No Baracks Allowed

August 29, 2008

"In a surprise move, Senator John McCain announced here Friday that he had chosen Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate, shaking up the political world at a time when his campaign has been trying to attract women, especially disaffected supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. "

A while back, I predicted that Obama would win in a near landslide. Now, I'm not so sure. It has nothing to do with McCain's choice for Vice-President. She is a lightweight who will hurt McCain as much as she helps him. However, as I talk to people I know, I discover that most of them won't vote for Obama. I guess they are happy with the direction that the Republicans have taken us during the past eight years. They seem to be satisfied with Katrina, The Iraq War, the Bush Recession, $4.00 a gallon gas, the unfunded

education mandate that is No Child Left Behind, the lack of a serious energy policy, the chipping away at the rights of the individual, the refusal to answer questions while under oath, the lack of a health care plan, the disdain for those living on the margins of society, the filling of all government posts with ideologues and retreads from the Ford administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc), the empty bravado that has diminished our once great standing in the world, the inability to read the intentions of world leaders, the inability of our President to speak proper English, the disdain for Science, the merging of religion and government, tax breaks for oil companies who are making record profits, the total neglect of our nation's infrastructure, the failure to take care of the physical and mental well-being of the members of our military, using fear and pandering to win elections, radical appointments to the Supreme Court, the misuse of our military and the inability to get anything meaningful done.

There are people in this country who will never vote for a black man. A friend told me that when he looks at Obama, he "looks distrustful". I'm not even sure what that means. My response to him was, "What you really mean is that you won't vote for him because he's black. But you can't say that out loud, so you say that he 'looks distrustful.'

Let me tell you what will probably happen in November. Many people who should vote for Obama because it is in their economic interest to do so will vote for McCain because they simply cannot pull the lever for a black guy. So, McCain will win. What people forget is that when you vote, you're not only voting for a candidate, you are also voting for that candidate's political party. Therefore, some hard-working union members who should vote for the pro-union Obama will vote for the anti-union Republican candidate. People who spend more and more of their income on energy will not vote for Obama, whose energy policy may lead us to energy independence and reduce the percentage of our hard-earned income that we must spend on energy, but will vote for McCain and the Republican party, who favor drilling, drilling, drilling, for oil that will not help us very much becasue we only possess 3% of the world's oil but consume 25% of the world's oil ! The Republicans are offering us a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem. Women who are pro-choice will vote for anti-choice McCain because they are pissed at Obama for "stealing" Hillary's chance. So, McCain will pack the Supreme Court with more radical justices who will eventually turn back Roe vs. Wade. And don't forget, whoever is President gets to appoint members to his cabinet. If Obama wins, we will get smart, reasonable, sober-thinking "big brains" like Bill Richardson, Robert Rubin, Chuck Hagel, Wesley Clark, etc.

If McCain wins, he will have to answer to the conservative Christian radical right-wing of the party. So, we will get more people who share the wanton blood lust we saw in Cheney, Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Rumsfeld, etc.

What really gets me is, after 8 years of this failed presidency, after 8 years of no leadership, after 8 years of watching the right wing attempt to destroy government (I will paraphrase noted Conservative asshole Grover Norquist: 'We want to make government so small that we can drown it in a shallow bath like an infant'), after 8 years of watching this incompetent fuck in the White House take over 900 vacation days while our country slips into the mud, after 8 years of watching our government send our military back to Iraq again and again until they get parts of them blown off or get killed for no reason at all, after 8 years of watching Cheney tell all of us "Go Fuck Yourself", after 8 years of listening to radical right wingers tell us how liberals are "ruining this country" even though the right has been in charge for much of the past 8 years, I can only wonder, how the hell can anyone who is middle class and works for a living vote Republican? In his book What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank explains that the right has done a great job of making elections about social issues and not economics, because on economics, they lose (unless you earn over $300,00 per year). Frank makes a great argument and I accept his premise, but Jesus! Even after 8 years of failure after failure, people are still going with the Republicans.

So let's stretch this out over the next few elections: After 8 years of neglect of our government and our citizens by the Republicans currently in power, America will reward the Republicans by electing John McCain. During his tenure as President, there will be no meaningful energy policy, so maybe the cost of gas for our automobiles will go from $4.00 per gallon to $6.00 per gallon. It will cost a fortune to heat our homes. Since McCain needs to satisfy the base by talking tough and not negotiating with anyone who might disagree with us, we will go to war with Iran. More brave Americans will come home missing parts (or won't come home at all) for a questionable cause. Because McCain thinks we are "whiners" and there is no recession, more people will foreclose on their homes. McCain will appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will chip away at abortion rights. In addition, the rights of the individual will shrink a little bit more. And in 2012, when he is up for re-election, Hillary Clinton will run against the 76 year old McCain. The voters will look back at the devastation and inaction caused by another four years of the government-hating Republican administration, and they will get angry. They will say that America deserves better. Yes, they will be angry and they will........

they will vote for the Republican candidate again, because they can't pull the lever for a Liberal.

After all, what would happen to our country if we elected a Liberal?