The Rants of Issachar

Wow... That's an incredible endorsement. Colin Powell continues to impress me. He's absolutely right too.

I was initially in favour of John McCain. The questions about Obama's experience were quite legitimate. Furthermore, I was disappointed in his apparent anti free trade attitude. Free trade has overwhelmingly benefited the United States, (and Canada), and a President opposed to free trade would be bad for the US and Canada.

But for the most part I wasn't concerned about the US election. There are things I didn't like about both candidates, and either one would make an acceptable President. I'm also a Canadian, not an American.

Then McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. I'd never heard of her, so I had no opinion, but the almost immediate and bizarre conspiracy theory that she'd faked her last pregnancy and that her son was really her daughter's baby struck me as unhinged. That wacko theory didn't originate in the Obama campaign, but it did make me highly suspicious of all the later criticisms of Sarah Palin. That the CBC actually ran the story days after it had been discredited also made me highly skeptical of criticisms of Palin. (Not to mention Heather Mallick's odious piece that the CBC published and later pulled from their website). (Why do news organizations pull the piece off the net rather than simply adding their repudiation of the piece to the top of the page?)

But then I watched the Biden/Palin debate. And the Republican campaign started getting really, really ugly. And then I watched the last McCain/Obama debate. (I watched both debates on YouTube well after they aired). Palin's performance in the debate showed her to be inadequate for the job of Vice President. She might make a good lieutenant for a culture war, but I can't see anything positive that she could contribute. McCain was not as drastically outclassed by Obama as Palin was by Biden, but he was outclassed nonetheless. Powell states my opinion of McCain's economic platform more eloquently than I can. Obama's comments about trade assuaged my concerns that he is as opposed to free trade as I thought he might be.

And then there's the ugliness of the Republican campaign. Elections are combative, and the pathetic attempt to make Obama appear foreign with the constant repetition of Barack Hussein Obama was bad enough. Seriously, did anyone keep repeating Ronald Wilson Reagan or James Earl Carter during their election campaigns?

But when you've got supporters at a rally shouting "terrorist" and "kill him" when Palin asks them "Who is the real Barack Obama?", there is a massive problem. One must immediately, loudly and frequently rebuke such venom. Palin did not and I was thoroughly unimpressed with McCain's whining in the last debate about Congressman John Lewis' comparison between Palin ralies and George Wallace's rallies. It's not an outrageous comparison. It's a legitimate one and the McCain campaign has utterly failed to get rid of that albatross.

John McCain might well have made a good President. But he's not the best of the two options.

Posted by:  issachar

Spam comments deleted as usual.

Posted by:  caleb

All I can say is that I'm very glad you can't vote in our elections.

I'd also be interested in a post from you reconciling your support for obama and your faith.

Posted by:  Major (P) John

I am a bit puzzled - Sen Obama is playing to the worst aspects of elections here: he has avoided scrutiny with the help of an enabling and activist press (we STILL haven't seen his medical records, grades and thesis from Columbia, etc).
His sweeping and egomanical pronouncements are not ever chased dwon for explanation or detail (he already answered 8 whole questions, can't he just eat his waffle!?)
Economically he acts as if the last 80+ years never happened - this "wealth" that he wants to spread around....ask him and his how it ever comes into existance in the first place. No addressing that - just how we are going to take, managed, limit, regulate, tax and mandate. We had this before - it was the 1970s. It didn't work so well.

Speaking as a military officer, I absolutely dread the thought of the folks that will be placed into the DoD - Sen Obama has spent his whole life with those who see me and the rest of our Armed Forces as the enemy of progress, a force for ill in the wrold - and his legislative allies (ie., Barney Frank) are already calling for a 25% cut in the Defense budget while we are at war.

I can only hope Sen McCain wins and if not, batten down the hatches for at least 2 years (Congress can turn after that) of racing backward and downward.

BTW - Colin Powell ain't all that impressive to those of us who had to endure his tenure in the CJS. He talked a good game, but had Vietnam/Cold War Syndrome deep in his bones. No intiative, no amount of men or material was ever enough...had to be pushed into any action with the CinC's boot up his backside.

Posted by:  issachar

Caleb,

Here's my post on reconciling support for Obama and my faith.

Posted by:  issachar

Major John!

It's nice to hear from you.

I must admit I find a lot of the things Americans seem to find important bemusing. I'm don't know if Canadian politicians release their medical records and such things, but if they do I'm not aware of it. (And I pay attention to politics). Things like medical records and what grades they got in school just aren't considered relevant. The leader of the Liberal party tried to make an issue of having a PhD and that got him absolutely nowhere. (Especially since he falsely believed that no other past Prime Minister had had one).

Posted by:  issachar

As far as the economics go, you're quite safe from socialism with an Obama Presidency. The US isn't even close to socialism, but at the moment the US government is spending far in excess of it's revenues. This will require spending reductions and an increase in revenues. You simply can't do enough of either one to negate the need for the other.

This "spreading the wealth around" issue is a bit overblown in my opinion. Progressive taxation always involves "spreading the wealth around", and you've had progressive taxation for years without destroying your economy. We've got it and our economy is doing very well. If you do too much of it, you'll destroy any economic incentive, but doing none at all simply won't raise enough revenue while simultaneously abusing the working poor.

You guys have serious problems economic and as far as I can tell McCain's economic plan is little more than a sacrifice at the pagan alter of "get the government out of the way and our problems are solved". That appears to be Palin's version of it anyway.

That's cheap rhetoric, not a plan.

Posted by:  issachar

As far as Powell goes, I don't know how to assess his military credentials, so that's not really a factor. I think he did a good job of outlining the strengths of both candidates and not dismissing either. Both candidates would be rather okay. I think Palin would be a terrible VP and it's a major strike against McCain that he picked her.

What was most damning was what Powell said about the cultural war that has become the centre of the Republican campaign and the truly hideous behaviour that has come out of it.

I'm simply dumbfounded by it.