Election '08

The following are cut-and-paste quotes from a forum I frequent, so if they seem a bit random, they are, kind of. These are my initial, honest thoughts, and if they offend anybody, I honestly don't care, left or right, Democrat or Republican. Clearly, I didn't vote for the man. I couldn't, for a whole host of reasons that don't matter right now. Suffice to say that, 4 years from now I will be either eating justly deserved crow or trying hard not to giggle when I say "I told you so."

With that, here are a few random thoughts I had, with additions clearly noted.

The fact is, as hopeful as I am, there is a lot of room to be fearful. Obama hasn't said anything that will actually reverse the course (Socialism) that this country has started on (starting with the New Deal and only slightly slowed down since.) There may be a socio-economic tipping point that is reached when less than 50% of Americans are actually paying taxes. Then, truly, people can vote themselves (or pay for it, as corporations do) largesse from the federal kitty-- when that happens in earnest, we are lost. Europe is about 20 years ahead of us on that, and they are desperately trying to reverse some of the things they have done; all the economic indicators lead me to think that it is too little too late (we're upset at a 6.1% unemployment rate-- France's and Germany's have been at 8-10% for the entire economic expansion of the 90s and 00s-- think it's getting better today?) In fact, France has people with PhDs going to, of all places, Ireland for jobs. Go figure.

President Obama will have crushingly enormous decisions to make, and quickly. He didn't bring us to this point (neither did the Republicans or Bush alone, truth be told-- we've all had a hand in this, Dems, Repubs, government, private sector and, yes, Virginia, you and I) but it's on his lap. I pray that he makes decisions the Founders would applaud. If he does, we're good for 4 more years, at least. If he doesn't... well, social programs always slap a band aid on a sucking chest wound, and the economy will sputter along in spite of itself for a while. It won't last, and it can't. If we collapse, so does the rest of the world (so much for "de-coupling.") It'll be interesting, to say the least. Stock up on ammunition, would be my advice.

Still and all, I am hopeful. I don't think President Obama wishes ill for his country, I just think he's hung around the wrong crowd for too many years. I am hopeful that his intellect and grasp of the American psyche will aid him in breaking away from that crowd and doing what is truly in the best interest of the nation.

While riding around in my truck one day, I came up with this scenario:

Your CIA DCI walks into your office and says, "Mr. President, we have it on good authority and have verified through a variety of other international intelligence agencies that Osama Bin Laden will be in a neighborhood in Peshawar, Pakistan for an approximately hour long meeting with his top lieutenants and members of the Taliban tribes supporting him. The meeting starts in 20 minutes. We can have aerial assets on site in 30-35 minutes from your go, ground assets are not an option at this time. One last thing, Mr. President: the meeting is being held in an elementary school surrounded by a residential neighborhood. We believe school is in session."

In this case, The President wouldn't have time to agonize or debate things over for 18 months-- like the Democrats and Republicans did in the lead up to the Iraq War. He wouldn't have time to convene the Senate and House and pass an Authorization for the Use of Force resolution supported overwhelmingly by both parties. He'd have to either pull the trigger, or not, and live with the decision either way.

Imagine he did. And he missed (our intelligence was off by 20 minutes, or he was never there, or whatever.) 33 kids dead, hundreds wounded, a residential neighborhood on fire. You know what? I'd support President Barack Obama's decision to do it. Or say he decided not to-- and 8 months later, after a taped bin Laden message was released, a dirty bomb explodes in downtown LA (the tape, as they normally do, contained the "go" signal.) While we might not hear about the aborted bin Laden hit (unless it was leaked by a disgruntled DCI who felt that if people would have just pulled the trigger, LA would be saved) if we did, I'd still support my President.

(As a caveat, if Obama was offered bin Laden by the Pakistani government but refused due to legal issues... well, I don't think that will ever happen, post 9-11.)

In either case, no one-- not Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich or any of the others-- could ever convince me that my President, whatever his decision was, acted without the best interests of the country at heart. You could never convince that he would bomb an elementary school because he felt like killing kids or that he let bin Laden slip away because of some malice of forethought. You couldn't convince me that he would send young men off to fight and die to make his buddies rich, or materially destroy the United States while marching towards glorious Revolutionary Socialism. You couldn't convince me that he knew about the LA dirty bombing and let it go so that he could start a war for oil. (EDIT: Or for Tony Rezko or Bill Ayers.)

The mere thought that people can believe that physically repulses me. It's personal, visceral. (EDIT: In my mind, it speaks more to the psyche of the haters than the hated. It shows an almost religious zealotry but for, of all things, politics-- of course, government is becoming more "god-like" everyday, so maybe there is reason for that zealotry-- and I can't get anymore worked up over politics than I can religion. It bothered me that Obama used that religious-like fervor to get elected; I honestly don't think he truly understands what he tapped into, but neither religion nor politics holds any fear for me, so I have no hatred. But, to me, there is no difference between people that say "gay people are evil and are going to Hell" and people that say "George Bush is Hitler and is going to Hell." They are both clearly unhinged, and thus, incapable of rational discussion and deserving of none. We may never be able to rid ourselves of extremists, but we should do our best to minimize them.)

You have my word on this-- whether I agree with him or not, whether he is brilliant or moronic, Messianic or misguided-- I won't ever believe he has anything other than the best interests of the nation at heart.