Can Americans survive the 2008 election?

Politics is ugly and it isn't getting any prettier with the 2008 presidential elections already heating up. The country seems to be split almost 50-50. Republicans have no super-star candidates, yet. The Democrats have one super-star candidate, Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Clinton the wife of a former super-star, William Jefferson Clinton. This is February of 2006 and we have a loooong way to go. How bitter will things get before the elections finally take place? Maybe the better question is, can we ever recover from all the nastiness and come together as a nation?

Words have meaning and political candidates use lots of fancy and catchy words in their speeches. Most of us will listen closely and take what they say with a grain of salt. That means we don't really believe anything politicians say these days. So how can we decide who to vote for if we can't believe what they say?

Star Parker points out 'that there are two different types of people -- those who want to be somebody and those who want to do something. She wonders which category Barack Hussein Obama falls into.

So which is Barack Obama? He says he's running for president to "transform the country." But until he delivers on policy specifics that clearly show how, we've got to conclude he's really just another smooth politician who wants to be somebody.

It seems that Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton may be having some problems because of her own words and the words of her husband.

Two theories for these defections* have been put out by Democrats favorable to Clinton. First, the gay community in Hollywood is seeking revenge against President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy restricting open homosexuality in military service. Second, the entertainment industry still harbors resentment about Clinton-Gore Administration criticism of the material that is presented to children. (source)

* David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg of the DreamWorks film studios, who all were thought to be staunch Clintonites, were sponsoring a Feb. 20 Los Angeles fund-raiser for Obama. (source)

Hillary would not openly say "Yes, we'll have to raise taxes" as John Edward did. She will not completely go back on here decision to vote for the war in Iraq, as Edward did.

"Democrat vs. Republican: Why We Are Divided" is a timely topic tackled by Lee Kent Hempfling in The National Ledger

A few years ago during the last run for the Presidency, Carol Moseley Braun stood at a podium in a televised debate and proclaimed that we should just all get along.

Wow. What a statement. John Lennon-like. [snip]

Carol Moseley Braun was right. We should all just get along. That would be the best outcome of anything man did, if it were possible. Utopia it would be. [snip]

My argument was always that utopia is the goal but unless you take it one step at a time, the goal will appear quite absurd. [snip]

The deeper meaning was not what the words said, it was what the words meant. [snip]

Our nation, as divided as it is, needs to realize why it is divided, and not just the 'cause you are different' reason used by every organization ever created by man.

We will be hearing lots of talk from politicians. It's up to us to use the brain and good sense that God gave us to hopefully elect the best person for the very difficult job of President of the United States of America. God help us.

Related:
Ignoring what you do not want to hear, Wake Up America

Comments

[Jason]

It is a funny pic, Debbie. But that Sir Robin bit, when I read that at LGF, I had a VERY hard time stopping laughing. And then when someone posted the YouTube link, I completely lost it.

[Debbie]

Thanks for the comments everybody. Jason, I did check out the links you left. I had a post on al-Sadr ready to post. Do you like the image I made of him???

[StormWarning]

Faultline: To continue my line of thinking from last night. We were a Nation United on the afternoon of September 11th when, after the dust settled, we all understood that we had been attacked. We remained a Nation united for weeks and months thereafter.

We remained a united Nation when our troops went into Afghanistan. But regardless of what "you" or "you" or "you" think about the merits or justification for the War in Iraq, the Nation's divisions again came to the surface, this time with more strength and emphasis on those divisions than before.

In my opinion, today we are a Nation that fears...fear of the unknown (when will the next attack occur?), fear of our differences (instead of embracing them)...a fear that strikes to the core of what America is (or was). My fear is that America may have changed forever (not sure whether for the worse or for the better..."you" choose).

One of the things that has dramatically changed our Nation is the way in which people's opinions are formed. Some say that the traditional media is responsible for shading the truth and shaping our thoughts. But, so too, is "blogdom" for shading and shaping the truth. To what extent that "truth" is factual or not, bloggers interpret events, they shape the truth in vision of their own eyes and minds. Citizen journalists wirte and write and write. Do they know what they're talking about? Do they know their subjects? Or are they simply opining on words written by someone else, never knowing for certain that those words have been fact checked?

There are probably thousands of blogs writing about security and terrorism. How many of those actually have a speck of firsthand knowledge about the issues, or insight into the policies, the backroom discussions, the "off the record" statements? Few do. And yet, for many Americans, their favorite blog(s) have become their Walter Cronkites.

And yes, it seems that almost everyone who reads and comments here write their own blogs (I included woth my little blog). All well intended I believe...but how informed?

The divisions of our society and of our Nation along the lines of personal ideology are widening. At this point, I fear forever...and at this point, I believe that even another attack on U.S. soil would not bring us together in the way that we were on the afternoon of September 11, 2001.

[Jason]

Completely OT (sorry folks):

ABC (http://tinyurl.com/33e7dw) is reporting that Moqtada al Sadr has pulled a "Sir Robin" (http://tinyurl.com/2yzprv).

The "Sir Robin" bit was pointed out by a commentor at LGF (http://tinyurl.com/33p5gk).

[Rastaman]

Answer: No.

More likely, we will all run screaming from the nearest voting booth. "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" should be placed over the portal of every polling place in the nation.

By the time this second 8 year run has ended we will have had 16 years of our formerly respected government airing its dirty laundry in front of the world, creating massive heaps of more dirty laundry as it went, vilifying each other and shaming the Presidency without restraint. Both parties have behaved despicably and personally embarassed the hell out of me. Every time one of them debased my country in front of the world I cringed.

I don't want any of them. Elect Nobody for President!

Rastaman
www.islamanazi.com

[Jason]

Faultline, I wish I could take credit for saying that, but it was actually StormWarning who made that observation. He's right, of course.

