that have all but disappeared under the Bush presidency, and he would bring the country into a new green economy, one that McCain would only be drawn kicking and screaming into.

Obama offers the promise of a new foreign policy in Iraq, one that finally withdraws troops from that neverending conflict, and he would provide some much-needed immediate credibility in foreign relations, something that has been severely damaged during the cowboy diplomacy of the Bush administration.

For these and a host of other reasons, including the prospect of having someone as talented as Joe Biden also in the White House, I wholeheartedly endorse Barack Obama for president.

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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Palin's Latest, and Did Anyone in the McCain Campaign Bother to Vet Her?

Anyone who knows my meager work knows that I try to focus solely on the issues, not the peripheral personal stuff that all too often substitutes for political discourse and exchange these days. Though I find myself profoundly disturbed by Sarah Palin's views on abortion (all women must be forced to bring the fetus to birth, in her opinion), global warming (not man-made, in her view), and a host of other issues, including censorship and gay rights, I am also left wondering whether the McCain campaign did any serious vetting of their vice-presidential candidate.

The Associated Press, not some liberal blog, did some basic investigation of Palin, what McCain should have first done, and have found that she took gifts from businesses while Wasilla, AK, mayor. According to the report, Palin "gladly accepted gifts from merchants" and "stepped in to help friends or neighbors with City Hall dealings." This raises some serious ethical questions about Palin's ability to govern honestly and to do so without the influence of special interest groups.

My genuine question is whether McCain really did any vetting of Palin, who seemingly has a closet full of skeletons and who has used her position to assist friends and receive free gifts. At the very least, McCain's judgment is brought into question, and Palin is once again found to be not even close to ready to serve as an able public servant.

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