IT'S TIME: AMERICA NEEDS OBAMA
Donald V. Watkins
Editor and Publisher
Voter News Network has closely monitored the paths to the White House traveled by Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama and Republican Party nominee John McCain. They have been as different as the men themselves. One leads to the future. The other travels back in time.
Obama has mastered the politics of empowering ordinary people. He has done it with record-breaking fundraising activities, overwhelming grassroots organizing initiatives, a skillful bypass of the Democratic Party’s old-guard establishment, and a much needed break from the politics and policies of the past. He has even transcended traditional racial barriers in American politics, and did so without selling his soul or compromising his values. Obama is America, and he epitomizes the nation’s future.
John McCain embodies the old Republican Party’s entrenched view of America and her role in the world. While he is a decent and honorable man on a personal level, the real John McCain was hijacked somewhere on the road to the White House by George Bush’s divisive political spin doctors. His campaign handlers have successfully saddled him with the burdens of raising irrelevant campaign issues--William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright-- at a time when too many Americans are focused on finding money for their next mortgage payment. McCain made a political U-turn from declaring in September that the nation’s economy was “fundamentally sound” to promoting himself as the champion of Joe the Plumber during the final presidential debate. McCain is the old guard with a Sarah Palin face. He’s comfortable with the past. His “maverick” political branding is not an acceptable substitute for the vision we desperately need in our next president.
It’s been eight long years since America had a highly educated street-smart leader in the White House. The nation has suffered during this period primarily because we did enjoy intellectual prowess in our president. George W. Bush masked his intellectual deficit with a variety of feel good flag waving ceremonies, arrogant and reckless military action, and bold inaction with our economy. In a real sense, Bush has been the classic do-nothing president. His chief agenda has been the advancement and protection of the special interests of the super rich--the crowd that implemented Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economic program. This is why we have a dead-end war in Iraq, why we now must use tax money to prop up failing Wall Street companies and their overpaid CEOs, and why we are still dependent on foreign oil barons.
John McCain is George W. Bush’s torchbearer for the failed policies of the past. He’s the new champion of the super rich (people who need staffers to brief them on how many homes they own), he’s constantly looking for the next war to fight, and neither he nor Palin has a clue about energy independence. Sadly, McCain offers us the political reincarnation of George W. Bush and his help-the-rich economic policies.
Enough is enough. It’s time. America needs Obama. He’s the real deal.
We need Obama’s brain-power and brain trust in the White House. As a nation, we have long, dark and difficult days ahead. Our economy has been wrecked by the very people McCain caters to in his everyday life. Obama understands pocketbook issues affecting Main Street. He has lived a working class life. He came from humbled beginnings, and was raised by a single mother and wonderful grandparents who possessed a wealth of solid core values. These values were successfully passed on to Obama and his family. It will be much harder for the martini-drinking, cigar-smoking super rich Wall Street groupies to seduce Obama or hoodwink his Administration for their narrow self-centered interests.
Obama is a leader who knows how to unite and inspire us. He is not a bitter and divisive man. He is thoughtful, respectful of others, and regularly practices the politics of inclusion. Obama’s very existence and fascinating personal story reflect what America can achieve by working together as one nation.
Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, mocked Obama’s vast experience as a community organizer. She and her campaign handlers truly did not know that community organizers are first responders in our neighborhoods and communities across America when bad things happen to good people. They see the adverse impact of an economic crisis in a community long before elected officials acknowledge worsening conditions. They live and work directly with everyday people to solve the chronic problems of joblessness, inadequate healthcare, failing schools, homelessness, crime and despair. They provide hope and inspiration where there is none. They are the nation’s frontline when our economy goes into a death-spiral. They sense earlier than others when the nation is going to war in the wrong place for the wrong reasons. They know first-hand the devastating costs of an unfair tax system. Thanks to Obama’s community organizing skills and efforts over a long period of time, we will likely have the heart and vision of a community organizer embedded in the next president of the United States.
Obama will end the war in Iraq, and do it in a responsible way. We can no longer use an in-your-face brute force approach to waging war. The cost to the nation in death, physical and psychological injuries, divisiveness at home and our leadership standing around the world is too great. We must lead by example, and talk to other leaders whether we like them or not.
We need Obama to balance the scales of justice in this nation. Our U.S. Supreme Court is tilted to the extreme right with scary conservative political agendas. The Justices involved want to take us back to a time when woman and minorities lacked basic constitutional protections in America. They are affable in their interpersonal skills and scholarly in their writings. However, they are very dedicated to their judicial mission--taking the nation back to an unpleasant past. Simply put, we don’t need anymore Clarence Thomases.
VNN is proud to endorse Barack Obama and support his candidacy for president. Our independent voters across America have been waiting for a national leader of Obama’s stature. He was worth the wait. It’s time. Independent voters know what we have to do on November 4. VNN will join Obama at the cross-roads of history on Election Day.
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Filed by The Meck - Oct. 20, 2008 - 12:27a
The Meck Report / Blog
