As both Republicans and Democrats will admit, the presidency of George W. Bush has been a disaster for this country. The 2008 presidential election might primarily be about change, but whomever is elected will inherit numerous problems left by President Bush. The economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, loss of standing throughout the global community and energy, are all issues that must be confronted on day one by the next president.
In considering which candidate we were going to offer our endorsement to for the presidency, we looked long and hard at the records, past statements, stances, speeches (content not delivery), policy proposals and several other aspects of not only Barack Obama and John McCain, but their running mates, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. This process began in late July and it seemed that it would be a coin toss between Senator McCain and Senator Obama, as they are both qualified for the presidency, but as time progressed, one of them made the decision easier through actions and statements that we believe do not make for a good president.
Senator John McCain’s life has been one of service to his country. It is truly admirable and deserving of praise. From fighter pilot to Vietnam POW to congressional aide to congressman to senator, John McCain has served his country and cannot be accused of not being a patriot. However, his career has not been without a hickup or two. In the Senate, McCain was a member of the “Keating Five” a group of senators who played a central role in the Savings and Loan Scandal and were accused of corruption and investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee. While McCain was cleared of wrongdoing, the Senate Ethic Committee criticized him for “poor judgment.”
According to some, McCain’s involvement in the Savings and Loan Scandal served as a wake-up call and caused him to take on the maverick image that was most visible during his 2000 presidential campaign and for a good part of 2001. Being that maverick who bucked his own party and did what was right endeared him to independents and even some on the left. In 2001 his top aides held private discussions with top aides to Senate Democrats about McCain leaving the Republican Party and either joining the Democratic Party or caucusing with it (this was put on indefinite hold when Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords left the GOP and caucused with the Senate Democrats). Then in 2004, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee, began talks with McCain’s top aides about McCain being his running mate. This too never materialized.
After Senator Kerry’s loss in the 2004 presidential election, McCain began to look toward the 2008 election and simultaneously, he moved further and further right on issues. He embraced President Bush and his policies in a move designed to win over the far right, who have never fully trusted McCain. This embrace of the far right has been troubling, as it begs the question of what is McCain promising their leaders in return for their support? While the new found love affair with the far right is purely political and designed to help McCain win the presidency, it shows to what lengths McCain will go to win. In less than eight years, he has gone from calling the leadership of the far right “agents of intolerance” to praising them for their contributions to America.
Senator McCain has made further indications that he is willing to do whatever is necessary to win the presidency. His campaign itself is based on attacking Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He does not offer any specific policies that he will enact as president and offers only very broad and general ones such as, “I will cut taxes” and “we will win in Iraq.” He has not stated the how he will accomplish these feats (we should note that with regard to taxes McCain has said that he would use the money being allocated for pork barrel spending). In his convention speech, McCain only told the country that he and his running mate, Sarah Palin, would be the people to bring change to the country.
Even more disconcerting is McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. While it is a brilliant political move, as it has energized a once severely depressed Republican base, it was not a move that showed wisdom in governing. The most important factor that goes into the selection of a vice president is the ability to assume the presidency if the president cannot continue. Governor Palin does not meet that most important of criteria. Before becoming governor of Alaska, Palin’s political experience was as a member of the city council and then mayor of a town of six thousand people. While mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin inquired about banning books in the public library and enacted a policy that required rape victims to pay for their own rape kits. She has been governor of Alaska for just twenty months and is embroiled in a scandal over her role in the firing of her public safety commissioner for refusing to fire a state trooper. This scandal has now made Palin the focus of a bipartisan ethics investigation that is examining her abusing her power as governor. There is no question that the trooper Palin wanted fired deserved to be, but she abused her power as governor and did so with what appears to be little regard for rule of law. One cannot help but ask what, if elected, would Sarah Palin do with the powers available to her under the Patriot Act?
Additionally, Palin’s record of public service is one marked by requiring her staff to display fierce loyalty and appointing unqualified friends to key positions. She appointed a former classmate and real estate agent as the director of Alaska’s agriculture department who cited her love of cows as her qualification to lead a $2 million dollar agency. Who would Palin bring to Washington as vice president? Who would she she appoint to key positions as president? In a recent New York Times article, which detailed the cronyism mentioned above, Palin’s husband, Todd, has been deeply involved in decisions made by Palin as both mayor and governor. What sort of access and influence in the decision making process would he receive in Washington? There are serious questions that Sarah Palin needs to address.
The McCain campaign has cast Palin as an anti-earmark maverick when she is far from it. In fact, Palin has been quite pro-earmark in the past (in one year she secured $27 million worth for Wasilla while its mayor). Additionally, Senator McCain and his campaign have been caught numerous times providing false information and outright lies about Palin’s record. It claimed that her foreign travel included a visit to Iraq, which the campaign has just recanted. It had touted this visit that never happened as part of her foreign policy and national security experience, something that Palin lacks. This showed when ABC News’ Charles Gibson interviewed Palin and she incorrectly linked the Iraq War and 9/11. In that interview Palin also claimed national security experience by virtue of having energy experience. It also showed when in a 2007 interview Palin admitted to knowing barely anything about Iraq or the Iraq War. She has also been quoted as calling the Iraq War a “task from God.” John McCain is smart enough to know that she is dangerously unqualified for the vice presidency and could very well be a disaster if she had to assume the presidency, but he opted for Palin because he wants to win the election.
