10. Sarah Palin – cute but unqualified. Has there ever been a more unqualified person for
the vice presidency? With John McCain being 72 and having a history of health
problems, she is literally a heartbeat away from being president, a truly scary thought.
9. Sarah Palin again – she wants to continue the Dick Cheney policy of expanding the
powers of the vice presidency beyond what is originally mandated in the Constitution. I
wonder if, like Vice President Cheney, she will have her own national security advisor
and actually run the government of John McCain as Cheney has done for Bush?
Beyond Sarah Palin
8. McCain’s new conservative friends – John Hagge, Pat Robertson, James Dobson (this
might be a virtue to some), but if they gain access and influence over the president, are
we heading for a theocracy? A Christian state?
7. His overly aggressive attitude towards almost all foreign policy subjects ranging from
Russia to Iran to North Korea to Georgia. I thought we had enough with our troops overextended in Iraq and Afghanistan.
6. John McCain has sold his soul to the Republican conservatives and while he was a
maverick on almost all issues that matter he has compromised to appeal to that wing of
the Republican party.
5. He sets no timeline for withdrawal from Iraq and will let circumstances on the ground
determine when he might withdraw (he has also said if necessary we will stay 100 years).
4. He totally misunderstands the war on terror, still feeling that the center of the fight is
Iraq, when the CIA and the military high command both acknowledge that AfghanistanPakistan is the real crucible.
3. McCain was involved with four other senators in the last banking scandal we had – the
savings and loans scandal involving another billion dollar federal government bailout to
those with savings accounts– and was chastised by the Senate for his behavior and had to
pay for a free vacation this Arizona Savings and Loan had given him. By the way he was
not alone in this, the four other senators including Democrats and in Florida the Bushes.
2. McCain has voted for more than 90 percent of President George Bush’s failed policies.
Isn’t eight years enough of bad decision-making?
1. John McCain is a nasty, vengeful person with a vitriolic and volatile personality.
Certainly a dangerous combination when it comes to being commander-in-chief and chief
diplomat. This is according to Doug Halladay, a life-long Republican who organizes
our Ethics and Character series, brought the five members of the Reagan cabinet to PBA
and served under James Baker when he was Reagan’s Chief of Staff.
Voting for Obama
In the previous section I listed reasons about why I cannot vote for McCain. In
addition to that, I am going to give a reason as to why I am voting for Obama. One of the
reasons that I support him is that with his election we can see the fruition of Martin
Luther King’s dream.
Additionally, the narrative of
his life and upbringing, even with a single parent mom, is the quintessimal American
dream fulfilled. Finally, this narrative plays well abroad, where our image has been
tarnished for almost a decade - imagine the impact of a black American president on the
third world and particularly Africa. Many people in foreign countries in the past have
looked to the United States as the land of opportunity. With Obama, this vision of
America can be restored.