Congratulations on not being swayed by the endless political rallies, ads, media coverage and phone calls asking for your commitment to the Obama/Biden or the McCain/Palin ticket. You are running out of time to decide but before you do, here are a few questions that you might want to consider. If your answers are in the positive then you should vote for Barack Obama. However if you are unsure about the answers then John McCain deserves your vote.
The Economy: Despite all his mockery of McCain not being knowledgeable on the economy, Obama's background is anything but economic. As a lawyer, a law professor, a community organizer and Senator he has been even more removed from economic and financial affairs than John McCain. When all the rhetoric is peeled away, Obama's economic plan boils down to the redistribution of wealth which he himself admitted to Joe the plumber. One can also expect the deficit to balloon exponentially due to his massive spending programs.
Do you agree with the policy that will drive the deficit through the roof and take your hard earned money and pass it out to people who can't cut it?
Military Policy: If Obama is elected, it will be the first time in history that America will elect a President who will preside over three wars (Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terror). Obama will also be a war time President who has not even the remotest experience with management or military strategy or war in general. In the one chance he had as an elected official, he showed his flawed judgment by declaring the surge a failure before it was even implemented. If he had been allowed to have his way, the troops would already be home by now, the surge would have never occurred and Iraq would be in a state of genocide and chaos. His logic is that we should not have been there in the first place. This is a backward facing view that the next President cannot afford to have.
Do you trust a man who was never even a boy scout and has not even run a hot dog stand to manage three wars?
Taxes: Every chance he has had to vote for tax cuts or to vote against tax increases, Obama has said no. The only tax cuts Obama has given are rhetorical. But now he promises to cut your taxes and that of 95% of Americans. He will also be running a welfare program in effect by giving tax rebate checks to people that do not pay any income taxes. You should also keep in mind that Bill Clinton ran on a platform of tax cuts but raised taxes once he got elected. It would simply be extremely irresponsible not to raise taxes to pay for the enormous spending programs the Democrats have in mind.
Do you have enough faith in Obama's word that he will not raise taxes even though the record of Democrats and Obama himself reflects the opposite?
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dan(Miller)
Don't Worry. Senator Obama can handle it. Just ask his running mate, Senator Biden.
Perhaps the White House has a call forwarding service which can transfer the "3:00 a.m. calls" to Senator Clinton. Or perhaps to someone else. Professor Ayers, the Reverend Mr. Wright, or perhaps Minister Farrakhan. We must all be ready to help. I certainly agree with Senator Biden that Senator Obama, if elected, will need all the help he can get.Dan(Miller)
2 - Dan(Miller)
Sadly and inexcusably, in my earlier comment on this thread, I neglected to mention that there are others to whom President Obama could turn in times of Crisis. Doc, on another thread, (Comment #7) was kind enough to provide this link. Thanks and a tip 'o the hat to ye, Doc.
Dan(Miller)
3 - moon
This is such a jejunely load article that I am not sure I should even respond to the questions. Nevertheless:
1. The economy has always been in the hands of folks who cut it for themselves and cut everybody else out.
2. Military policy is hardly a merit badge topic. The current president bankrupted all the businesses he had a hand in, so the gringo voters gave him a bigger business. That kind of stupidity is, probably, its own reward.
3. Taxes are something this poster, who had a very successful accounting practice in Gringolandia for many years, knows something about. Enough to know that no pol can ever be trusted to fulfill campaign promises.
4. My healthcare is in the hands of a Colombian acupuncturist and homeopath. I wouldn't get near a doc in Gringolandia for love nor money, so who runs the deal doesn't matter to me.
5. See number 3.
6. The most rogueish leaders on the planet are Bush/Cheney, so I consider the question irrelevant.
7. Gringos ALL crack under pressure. That's why your current government goons did 9/11, and continue to feed you a diet of terrorism and fear-mongering.
The feeling in my gut is trustworthy--I paid heed to it and left Gringolandia for good more than 15 years ago.
The feeling in YOUR gut may be less trustworthy, as you are taking this silly Tweedledum and Tweedledee choice seriously.
I suggest you try Alka Seltzer before going any further with this.
4 - moon
S/B loaded article, not load article.
5 - Dave Nalle
My healthcare is in the hands of a Colombian acupuncturist and homeopath.
Well, at least we won't have to worry about MR harassing us for too much longer. One serious infection and it's all over.
