Some Thoughts On The Election
What concerns me about Obama does not involve his politics or his party or his tax policies or any of that. America has had its share of good and bad Presidents and economies. Whatever it ends up being, I am pretty sure we’ll survive this too.
What really concerns me is that, quite simply, Obama is in no way qualified to be President. I said as much almost a year ago to this day. A term as a state senator, and a cakewalk election to two (mostly absent) years as a US Senator does not a President make. Bill Clinton’s lack of experience began to show early on, and most of his two terms were nothing more than a protracted exercise in covering his tracks. That covering your tracks nonsense leads to things like 9/11.
And, at least as a Governor, Clinton had experience handling appointments, managing a budget process, and working with two houses of a legislature. Obama isn’t even this prepared.
I am very afraid that Obama is going to be on the job about three days and quickly realize how far over his head he is. And in that we will end up with a spin machine, just like we did with Clinton, complete with the FBI investigating when our sailors are blown up in our own warcraft in foreign ports, and ridiculous arguments over the definition of ‘is.’
In this, of all times in our history, it was not a time to take a flyer on newbie, no matter how historic his election or flowery his rhetoric. As a father to be, I am genuinely afraid for our country, its future and my child’s future. And though I despised Clinton (I lived in Arkansas when he was Governor), I never was worried like I am now.
One final point: I believe that the endorsement of Obama by Colin Powell may have been the single greatest exercise of Powell’s conservative values. I think Powell believes that by electing a black man to the highest office in this land that black people can no longer lay claim to being victims of whites or victims of fate or victims of anything. Powell saw Obama’s election for its true historic and hopefully lasting value: a motivating wake-up call to people of every color, creed, background, and situation that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. That there are no handouts or freebies or guarantees in this life, but there is an abundance of opportunity for those willing to work hard. This idea used to be at the core of the values of a Republican party I no longer recognize and that I sorely miss.
