The 2008 Presidential election is perhaps the most critical one the United States has had in 48 years. I really mean that -- this is, IMO, the most important election we have had since a young Senator named John F. Kennedy faced off against Vice President Richard M. Nixon, considered the heir-apparent to Eisenhower's presidency, as the 22nd Amendment prevented Eisenhower, tremendously popular in both parties, from seeking a third term (and some people, ca. 1958 - 1959, HAD tried, unsuccessfully, to find a "loophole" which would have enabled Eisenhower to run again). Had Nixon won, it would have been a disaster. Picture Nixon handling the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Crisis, US-Soviet relations (does anyone remember Nixon's visit to the USSR and the infamous "Kitchen Debate" with Khrushchev?), various conflicts throughout Asia and Africa ... it would have been a disaster. Kennedy was there at the right time. He had the right ideas. He committed us to increasing our space efforts (Presidents from Nixon onwards enjoyed cutting the NASA budget). He created the Peace Corps. He emphasized fitness. He handled our economy (which, right now, is on the verge of a collapse almost the way it did in 1929) beautifully -- and it was he, not Reagan, who came up with the idea of tax cuts, risky in those days. When he died, he was at the peak of his popularity. Had he lived, we know he would have faced off against Barry Goldwater in 1964 and would likely have beat him and retired in 1969.
If we vote for John McCain, it will be like another Nixon Presidency. We saw what we got when Nixon did win. Watergate and power abuses run amok. Vietnam spiraling out of control until Congress passed the War Powers Act over the President's veto. Men reached the Moon, fulfilling Kennedy's dream, only for the whole country to turn over in One Giant Sleep as an anticlimax. US-Soviet relations worsened (and Nixon managed to get the SALT I treaty signed and of course during the Carter presidency Republicans said the follow-up to the SALT treaty was bad!). Ultimately Nixon had to resign in disgrace in the face of certain impending impeachment. His successor, Gerald Ford, had to pardon him in order to close the books on all the fracas.
What do we want for America, and for the world? Well, what I want are things like a stable economy; tax breaks for the middle class; an exit strategy from Iraq (have you heard? The Iraqi government has now said GET OUT BY DECEMBER 31, 2011 ... and we know what the "or else" part means if we don't do so. They can easily declare war on us and/or simply open the doors to as many terrorists who want to cross into their borders, so let's do the math); fighting the war more sensibly in Afghanistan before the Taliban regain power; emphasis on alternative forms of energy so we aren't addicted to the consumption of fossil fuels; better education (the GWB administration has made a mockery of the NCLB program); and, in short, the best. Why not the best, as the late Admiral Hyman Rickover used to say. We deserve it ... and we deserve more.
Now I know so many critics will say we are Obamabots or whatever who act like Senator Obama is some sort of Messiah. Hogwash. Horse hockey. He's a person like the rest of us. But who else do we have as an alternative to Senator John McCain? I'm sorry, but aside from the Democratic and Republican Parties, when it comes to Presidential politics, nobody has a prayer, these days, of getting Electoral votes, which is how one becomes President -- the people do not elect the President directly, despite what some may think. So the choice is, do we want Senator Barack Obama as our next President, or do we want Senator John McCain as our next President? Well, quite frankly, I can't come up with a single reason whatsoever, after this long campaign, to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. If there were enough reasons, I'd cross party lines and vote for them. Honest, I would. But they don't have what it takes. Do Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden have what it takes to form a new administration?
In the words of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, YOU BETCHA!! They have "the Right Stuff." They have the qualities so many Americans have been longing for. It is no longer a case of swallowing some poison, biting the bullet, and voting for "the lesser of two evils" this year. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Barack Obama, we have someone to look up to, a real champion of what makes America great.
See you at the polls, America. Let's accomplish a great deal in the following four, hopefully eight, years, with the Obama administration.