Senator McCain’s campaign is stacked with lobbyists and former Bush administration staffers (including several Karl Rove disciples). It is not telling the country about what McCain will do as president or offering a single clue, but instead it chooses to practice slash and burn politics in order to win the presidential election. It is a disservice to the voting public. When the McCain campaign says what McCain will do as president, it offers up vague policies that are in lockstep with those of President Bush. The lack of policy detail and stating that he is the best one to bring change to the country requires one to ask how exactly he will do this?
Barack Obama’s journey to becoming the Democratic presidential nominee is a remarkable one. Forget the fact that his name is not the best to run for president with as it rhymes one of the world’s most hated terrorists, ignore the fact that he is African-American; Barack Obama’s capture of the Democratic presidential nomination is remarkable because of whom he beat: Hillary Clinton, who had a lock on the nomination the day after the 2004 election.
Senator Obama beat Senator Clinton not by having better policies (theirs were almost identical), but by outorganizing and outmaneuvering her campaign. It was a political fight for the ages and will be studied for generations to come. We endorsed Senator Obama over Senator Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination because Senator Obama put many more states and races into play for the Democratic Party. Today, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota and Nevada are in play for Senator Obama (some of these states would be solidly in Senator McCain’s column if Senator Clinton were the Democratic presidential nominee).
Obama’s campaign has been based on one central theme: change. He has successfully tapped into not only Democrats’ and Republicans’ dissatisfaction with the way things are in the country, but the American people’s. The dissatisfaction is so great that the McCain campaign was forced to change its theme from experience to change.
So what exactly constitutes change in Barack Obama’s world? Senator Obama would like to severely transform lobbying and make it more transparent. We agree completely with this. In an ideal world, lobbying would be banned, but it is necessary, as the American Cancer Society needs a professional lobbyist to assist them with the government. Obama’s lobbying reform plan is a responsible and admirable one.
As he stated in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, one goal of an Obama administration would be to remove United States dependence on “Middle East oil.” The language of that is very important, as most say “foreign oil” and are in reality pandering. Senator Obama is stating the Middle East and leaving room to purchase oil from oil producing countries such as Canada. Obama’s energy plan does not stop there, it goes on to call for the reduction of carbon emissions, the development of renewable energy, improved gas mileage standards and the investment in renewable technology. His energy plan, like many of his other plans are in-depth and full of detail.
Even more impressive about Senator Obama is his foresight regarding the situation in Afghanistan. He was the first person of note to call for more troops in the country to help reduce and eliminate the threat of the resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda forces. Obama called for this over eighteen months ago when nobody was paying attention to Afghanistan.
Unlike McCain, Obama has the wisdom to believe in having diplomatic discussions between two countries, no matter what the situation. Senator Obama has been criticized by Senator McCain for being “reckless” and for “rewarding bad behavior” for saying that he would have members of the US government meet with rogue nations such as Iran. However, past presidents have done this, including Ronald Reagan, who met with the Soviet Union directly on numerous occasions. Senator Obama’s foreign policy is based on not treating other nations like children, but on mutual respect. It might be tough to respect Iran, but it is possible to have a civilized discussion that could prevent a war. Crucial to Obama’s foreign policy, like McCain’s, is winning back the support of key allies. President Bush has alienated many of our traditional allies and caused the United States to lose its international standing. Senator Obama’s plan for diplomacy is far more likely to succeed in winning back those key allies who will be crucial in helping to stop countries such as Iran from heading toward a path of war.
On taxes and the economy, Senator Obama’s plan would do a lot more for a greater majority of the population than Senator McCain’s. Obama would create a $500 a person tax cut for over 150 million Americans and eliminate the federal income tax for seniors making $50,000 and below. He would raise taxes on the richest 1% of the country, a group who has seen their taxes shrink exponentially in the past eight years. Warren Buffet, the second wealthiest man in the country, has publicly decried how he pays less percentage-wise than his employees and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has said that McCain’s tax plan would be a disaster for the economy. Obama would help to create new jobs for Americans by eliminating tax breaks for corporations that outsource American jobs and provide tax incentives to corporations that hire Americans.
As said before, the sheer amount of detail about Senator Obama’s policies is impressive and worth reading. It is clear that Senator Obama is not only thinking about winning the election, but governing.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden
There is no question that like John McCain, Barack Obama wants to win the election. However, Obama has not chosen a running mate in order to try and win the election, he chose his running mate in order to help him govern. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware is a vice presidential selection in the Dick Cheney mold. He will be there to help govern and offer quite frank advice on situations. In an odd way, Joe Biden is a strong representation of change, as he brings a plethora of Washington experience that enables him to tell Obama that a plan might not work and there is a better way to go about it.
It is for these reasons stated above and others not stated, that we enthusiastically endorse Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden as the next President and Vice President of the United States.
Posted by JAlan 
Posted by JAlan 
Posted by JAlan 
