John Hattaway

Have you turned on a TV or gone to an internet news site? Senator McCain has decided that he will not participate in any presidential debates (especially the one happening this weekend) until Congress gets off their arse and pass some kind of bailout plan into action. In essence, John McCain is showing his stripes and telling America, like G.W., that his opinion is more important than everybody else. The problem with this isn’t that he does or does not have an opinion (necessary in these hard economic times), but that he cahnges that opinion so frequently. One minute he is for a bailout, another he is against it (he started out against it). One minute he will fire everyone who might even be a little responsible for the economic woes of the country, and the next he is praising their virtues and expressing that in a way that implies we are currently being (financially) led by the right people. The only thing McCain hasn’t done is actually show up and present himself as a candidate who is actually capable of leading. All he has done is show that the nature and quality of choices he is willing to make are spontaneous and poor.

Consider that Warren Buffet and his investment firm Birkshire Hathaway decided to invest $5 billion dollars in Goldman Sachs. This is the right kind of bailout. People like Warren Buffet should be leading the foray into bailing out financial firms and mortgage lenders, not the government. Granted, the government is the group that has most of the money and by extension in order to tap into the capital it makes sense that the government spends some of the money they have in investments that will assist in the bailout. In theory this is great and economists (in the United States especially) have been promoting this method of financial security for a lot of years. It was suggested, rather stringently, during the 1930′s (Great Depression) and was used in various ways until World War II and after to maintain a certain market level. The problem, though, is that we are relying too much on government spending to maintain a corporate and investement standard of monetary gain and this is actually a bad thing. The entity with the most money should use that money to fulfill its obligations, but those obligations do not of necessity extend to fixing investment banks or businesses.

One litmus test for government interference, and this is what it is, is: Is the government willing to bail out small businesses when financial solubility is in question? If the answer is, “No,” then to bail out a large multi-national corporation, bank, or institution (as many are today) is equally unacceptable.

And yet, we tacitly accept the notion that if we don’t bail out financial institutions the outcome is that we will head into a recession (at the least) or a depression (at the most). The difference is one lasts months and the other lasts years with the latter resetting the economic structure and cost assessment of goods and services.

The problem with dictating to the American People and to Congress that they need to do something (Palin) or else we will enter a Depression is criminally negligent on the part of the individual doing the speaking. Yes, it is nice that in an election year a somewhat attractive woman made it as the running mate to a man who allows himself to be called a maverick, and who has so wholly adopted that moniker that he not only uses it to refer to himself but also to his running mate; neither of whom actually pass a test on being a maverick, and both of whom have shown a history of only supporting opposite movements when they have no other choice but to support them (Bridge to Nowhere??? Palin supported it first and then changed her stance when her state was going to still get the money, just not for that project; or McCain and just about every issue on the planet). What the Republican candidates are doing, starting with McCain and his pronouncement that he will not be at a presidential debate subtly tells the people he is trying to influence to vote for him to go and do something physically impossible to themselves. Yes. McCain is a hot-headed individual (I can’t wait for that to really show itself on a national stage) who makes rash decisions based on little or no real evidence or premises. The outcome is a man, who is old and has about two and a half seconds more national and leadership experience than Obama, who isn’t fit to lead.

Honestly, I don’t care whether or not he served in the Navy (retired as a Lt. Commander after spending four or five years as a POW). I don’t care if he was an officer. I don’t care if he thinks that somehow, beyond being born on U.S. territory (he is actually questionable on this as he was born in Panama while his dad was stationed there) and at least 35 years old, there are no requirements. Sex, experience in other forms of government or the military, and etc. all mean diddly-squat when it comes to the overall requirements to be president. The most important one (in case you needed to know) is age and I believe I can begin making a rather valid and solid argument that states that too young (in this case under age 35) and too old (I don’t have a model for this one, but I can make one relatively quickly) and the individual being asked to lead does not have the capacity to lead and that the individual also does not posses the necessary flexibility to lead. As a result, we are being asked by Senator McCain who has never been a governor and never led an executive branch, to acquire something he does not have the capacity for and as a result cannot accept him to do.

Does age matter? Yes and No. Yes, because the Constitution says it matters; and No because we have to accept that the opinion of the people will be discerning enough to weigh the ability and history and experience of an individual to best determine whether or not the individual is ready to be presented as a possible leader.

Honestly, I think this year we did it very badly across the board. I didn’t like any of the candidates that presented their names as potential presidents. The system states that we allow the two major parties to then determine which of their candidates will run for President. My opinion is that we have been presented with a whole host of individuals who are not ready to lead and not prepared to lead and don’t have a sufficient understanding of the needs of the country and what is required to move into the future to adaquately lead. The outcome is a choice between an old man and an unknown. I like this choice better than, say, Huckabee and Clinton (or anyone and Clinton); but at this point we have to actually do what Obama has been asking for people to do: Believe and Trust. As a result, I will believe him and I will trust him. I neither believe nor trust McCain.

And why?

Well, he chose a completely unknown individual as his running mate. Palin is a first term governor of Alaska who has done some seemingly shady things since being in office. Granted, she has followed the status quo and done it well to make sure that her constituents have been represented and received appropriations that will benefit first her town (as mayor) and then her state (as governor). The outcome is that she has to be supportive of The Bridge to Nowhere because it meant money for her state and money means additional jobs and incomes for more people and that means more in the way of taxes for the state. It was in her interests to support the bridge; just as its in her interests to claim she was in opposition to the bridge repeating, “Thanks but no thanks,” over and over and over again.

What McCain is saying (and now Palin) is that they are interested in receiving a promotion. The problem is not that they are interested in a promotion, but that they have been very quiet in areas where they need to be vocal, and when they are vocal they repeat the same lies and distortions that have been proven wrong repeatedly. The outcome is that the more I hear about Palin the less I like her and since I don’t get to hear a lot about her (or from her), the less I like what I do hear. Whether or not she is honest or good or upright or possesses Christian values or has any values or is a good leader or is even capable of leading (and, “No,” Governor Palin, telling John McCain that you will be his running mate does not qualify you) are all valid questions for the press and for the people to ask. No one is being allowed to ask those questions.

The outcome is that I didn’t like McCain before. I had troubles accepting him as a candidate (and have had troubles when he’s run in the primaries EVERY TIME HE’S RUN) and now I am told I have to accept Palin, who shares nothing, is held close to the McCain inner-circle, and is not really allowed to campaign on her own. In the end all I can really say, about McCain-Palin is, “Thanks, but no thanks.“

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