What a week it has been. It has been no secret that in prior weeks the economy has been in a downward spiral, however this week it has gone into a complete uncontrollable tailspin. It occurred to me that because of these events, it would be a great opportunity for me to focus on the candidates to see how they both react in a crisis, and after careful review I have decided to support John McCain for president.
Yes, yes, I was pretty much leaning McCain already, but for some reason I had this urge to give Obama the benefit of the doubt week after week, but after this week and his lack of manifesting strong leadership capability, my vote now goes to the McCain/Palin ticket. In case anyone cares (I won’t blame you if you don’t) I will mention a few reasons why.
Monday, after the feces hit the prop concerning AIG, McCain quickly responded to the nation wide financial peril by saying: “You know that there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street. And people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times. And I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. We will reform government."
When Obama jumped right away on this statement, taking McCain completely out of context, I thought that perhaps McCain might have really truly said something completely stupid, but then as I thought about it more objectively I realized that McCain was acting as any leader should during a time of financial crisis. He was reassuring the country about the economy. He came out on the stump declaring that though things looked bad that there was still room for hope and pride in the economy of this great nation. Such statements are needed by our leaders in times of trouble; that we the public may rise up from the ashes of disaster with an optimistic motivation so we may strive ahead to accomplish any task that needs to be completed to better society as a whole. It is extremely important and if we look at it in the context of history; a necessity.
Obama did not do this, but decided his time was better spent attacking McCain on his words and statements in his past, which I feel is counterproductive to what thoughts and feelings a leader should inspire within those who look to him for guidance in times of trouble. Indeed, the only outcome I see when one tries to pass the buck and play the blame game is that we end up focusing on the past when one should be looking to the future in order to find the appropriate solutions in such a volatile situation. I, of course, blame it all on the illuminati though. Mark my words, they have their hand in everything, from the Knights Templar, to my cable going out last night, that spoiled milk in the fridge and Hannah Montana. Sneaky scheming bastards. There is nothing we can really do though, they are too powerful and we might as well just sit back and watch Miley Cyrus usher in the New World Order.
Anyways, it is true that in such an intense, sudden and possibly explosive situation, one may tend to misspeak or draw false conclusions, especially concerning the miniscule amount of information that is available to the candidates. When juxtaposed with the current president, they certainly don’t have nearly as much incoming information, but at the same time, are held to a higher degree of scrutiny than the prevailing commander-in-chief. Therefore, I felt it was only fair to give both candidates some degree of leniency concerning their initial judgments.
However, today McCain came out articulating rather specifically a way to deal with the situation, while Obama said he would wait to hear the plan from the White House before saying anything. When I heard that I couldn’t help but think he wanted to wait on McCain and Bush for two reasons. First, that he could jump all over their plans and attack them on their words, which would benefit him while not really obligating him to offer any real plans of his own. Second, that he could somehow take the credit for any appropriate action proposed by the Republican’s and attempt to connect it to himself.
This may seem unfair, but it hit me that this is a large component of why Obama is so successful. Not only is he extremely articulate, but he has the unique ability to be extremely vague at the same time. This gives him two huge advantages: one, he can interject a subjective interpretation of his own words anytime into a comment made by the opposing party and relate them to one another as long as it pertains to the same topic. By stretching his words to fit that mold he can then claim that his opponents are merely following his lead. Throw in the statement, “I have consistently said…” and it becomes an extremely brilliant, effective tool.
Secondly, Obama will never say anything unless there is a backdoor to the statement. This is a way to retreat from what he has said in case he is ever challenged. This is why you will never hear the words “yes,” or “no” come out of Obama’s mouth, unlike McCain who frequently answers in such ways. Obama knows that if he says “yes” or “no” then his statements become concrete and he cannot dance around them, which he is quite skillful at doing I may add. These tactics have been extremely evident recently when he speaks about foreign relations and the economy. Another trick he utilizes, as do I at times, occurs when he is asked a question which he really has no answer for. He simply changes the subject to one he knows more about. Tangents and attacks are truly his friends, as we saw today when he took questions about the economy; he decided to swerve around the question and speak on education and health care. Important issues yes, but in the middle of a national panic, not a relevant topic to visit.
I have noticed McCain do similar things, but with less frequency and with what has happened the last few days within the stock market, I believe McCain showed himself to be a stronger, more capable leader and one that we will truly need in days like these. He has also showed himself to be polarized to the Bush administration and I felt truly inspired by his words. We need leaders that inspire, that are willing to stand before the people and bring them hope despite difficult circumstances and not someone who throws his arms in the air and says, “We are done for! By the way; it was his fault.” I am not willing to concede, as of yet, that Obama is incapable of this and he may make a great president further on down the line, but concerning my own observations during the past two weeks; he is not ready to lead.
"That's it man! Game over man! Game over!"
This is not the first time Obama has displayed this either. If you recall a few months ago before hurricane season peaked, Obama wanted to dip into the Strategic Oil Reserves to relieve some of the consumers pain at the pump. If he was in charge and all that oil was released into the market then there would have been no help for those caught in the devastation caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. However, I always try to remember that with our politicians no effort can be made without shortcomings, yet McCain consistently seems to come out ahead in terms of presidential leadership and that is why, as of now, the McCain/Palin ticket will have my vote this November. You don’t need to agree with me, that’s cool. In fact, I really do welcome civil, intelligent debate no matter who you are. I above all else would just like to encourage anyone who reads these silly words to register to vote this year. What should always be remembered is that an election doesn’t really reflect the true condition, ideals and needs of country as we might think, but rather just the condition, ideals and needs of those who cast their ballots. Many states, if not all, offer online voter registration. I could have found every state website for you all and posted the links, but its just so much easier to try and persuade you to Google it.
I’m just sayin…
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