Saturday, July 26, 2008

REPRINT OF A COMMENT I POSTED AT SALON DOT COM WHICH WAS SELECTED AS A "STARRED" EDITOR'S CHOICE.
Back in February, before Senator Obama had the nomination, and back when John McCain was thought to be a formidable opponent, I wrote the following letter:
Repubs are Americans;Dems are Citizens of the World
Why are the polls showing John McCain scoring high, even with his ridiculous war-mongering?
Because he's a war-hero, and we all know you only get to be honored as a war-hero, if you're a Republican, and hawkish.
If you're a man of courage AND the character to say "no more"(John Kerry, in addressing Congress in the early 1970's "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die--for a mistake?")you get attacked, swift-boated, finished.
John Kerry's mistake in not immediately responding to the Swift-Boaters cost him the 2004 election(I cheerfully campaigned for John Kerry, and wish he'd made it. sigh.).
Barack Obama(my choice for nominee, and President) must draw the line in the sand with McCain, or the same thing will happen--the "swiftboating" will come in the form of being called "weak", or "naive", and the fear/war-mongering that the extreme right is so talented at conjuring, will begin.
Let's hope Senator Barack Obama can be his wonderful,eloquent self-- in stating what the differences are-- between he and John McCain.
I have a few suggestions, Senator Obama:
1) Republicans see themselves as merely Americans, but YOU(& many of us Democrats) see yourselves as "Americans who are Citizens of the World." Stark distinctions--on the environment(we want the Kyoto Accord signed),on the way we are viewed by other nations, the way we believe we should treat prisoners, on issues of torture(I still cannot fathom that the USA has begun to "debate" types of torture--who have we become?!), we do not agree that forcing our form of government on a sovereign nation is a "democratic" thing to do....
these distinctions are worth noticing--and mentioning!
2) Unlike John McCain, who believes a military "victory" is possible, you believe that a non-military solution is the only viable option for exiting.
3)Our support and defense of our own country(think clean-up of Katrina, other disasters, etc.), begins HERE. We cannot do that, unless we haave our National Guard, and other support back from Iraq!
My sincere hope is that we have Obama as President.
[Read the article: McCain apes Bush on Iraq, as Dems stand passively by] [Read more letters about this article: Here]

I reprinted my letter here, not just because it received a "Starred" Editor's Choice designation, but because I believe I predicted precisely what the far-right is doing: trying to make Senator Obama look "weak" or ineffective when dealing with matters of national/international security.
But I definitely will feel safer with Obama in charge. Let's hope this election raises Senator Obama to the Presidency!

4 comments:

Lydia said...

Lisa,
Thanks for visiting my blog & I left a reply there...
Your article deserved to be starred. This is great stuff, and I couldn't be more in agreement with you. Notice how McCain is trying to tear Obama apart for not visiting the military hospital in Germany. The consensus is that Obama's trip overseas was a ringing success and McCain can't stand it.

A committed Obama worker is actually spending the summer (away from home) in Nevada with her 13 yr.old daughter working on the campaign there. She is a prolific blogger about the campaign and the cause. In case you might want to visit her, the link is http://goodgirlroxie.blogspot.com/

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

Thank you, Lydia....Good Girl Rosie is an EXCELLENT site--I loved seeing the videos, and she has many cool earlier entries ather blog, too. Thanks for stoppin in!

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

Uh, make that GOOD GIRL ROXIE!!!!!

Kate Evans said...

AWESOME.