Dave
6 - Dr Dreadful
Krutic pretty much runs the catalog of logical fallacies here.
Of course he isn't canvassing any opinions but his own, but nevertheless a term from that line of work springs immediately to mind:
'Push poll'.
7 - moon
Right, Nalle.
I am almost 64--and have been living with systemic lupus since I was a baby. I have already passed all actuarial expectations for folks with that illness by almost 25 years. Google that if you don't believe me.
Just coincidentally, I have been using acupuncturists for primary care for.....25 years.
So, Nalle, I hate to disappoint you, but by avoiding allopathic quacks I may just live as long as McCain's mother--who is getting pretty close to 100.
And I have all of my beautiful strawberry blond hair.
Doesn't it make you weep with suicidal fantasies?
8 - Dr Dreadful
Dan @ #2: Not exactly what I was intending to illustrate there, as I suspect you know full well. Still, I suppose I must accept your invocation of it under the Fair Use doctrine. In which case, you're welcome.
9 - Victor Plenty
We're lucky to benefit from Moon's talent for transforming every partisan propaganda vehicle into a vessel for respectful and thoughtful conversation.
10 - Dr Dreadful
Dan and Moon, as people who have, for different reasons I suspect, escaped the US for Latin America, I wonder what your opinions would be of a nascent plan to emigrate to Peru?
I love the place, but have a few reservations, including:
1. Ultra-persistent street vendors with infallible gringo radar
2. There does not exist in the entire country a napkin larger than a postage stamp
3. Perfunctory public transport
4. The fact that Peruvian civic life seems to resemble its US cousin in miniature, being as it is driven in large part by personality, scandal, 'gotcha' politics and oil.
Or, since I can cope with the altitude, perhaps I should just move to Bolivia instead?
11 - Dan(Miller)
Doc, re comment #9, Thank Zeus you didn't take it as a personal attack :>
Dan(Miller)
12 - Dr Dreadful
No indeed, Dan, ya got me fair and square.
I venture to suggest that Mr Siddiqi might take a different view, though.
13 - moon
Dr. D:
I didn't escape, exactly. But I did apply a version of the e e cummings poem, "There's a Better Universe Next Door--Let's Go", and went TO Mexico to write and produce theater about a Mexican revolutionary figure, Emiliano Zapata (whose birth village I live in).
I can think of a number of good reasons to give Peru a pass, but will give you two:
1. It's current president, Alan Garcia, in his last term (1985-90) oversaw inflation at 2 million percent and ushered in the dictatorship of a Japanese guy, Fujimori. Garcia is doing so poorly this time around that Chavez is building houses for the earthquake victims there and a former guerrilla just took over as head of Garcia's cabinet (after all the cabinet resigned in a corruption scandal) to give Garcia credibility.
2. Peru's treatment of its indigenous folks and campesinos in the Sierra is the stuff of nightmares. Manuel Scorza (talented writer who died in a plane crash in Madrid in I believe 1982) wrote a series of novels about Peruvian politics and selling out to multinationals--you can Google to see if any of those books have been translated into English--or read them in Spanish.
As for Bolivia, this is not the best possible moment for a gringo to turn up there. BUT, from my own limited experience of its president, Evo Morales, with whom I spent one morning in Caracas 5 years ago, he has a pretty good radar for sincerity.
I recommend spending a fair amount of time in any country you are thinking about moving to--I spent two years going back and forth between Mexico and Santa Fe, NM, before I loaded what would fit into a 1965 VW Beetle (ideal for Mexican orads) and headed south permanently.
14 - AXJ
Obama is not a U.S. natural born citizen so he cannot occupy the position of President of the US. Read the complaint and then decide. How can you vote for someone that hasn't been honest about his childhood?
15 - Jet
AXJ, I hate to bring this up but Hawaii is in the United States, just because Bush calls it one or our greatest allies in the Pacific doesn't meant it's not part of the U.S.
Hawaii became a state in the late 50s and Obama was born in 1961.
Your blatant ignorance is going to stain your credibility...
Not that it wasn't already (:^p~~~~~~~~~~~
16 - Jet
You can view a copy of his birth certificate.
17 - Dave Nalle
Just coincidentally, I have been using acupuncturists for primary care for.....25 years.
For the record, my cousin is a trained accupuncturist who apprenticed in China and also a board certified surgeon, so I'm willing to consider that accupuncture may have some validity. That said, even the most basic understanding of chemistry suggests that homeopathy cannot possibly do anything by any means other than the placebo effect.
