Voters want straight answers. We don’t want to stand by watching the mud fly while waiting for substance. We are tired of witnessing our potential presidential leaders behave as lame backstreet bullies trying their best to convince us that their opponent will be worse for this country than they will be.
Voting is supposed to be based on choosing the best candidate for the job based on that candidates qualifications, not on the other person’s lack thereof. We are tired of choosing the lesser of two evils. Character assassination is beneath grown mature adults. This stuff has no place in the realm of ethical politics or adulthood. Throwing dirt and mud at each other trying to convince us, the voting public, that the other person is somehow evil serves only to lessen the attackers image. The voting public can make the decision on our own as to whether or not one of the candidates lied, or is acting unethically, is abusing our trust, or is avoiding questions. We are intelligent enough to see these diversionary tactics for ourselves.
As we grow older, in our daily interactions with people, we learn to pick up clues as to a person’s character. These sometimes subtle clues warn us to be wary of a certain individual. The more lies, cover-up attempts, and mis-direction a person engages in the more we are convinced that the person cannot be trusted. Likewise, if one candidate spends an inordinate amount of energy attacking the other candidate, then we become convinced that the attacker does not believe in himself. When a person looses faith in himself, that person becomes very dangerous, because he will stoop to any level to get what he wants. These are life’s lessons. These clues, collectively, are called ‘gut instinct’ and we ignore these instincts at our own peril.
The republican party is choosing to increase its attacks on Obama’s character by rehashing old associations. They have decided to do this because they see their popularity in the polls fading. The country has been made aware of Obama’s past acquaintances. Just as we have been made aware of his educational achievements. Our ‘gut-instinct’ tells us that Obama is not so weak-minded as to be swayed by these arguably ill-advised friendships.
The backgrounds of McCain and Obama could not be more dissimilar. McCain comes from a life of privilege where his road to adulthood was paved with well-heeled connections. Obama comes from a broken home, where his road to adulthood was on the ‘other side of the tracks’, where there is a far greater chance of running with the ‘wrong’ crowd.
John McCain was guaranteed access to higher education and, as is often the case with privileged kids, nearly threw it away. He graduated 894 out of 899 from the U.S. Naval Academy (his father and grandfather were both U.S. Navy admirals). Barack Obama had insurmountable odds against him of even finishing high school, and yet reached the pinnacle of a higher education by graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and becoming the first black man to become president of the Harvard Law Review. Which outcome defines the better character?
Because of these two very different backgrounds, I believe Obama has met a much broader spectrum of personalities, and this greater diversity can only lead to a better understanding of people.
The republican party leaders realize that their party has been severely damaged by the policies and lies instituted by the Bush/Cheney team, and are therefore attempting to paint McCain/Palin as ‘mavericks’, still members of the republican party but not the same as Bush/Cheney.
Again, we the people are intelligent enough to see through this smoke screen and see that these two are exactly like Bush/Cheney in enough ways that we know nothing will change if these two get elected.
McCain’s continued attacks on Obama shows a lack of faith in what he himself stands for. Palin’s ‘folksiness’ shows a general lack of understanding about what is going on, let alone what to do about it. The team itself is an act of desperation to hold onto the republicans waning political power.
Obama’s defensive attacks against McCain’s policies are born of trying to defend against the republican party’s attempts to undermine his policies.
To the republican party leaders, I say, we don’t want you to take us by the hand like children and have you tell us that Obama is a bad person that cannot be trusted. When you try to manipulate us to see the world through your paranoid and distrustful eyes, and ignore our ability to see these things for ourselves, you not only subtract from your own credibility, you disrespect us. That is a fatal mistake.
Please, Senator McCain, if you have it in you, grow up, stop the lame attempts at humor, stop the character assassination, own up to your record of flip-flopping on the issues. Show us the respect we deserve, and allow us to form our own opinion concerning Obama’s character. Instead of constantly telling us why we should not vote for him, convince us why we should vote for you.
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