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The High Road To Nowhere

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August 21, 2008

He’s blowing it.  With each passing day, the opinion polls show increasing momentum by the McCain campaign.  For their part, the Democrats have put together a lineup of really uninspiring orators for next week’s Convention.  The schedule for this event will include such former stars as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and John Kerry.  (At least they had the sense to leave Mike Dukakis and Walter Mondale off the program.)  What is Jimmy Carter going to discuss?  … “How to Facilitate Runaway Inflation”?  Is Bill Clinton going to explain “How to Beat a DNA Test”?  (John Edwards will be listening to that one with abated breath.)  We can count on John Kerry to present a coma – inducing diatribe about “How to Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory”.  Meanwhile, Obama appears to be writing his own handbook on that subject.  After folding on the FISA (wiretap) bill and capitulating to the public’s ignorance on the offshore oil drilling controversy, he now appears ready to undermine his campaign theme of Change, by selecting a running mate, who has spent nearly his entire adult life in the Senate:  Joe Biden.

Obama would be better off running with his best choice: Virginia Governor Tim Kane.  Does Barack really believe that some chucklehead, watching “reality TV”, is going to be concerned about whether Kane has the adequate foreign policy acumen to attend the funerals of foreign dignitaries on behalf of the United States?  The people of Virginia will support the team that includes a fellow Virginian.   Southern voters will not vote for a ticket consisting of two individuals who put sugar on their grits.  Catholics will vote for the candidate with a Catholic running mate, despite McCain’s anti-abortion pander.

At this point in the campaign, the often – repeated mantra of the commentators is that “negative campaigning works”.  Obama has expressed his belief that by taking the “high road”, he will somehow be immune to any negative attacks.  If he wants to win this election, he must face up to the need to launch his own negative character attack against McCain.  For starters, he must restrain himself from saying nice things about his opponent.  He should then draw some attention to the following issues:

1.)  McCain’s divorce from his first wife, Carol, and Ross Perot’s feelings about that.  In the June 8 issue of Britain’s Daily Mail, Sharon Churcher discussed Perot’s reaction to how McCain ditched Carol upon his return from Viet Nam, when he first learned of her crippling injuries:

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

“McCain is the classic opportunist.  He’s always reaching for attention and glory,” he said.

“After he came home, Carol walked with a limp.  So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.”

2.)  McCain’s involvement in the “Keating Five” scandal.  In 1991, McCain was criticized by the Senate Ethics Committee as having exercised “poor judgment” in connection with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board’s investigation of Lincoln Savings and Loan.

3.)  Obama’s staffers should contact McCain’s fellow inmates from the Hanoi Hilton, to obtain a little more information than “no comment” as to their feelings concerning McCain’s candidacy.

4.)   Get in touch with McCain’s Vietnamese captors to find out whether he provided them with any worthwhile information, justifying  the reason for their offer of early repatriation, which he declined.

There’s a dirt in them there hills.  Obama’s camp has to go dig for it.  If they find it  . . .  they damned – well better use it.

It’s a dirty world out there, with such dirty players as: Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and the Chinese baseball team.  Unless he really can perform a miracle, the guy with the halo over his head won’t be moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Of course, he could always trade in the halo for a nice set of darts.

Kaine Is Able

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July 31, 2008

Speculation is rampant these days, concerning the identities of the Vice-Presidential selections to be made by Barack Obama and John McCain.  The late timing of the Democratic and Republican Conventions, both of which will take place after the Olympics, has apparently resulted in pressure to name VP selections before the Olympics begin on August 8 (lasting until August 24).  The Democratic Convention does not begin until the day after the closing ceremony of the Olympics (August 25) and runs until August 28.  Almost immediately thereafter, the Republican Convention begins on Labor Day (September 1) running until the 4th.  Out of fear that a Vice-Presidential selection could be upstaged by the Olympics, both parties are expected to announce their candidates’ picks before August 8.

Since the Democratic Convention takes place before the Republican conclave, Barack Obama is expected to announce his choice first.  Rumor has it that he will pick Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.  Speculation has run against Kaine as the VP choice because he has been the Governor of Virginia for only two years and he has no experience in Washington, D.C. politics.  These considerations, combined with Obama’s short history in the Senate, have dominated the discussions concerning Kaine’s presence on the ticket.

Nevertheless, as we dig deeper into Kaine’s background, we find plenty of good experience to qualify him for the Vice-Presidency and make him an attractive vote-magnet for the Democratic ticket.  For starters, we have the “Southerner” factor.  It is imperative for Obama to pick a Southerner as his running mate, if he expects to have a chance in Dixieland.  Beyond that, Kaine has a history of being an “activist Christian”.  This should have a favorable impact on Southern voters preoccupied with religious issues (i.e. about 95 percent of them).  Although Kaine belongs to the “wrong” Christian religion for most Southerners (Roman Catholicism) he did take a year off from Harvard Law School to help the Jesuit order of priests and assist with their missionary work in Honduras.  Digging deeper into that fact, we can expect to see some big appeal to Latin-American voters, an important voting bloc in the State of Florida.

On the issue of Kaine’s experience, we need to keep in mind that he is the Governor of Virginia, a state literally “next door” to our nation’s capitol.  Although he has been the Governor for only two years, his previous job was that of Lieutenant Governor of his state.  The role of a Lieutenant Governor is identical to that of the Vice-President: being the President of the Senate.  As President of the Virginia Senate for four years, he had the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to be an effective President of the United States Senate.  He previously served as the Mayor of Richmond, the state’s capitol city.  He therefore does have some executive experience, although at the municipal level, as in the case of Rudy Giuliani.

As an alumnus of Harvard Law School, he has a bond with Obama and he has the credentials to demonstrate a significantly greater degree of concern for the rule of law, than that of our current VP, who, like his partner-in-crime, George W. Bush, never went to law school.

As Governor of Virginia, he gave the Democratic response to the State of the Union address, given by George W. Bush on January 21, 2006.  His role as spokesman for the Democratic Party, to rebut Bush’s speech targeting (among other things) the now-defunct “Axis of Evil”, highlighted his prominence as a national figure in the Democratic Party at that point in his career.

His humble background is similar to that of Barack Obama.  Tim Kaine is the son of a welder.  The fact that he grew up in Missouri could help draw the interest of that state’s voters.  His rise from a modest upbringing to Harvard Law School grad and on to government, makes him a kindred spirit to Obama.

Hillary Clinton’s fanatic supporters are now facing up to the fact that she will not appear in any capacity on the 2008 Democratic ticket.  However, we may yet see some outrage when the stake is finally driven through the heart of her candidacy, with the announcement of Tim Kane as Obama’s Vice-Presidential choice.