Sunday, September 14, 2008

Indications

I have been under attack. Not a personal attack (although others might view the same circumstances that way), not a physical attack, but rather I have been experiencing information overload. It’s just coming so fast and so heavy that this busy post-graduate student hardly has time to write about one epiphany before the next comes along. And of course by that time - poof - it’s gone. And make no mistake, not only is there news aplenty to write about in this presidential election, it also has the distinction of being new news.

In January, history of unprecedented proportions will be made; either way, there will not be two white males serving as president and vice president. Can’t happen. Sometimes in the heat of the rapidly escalating battle, this little historical footnote is lost in the noise. And although it represents the bridging of a huge gap in racial and gender equality, it is equally important that we keep our eye on the ball. This country, despite denials from the current administration, is a mess.

It just is. The responsibility appropriately falls squarely upon the shoulders of the administration - and party - in power. Ok, I know, I know, the Democrats are the majority in both houses, but not in large enough numbers to affect any real change. You know, the kind of change the Republicans perpetuated from 2000 up until the 2006 midterms. That kind of change is not what we need any more of. It is, in large part, why this country is a mess.

Allow me to enumerate. First and foremost… the granddaddy of all blunders, a fiasco that captures all the insidious elements of deceit, huge amounts of wasted (and as yet unfunded) taxpayer dollars and last, but absolutely not least, the needless deaths of more than 4,000 US service men and women. Never mind the civilian casualties (Iraqi and American) and all those untold thousands of life-altering injuries that will remain to cause this administration recurring embarrassment on how these brave souls are treated when they return home. In case you’ve been living under a rock, I am speaking about the war in Iraq.

It is a war that one party and its ticket still supports. The war has not been as much a page one event as it once was, but it is still going on. It appears to be going better, but nowhere close to good. People are still dying at an alarming rate, money we don’t have is still being spent so fast it boggles the mind and Bin Laden (who had absolutely nothing to do with Iraq), is still on the loose. We need to get out and one party’s ticket has pledged to do just that.

But that’s not all. The Republican Party has become increasingly elitist, and I don’t mean in the academic sense. The cronyism, which has done far more than dance on the line with corruption, is rampant. These are not scandals of impropriety (read sex scandals), they are real crimes with real victims. Valerie Plame, Joseph Wilson, Scooter Libby, Doolittle, Abramoff, Cheney, Rove… perhaps Reagan left some of that Teflon for ole’ W, but it all smells the same. There are so many more names that space simply does not permit... And that old song and dance is being revived in a ticket called McCain-Palin.

New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman recently wrote how the McCain-Palin campaign has a teensy little problem with the truth. After citing several fallacies iterated and reiterated from the campaign, Krugman sets the record straight, but more importantly, he lends insight into what this pattern of factual impairment might mean. He contrasts the comparative complexities of the Bush-Cheney deception with the ease of seeing through McCain-Palin lies. “How a politician campaigns tells you a lot about how he or she would govern,” he said.

Since both Obama and McCain are campaigning on a "change" platform, let us take a look at what that change would mean. Granted, McCain appropriated the change message late in the game, but it is fair to say that change would occur in his administration despite Obama’s claim that it would just be four more years of the last eight. I agree with Krugman, “I’d argue that Obama is wrong to suggest that a McCain-Palin administration would be just a continuation of Bush-Cheney. If the way John McCain and Sarah Palin are campaigning is any indication, it would be much, much worse.”

7 comments:

Scarlet said...

I think they all have a "teensy little problem with the truth." :)

Btw, Michele sent me.

I love your blog, and congratulations on your accomplishments...45 is YOUNG!

kenju said...

You wrote a good one here, Mike.

Snaggle Tooth said...

Don't know about yousa guys, but McCain-Palin scares me silly! Yikes!

Anonymous said...

Well, I am not sure who to vote for. I dont like either option. I am a Republican, in "family" name. Carried down from my ancestors. I have some fears, first from Obama, our first Black president, and our country. Internally, I believe we will see awhole lot of racism rear its ugly head. We have alot of sleepers in our country, acting as if, on both sides. Blacks and Whites. How open to new ideas are we really? I dont think as much as the newspapers are printing. And as much as society is portraying. I also have fears in regards to McCain. I am a military brat, and very patriotic. I want our guys home, but I also do not want to set our country up for more 9-11's. We have set the ball in motion, and I am afraid that we will look weak, and our power will dwindle if we remove ourselves from these countries, that are a threat to everything we stand for, in the United States. I might be paranoid, but these terrorists hate everything about us, and want to annilate us. I believe they are all over the US, and are waiting for the opportunity to inload that anger on us. Vicky

Lady Prism said...

Mr. Althouse how are you?? Oh' it's nice to take a peek here and read you after quite a long while!

I judiciously follow whatever CNN and the other big newsrooms have to show about the campaigns in your country. It is important for us (my family) too, since we have so many relatives who have migrated and have become US citizens already. Business will also be affected.

I pray that your nation will vote for that most integrable person who will empower your nation even more. Your nation's strength is the strength of all democratic peace loving nations as well.

Man Named Kim said...

good to find your thoughts here.

i keep thinking that i need to becareful what i ask for. this election makes me nervous.

Catherine said...

You might be interested in reading Robert Fisk, "The Great War for Civilisation". He is a British journalist with thirty or more years of experience in the middle east (and not a great fan of George Bush or Tony Blair, to put it mildly).
I actually popped over to say that I answered your question at Michele's, a few days late. How many states have I visited? Four - Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. The Australian Capital Territory doesn't count because it's not a state. And in New Zealand we have provinces, but I've visited most of them, and quite a few counties in England and Scotland. You didn't say "of the United States"