Thoughts

What a hoot this election season is! It is absolutely the best in the more than half a century I've been involved in politics. I hope it never ends.

The Democrats have such a great talent for dredging up interesting candidates. Of course Obama's candidacy was predictable four years ago when he, unknown and not even elected to a national office, made a major speech at the Democratic Convention. Famous politicos kill for that privilege and here comes a nobody. I was astounded at the time and commented to friends that this guy had some strong "back room" politicos behind him. I have to admit it never occurred to me that he and those pushing him had so little respect for the office of President of the United States, though. I expected to hear of him doing grand things in the Senate first -- but it seems he spent those three years running for President.

Are the American people so stupid that they will elect a person to the most powerful office in the world without knowing who will be advising him (since he has no foreign OR domestic experience? So far I haven't heard anyone asking the questions -- who WILL advise him in the various areas in which he has to make decisions?

And what do we know of him personally? Other than his total concentration on personal ambition, I mean? How does he make decisions? Is he able to listen to the opinions of people who oppose his views or is he closed-minded? How is he under pressure -- does he act quickly or does he need time to think? Is he cool and clear-minded under pressure or does he have a tendency to act first and think later? When has he ever been under serious pressure and what did he do?

Obama says running for President is his way of expressing his patriotism. I'm sorry, but to me it looks like his way of expressing his ambition. He has not sacrificed anything -- time, treasure or person -- for his country. Or our country -- he doesn't express patriotism in any recognizable way so I'm not sure this is HIS country.

What has he done to serve ALL Americans? He has done some small-time community work to serve the underprivileged but nothing spectacular. The President serves ALL Americans -- rich, poor, middle-class, comfortable, struggling and every degree in between. It is the welfare of every American that falls into the hands of a sitting President.

His first oath is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and yet he says he is for judges who have "The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges." The assumption that judges have been selected in the past who didn't know such things assumes an extremely gullible and downright stupid audience.

There are two serious problems with Obama's candidacy -- actually there are more, including Michelle Obama, but we'll stick to two here: First, he makes erroneous assumptions and bases his campaign on those -- that Americans are downtrodden and oppressed (like Hitler told the Germans, except the Germans really were -- we're not). And he has sold his soul to some devil. He could not have been a millionaire by the time he was 45 and could not be running for President with the kind of money he has if he hadn't. That's all right -- EXCEPT that when he has to pay the Devil his due, it's the American people who will suffer.