So, Nalle, I hate to disappoint you, but by avoiding allopathic quacks I may just live as long as McCain's mother--who is getting pretty close to 100.
You unquestionably get more benefit from avoiding the allopaths than you do from frequenting the homeopath.
And I have all of my beautiful strawberry blond hair.
Doesn't it make you weep with suicidal fantasies?
The hair, perhaps...having gone bald at 20 I hardly remember what hair looks like on my head.
Dave
18 - moon
And you can also read my Who Cares comment on the Citizen of the World thread.
Lighten up.
Your vote will not be counted.
You will get what
you
will
get.
19 - Jet
"I have been using acupuncturists for primary care for.....25 years"... That should explain a lot, but for some reason it doesn't.
There are many acupuncturists with great qualifications...
...then again
20 - moon
Ah, Nalle's open mind is like Grand Canyon on a lovely fall day.
The proof of the pudding, Nalle, is that I will probably still be alive when Blogcritics has sprinkled your ashes on the White House roses.
Which may or may not be a good thing.
21 - Dan(Miller)
Doc, in comment #12, you cite the following potential problems in Latin America and ask about:
1. Ultra-persistent street vendors with infallible gringo radar. True in any of the big cities I have been to here. Rural areas here, as in Venezuela several years ago, were different. We didn't leave Cartagena while in Colombia even more years ago, because we were chicken. Sometimes, chicken is good.
2. There does not exist in the entire country a napkin larger than a postage stamp. Can't help you. Bring your own, perhaps?
3. Perfunctory public transport. Two answers: compared to what? And see my response to your number 1. Public transportation in the rural areas of Panama is quite good. It has to be, since many people don't have cars.
4. The fact that Peruvian civic life seems to resemble its US cousin in miniature, being as it is driven in large part by personality, scandal, 'gotcha' politics and oil. That's above my pay grade. I will comment that in Merida, Venezuela, we were impressed with the cultural benefits offered. It is (was) a pleasant university city.
Or, since I can cope with the altitude, perhaps I should just move to Bolivia instead? See my response to #4.
So why not come to the beautiful highlands of Panama, where (in the quite rural area where we live) all the women are good looking and all the children are above average? Or was that some other place? Alternatively, there are some really
coolstupid gated communities for Gringos in Boquete, some 40 minutes away. In any event, I promise to have a cold bottle of (local) cold beer or two or three waiting for you.Dan(Miller)
22 - moon
I doubt seriously that any of you BC jokers are going to fly down to Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico to see my doc, Javier. BUT:
He's a regular MD, trained in Colombia and he does all the usual Physician Surgeon stuff if that's what you want. Including obstetrics.
He trained for 4 years in China.
In addition to acupuncture and homeopathy he also does Bach Flower.
I would trust him over any of the arrogant and self-aggrandizing MDs I saw in the US back in the day--it's not even a contest.
23 - Dan(Miller)
In re Comment #15,
I recommend spending a fair amount of time in any country you are thinking about moving to. . . .
Quoted not only for truth, but for absolute truth. Anyway, it's becoming rather a buyer's market here in the highlands, because many Gringos fall in love with the place during the dry season and can't abide it during the rainy season. Others (perhaps more) decide that they don't like them stupid foreigners here who don't even speak English and are incompetent for other similar reasons. Others ditto for any number of reasons which they would have discovered had they only spent some time here.
Fortunately, since the Gringo exodus seems currently to exceed the Gringo invasion, there lots of nice rental properties available. Google Boquete and you will find a bunch.
Dan(Miller)
24 - moon
The bottom line is this:
If you aren't willing to become fluent in the language and be a VIABLE and PRODUCTIVE part of the local culture,
it would be better to stay home.
(I think that's what Gringos take so much joy in telling folks from Latin America, ain't it now?)
25 - Krutic A
#6:
Come on Dr Dreadful, the questions are for the truly undecided voters - you know the non cult members.
The ones that will compare obama to past presidential candidates and come to the conclusion that he has no governing skill or style, no issue that he specializes in, no track record of managing or running *anything*.
These voters are uncomfortable with the fact that the only qualification Obama brings to the table is excellent teleprompter reading skills.
They know that when the rhetoric is peeled away and the teleprompter taken away, Obama is WAY out of his league here.