I’ve been in a quandary about who to support in the upcoming U.S. Presidential election: Hillary Clinton, John McCain, or Barack Obama. Senator Obama won the democratic nomination for that party’s presidential candidate. Senator McCain seems to have won the republican nomination because he stayed the course longer than all his opponents.
Senator McCain is a Vietnam war hero and knows first hand the demands of an unpopular war. Senator Obama is young, hasn’t served in the military, but is prepared for new ideas in a new and fast-changing world, a world that is far more global than we would ever have imagined just 20 years ago. Personally, I correspond with people on different continents on a weekly basis with extremely little effort. It’s as easy talking with them as it is with my family just one state over. I don’t believe Senator McCain truly appreciates the power of the internet, globalization and that we are no longer an isolated country with isolated interests that only apply to us. What applies to us applies to many other peoples in countries all over the world.
I still don’t know who I will vote for or who would make the better president. But the following video by Senator Obama is compelling. It carries new ideas for a sound strategy in the present based on lessons learned from World War II, the rebuilding of Europe and the formation of the Soviet block. I have always believed that those who fail to learn their history are doomed to repeat it. Senator Obama clearly shows he has learned some important history lessons and is prepared to implement those lessons in ways that apply to our present challenges.
However, I’m not sure Senator Obama is sincere or if this is political rhetoric just to get votes. I have a problem with Michelle Obama only recently becoming proud to be an American. I’ve never had a single doubt that everyone in John McCain’s family is and always has been proud to be an American. Senator McCain is a war hero and was a POW. Two of his sons are serving in the military right now, but I’m not hearing anyone in his campaign mentioning it, let alone bragging about it. They are quietly doing their duty to their country as their father did. Senator Obama has no personal experience of war, the demands of war or the horrors of war. If we were not at war this decision would be much easier, but we are in a war, an unpopular war, and that complicates the whole decision extremely for me.
Neither Senator’s voting record is stellar. Senator Obama has voted multiple times to end the war in Iraq without winning it, and Senator McCain has been absent from voting on some important legislation because of his campaign schedule. It seems running for president and being a senator conflict with each other substantially. I don’t have a solution for the problem. I only know it’s a fact.
The speech is 37 minutes long. I hope you will watch it and listen carefully to Senator Obama’s goals, plan and strategy for the 21st century.
Please leave your thoughts in the comments. I encourage an open discussion, both pro and con, because what we face as a nation and a planet hang in the balance. We must get it right.
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