[Faultline USA]

Debbie:

Yours is an excellent article. This is going to be a very, very long race and I see nothing but continued divisiveness across ideological lines, unless something major happens to pull us together. And even then, as Jason said, we are not only a divided nation we are “many nations.” It is true that this nation has withstood much in the past, but beneath the divisiveness of even the civil war was an ideological unity that surpassed those temporal divisions. Today it would seem that those whose voices are the loudest will call forth their own leader, and the rest will be forced to follow.

[StormWarning]

Can Americans survive the 2008 election? Of course we can, it is afterall, "We the People." Perhaps the question that was really asked was whether "Americans like 'you' can survive." But still, it is, "We the People."

The more perfect union formed by our Founders was and still is a more perfect union because the Union has survived through it all. Through its chaotic beginnings to the Civil War, through the Spanish American War, through the 1st and 2nd World War, through Korea and Vietnam, through the Cold War, and now we find ourselves in the greatest of all, the War on Terror. That, my "friends" is probably the greatest threat to the Union, in my opinion. Not because of the terrorists themselves, or the threats of another attack on our homeland, but because, IMO, of the ways in which Americans have responded and reacted to the threat. We are no longer "We the People" because it is more like the "D"s and the "R"s, or the "libs" and the "serves" and then the probably more polarizing "we" versus "they" of considering one person's beliefs to be more important (admittedly maybe that is not the right word) or somehow better than someone else's.

Rudy Giuliani, for anyone who did not live within the immediate radius of New York City on September 11th is a great leader. He is (or at least was) a great leader because at a moment in time (in the figurative sense), he above all others brought calm in the face of chaos and shock. He stood firm in the face of utter tragedy. He spoke with the utmost of candor while exhibiting the compassion before unseen in any leader before...unless you saw the smoke rising first hand, unless you could see, feel and smell the death in the air, unless you saw the Mayor at the series of funerals and memorials, unless you saw the real tears in his eyes, or heard the humanly emotional quiver in his voice as he stood day after day in front of the grieving many...you cannot comprehend the leaderhip shown by Rudy Giuliani during this Nation's time of greatest crisis.

Terrorism is a global threat. Our leadership takes what, in its judgment, is the best course. But in the end, it is "We the People" who choose our leaders.

I find what I read as a rhetorical question, "Can Americans Survive the 2006 Election?" quite odd, were it not for the fact that today, America is not one but many Americas. Examine that if you will. Are we still one people, are we still "We the People?" From my vantage point, we are not, and in that, the terrorists are winning.

By the way, I don't believe that Rudy Giluiani should be President. He was a great leader in the face of crisis. I do not believe he is the leader for the next decade. I don't know who among the candidates from either side right now is that best candidate. What I do know about Rudy is that I question his judgment of other people...and I question his temper. What, you ask?! All one has to do is remember his loyalty to Bernie Kerick. Rudy is and was a great man, and the Man who led the New York City area out of the rubble...but I hope that he is not the next President.

As for the rest for them, as Debbie wrote, we are only in February 2007. Alot will be learned in the next few months...maybe someone will emerge as this Nation's next leader. I trust that the blogsphere will do enough partisan analysis to out do the media (traditional or drive by depending upon your inclination).

We are Americans all, regardless of the very clear differences that today divide and separate us, perhaps like at no other time in our history. No matter who wins the next Presidential election, Americans will survive, and so will the Union.

[stepping off the soapbox].

[Layla]

Jason wrote: "Exactly what "leadership" did Giuliani display that makes him a viable candidate for President?"

First of all to answer this all one has to do is look at the courage and leadership and unity this man was able to comodere during the 9/11 atrocity. I am not saying that this in and of itself makes him President material, but it most certainly lends credence to the worst case which is Obama and Clinton.

This is going to be an ugly race in 2008 and God help us all through it. Honestly, I am not looking forward to this at all.

During the 2004 election I was and Election officer and never again. I was stuck in a Democratic liberal voting area where all I heard were obscenities about the right and Bush.

It is going to be ugly, which is why I will not ever be an Election Officer again after my 2004 experience. NEVER. It sure is not like when I was growing up and there was really some pride taken in these elections. Now it is more like a Hollywood side show.

Ug!

[Jason]

I know, Debbie. And I'm intensely curious about something: Exactly what "leadership" did Guliani display that makes him a viable candidate for President?

It all boils down to 2 things. 1) What politicians say and 2) what politicians have done in the past.

Sad to say, the Republican frontrunners are nothing more than Democrats with an R after their name. They are not true conservatives in any way, shape, or form.

McCain is anti-first amendment (remember campaign finance reform?), anti-fourth amendment (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37534), pro-abortion, pro-taxpayer funded embryonic stem cell research, etc. His positions on most issues are almost identical to any run of the mill Democrat.

Guliani is just as bad. Pro-abortion, anti-second amendment, pro-same sex marriage, pro-"hate" (aka - though) crimes laws, pro-illegal alien amnesty, etc. How is he any different from Hillary?

I don't know much about Mitt Romney, but he's not "high profile" so-to-speak. Almost no one has heard of him which, in a real sense, means he doesn't have much of a chance.

The only one I see as being a true conservative is Tancredo. And, as much as I support him, let's face it, he's not a nationally recognized name. Essentially (and I hate to admit it), without some MAJOR work, he's not going to get the nomination.

[Debbie]

Jason, that is just another mark against Guiliani. The article says:

Giuliani criticizes Gore for not going far enough on Global Warming (by not offering solutions)

[Jason]

I think Guiliani may be trying for the DNC nomination. With his pro-abortion, anti-gun, pro-gay marriage, and now this (http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/02/giuliani_criticizes_gore_for_n.php), it certainly doesn't look like Rudy is a conservative.