obama '08

"I thought this was funny." :)

One thing we now know for sure. Electing John McCain would be God’s gift to the profession of journalism. A story a minute.

Imagine what would happen if a new beetle infested the Iowa corn crop during the first year of a McCain administration. On Monday, we spray. On Tuesday, we firebomb. On Wednesday, the president marches barefoot through the prairie in a show of support for Iowa farmers. On Thursday, the White House reveals that Wiley Flum, a postal worker from Willimantic, Conn., has been named the new beetle eradication czar. McCain says that Flum had shown “the instincts of a maverick reformer” in personally buying a box of roach motels and scattering them around the post office locker room. “I can’t wait to introduce Wiley to those beetles in Iowa,” the president adds.

On Friday, McCain announces he’s canceling the weekend until Congress makes the beetles go away.

Barack Obama would just round up a whole roomful of experts and come up with a plan. Yawn.

--by Gail Collins.

***

So, post-debate reaction. The first three questions of the debate focused (as expected) on the economic crisis facing the country. While neither candidate really stood out on that one, I saw that Obama is more thoughtful of what he'd do as President. There are no abrupt decisions with him; everything is weighed in and the decision is made with nothing taken for granted. Consider this: when asked what he would do or change when he takes office in light of the $700 billion bailout plan (surely this would put the next president on his first day to be balancing the budget plan), here are the answers given by each candidate:

McCain says he will issue a spending freeze on all programs except veterans, defense, and other vital issues. Now what is vital to McCain, we don't know. Because he didn't really get into the specifics. Although, if you ask me, I see a spending freeze as another BAND-AID. A short-term solution that doesn't get to the root of the problem.

Obama, on the other hand, seemed to have thought more about it and answered carefully. He said "that the problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet when you need a scalpel." He named programs that are underfunded at the moment, like healthcare and early childhood education, which cannot afford a spending freeze. He addressed the causes that got us into this economic mess and criticized the current administration for letting the markets run amock without sufficient oversight or regulation. A philosophy that McCain embraces.

Now what scares me about a McCain presidency is the thought that what if, our economy and our military defence can't take any more? He's too stubborn to change his mind about Iraq (claims the surge is still working -- but really, we shouldn't even be there in the first place) and he seems pretty set on economic policies as well-- protecting the 5% of the population with tax cuts while ignoring the 95% who are earning less than a quarter of a million dollars a year. He never even said "middle class" during the debate. That's how out of touch he is. Anyway, back to my initial question. What if we get another four more years of failed policies? Our standing in the world continues to decline, we're making more enemies, our market is shot to hell (and now we're trying to rescue the very fuckin people that got us into this mess in the first place), we're getting into real bad debt (yes, we're borrowing from China because the Iraq war is costly but McCain doesn't seem to want to put a spending freeze on that), we continue our isolationism philosophy when it comes to foreign policies (when Obama offers a tough diplomacy first with militiary action not taken off the table-- sounds pretty good to me)... I can go on and on and on. But all I see with a McCain presidency is doom. And you know what? All I see with a Palin presidency is more doom. I'd like to hear Putin's response about how Palin thinks she has foreign policy experience because she can see Russia from her home in Alaska. WTF?? That's bordering on amusing! Really! Well from BV's house, I can see TJ... omg, that makes me ready to tackle illegal immigration issues. What a joke! Anywayys....

Ok, this whole thing was going to be longer but I'm so riled up (but still pretty amused) that I think it's better to just pause for now. Maybe we should think about the North Korean regime for now and how the government is so repressive that the average height for North Koreans is 3 inches shorter than South Koreans. HUH??? That's McCain for you. Or, hey maybe the government is just hording the milk and keeping it from the general population's reach. Haha. Maybe that's what McCain meant. Whatever.

Good day,
LYN