The following is an editorial by this station...
Four years ago, I started writing a posting that was meant for my Live Journal, which was going to explain my feelings and perspective on the upcoming Presidential election. That was when George Bush was up for re-election, being challenged by John Kerry. Of course, we know that Bush was re-elected as President, and the results of his continued presidency has meant for the country.
Now, four years later, we’re choosing a new leader for this country, one that should lead us out of the messes that have been the hallmark of eight years of Bush/Cheney in office. We continue to be mired in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight to the fighting and the provincial behavior of the folks we were sent to ‘liberate’ from the Taliban, Sadaam Hussein and Al’Qaeda. Our moral standing in the eyes of the world is perhaps at its lowest in decades. The separation between the wealthy and the average America continues to grow wider as our economy spirals into recession and our financial structure fractures under the dual actions of greed and lack of understanding on the part of our elected officials. Instead of working together to solve some of the fundamental issues involving our economy and why we’re in this mess, there is name-calling, finger-pointing and an attitude of ‘it’s YOUR fault’ rather than one of cooperation and working towards fixing the problems.
I remain a Republican, but more and more it seems that I’m a Republican in name only, at least as far as my party is concerned. As was once famously commented, “I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me” and that certainly is the case now. No longer can I feel that the proposals and ideas from my party will help this country from the mess that they contributed (and they DID contribute a lot over the last 28 years). It’s time for true change both for the party and for the country.
The problem is that the Republican Party can’t or won’t change. For at least 20 years now they could count on a core demographic to maintain their position in government, excluding all who might have been a mitigating force. Dissention was forbidden, the party line had to be followed exactly with no deviation, and your opponent had to be vilified and viewed as bringing about the evils in the world. This despite the fact that they themselves created the massive Federal debt that we now have, deregulated industries that led to the massive financial failures that we have today, replaced scientific investigation with religious or political dogma, and created the single-largest information gathering organization in the world that investigates both US citizen and foreign alike. Not to mention launching a never-ending war in Eastasia, as we have never been at war with Eurasia.
I had hopes with John McCain. I had hoped that he would have remained the maverick politician that I recalled from the 2000 campaign trail (until the Bush/RNC attack on him in South Carolina killed any hope of him winning the election). We needed someone who would talk straight to the people and shoot straight with Congress, and try to get something done. But the more I watched his campaign and the more I listened, the more I realized that the John McCain of today is not the John McCain of 2000. Instead, I hear someone whispering in his ear all the things he needs to say to stir up the core base of the Republican Party while alienating the moderates and independent voters with the rhetoric and personal attacks on his opponent. The hope for a ‘civil discourse’ between the candidates never was possible, not as long as the Karl Rove model of campaigning remains in effect amongst the staff of John McCain, his running mate, and even his own actions and behavior during the debate.
For his credit, Barack Obama has attempted to maintain a campaign on three core aspects: our country is in trouble, our citizens need help, and our leaders should lead. He is at least offering real proposals and real ideas for trying to solve the problems we have instead of vague words that are meant only to sound soothing but carry no substance. He has tried to maintain the high road (and yes, he has launched attack ads on John McCain, but not to the extent or the level of shrillness that the McCain campaign has). He talks to the people, and he offers something that we have missed in our elected leaders: hope. A hope that perhaps with a true change we can move back towards feeling good within ourselves and feeling good for our country. There will have to be sacrifices, but he’s honest in stating that fact.
So my personal feeling is that what is best for our country is that Barack Obama be elected president. It does not matter that he is black, it does not matter that he is young. 48 years ago we elected a Roman Catholic as president, and he was one of the youngest presidents on record. And in the short time he was in office, he managed to meet every challenge and face every problem with energy and vision. We remember John Kennedy with fondness and as a president that helped change our nation. It’s time for our country to step up once again, and accept a new face to reflect what this country should be, and can be.