WE NEED JOHN McCAIN AS PRESIDENT
By Geoff Metcalf
July 28, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
The upcoming presidential election is critically important. At this point in our history it is not the time for gestures, petulance or posturing. Time to “Man Up!”
These are dangerous times.
1.
A recalcitrant Iran continues to rattle sabers and pursue nuclear weaponry.
2. North Korea, despite diplomatic metsubishis, remains
untrustworthy and dangerous.
3. China, in spite of the Olympics and tsunami like
economic development remains bent on global Hegemony.
4. Russia may be a slumbering bear, but it remains
a big bad bear.
I am not an apologist for Sen. John McCain. He would not be my first choice for president. However, Thomas Jefferson is dead, and Ron Paul or Bob Barr are not going to restore the republic in our lifetime. Sure McCain is the lesser of available evils, but hey…
Complaints about McCain being the lesser of available evils are true. However, itching and moaning that support of McCain compromises conservative principles are naïve, counter-intuitive, divisive and flat out dangerous.
Barack Obama is a significant huge honking threat to the United States of America and the remnants of the republic. THAT is an empirical reality that cannot and should not be overshadowed by frustration or angst with McCain.
1.
Obama is all sizzle and no steak.
2. He is form without substance.
3. He is a magnificent snake oil salesman selling empty
bottles.
Joel Himelfarb writes for the Washington Times. Earlier this year I interviewed him about one of his columns in which he wrote, “Despite my many misgivings about his record, if McCain is the nominee I would vote for him…without hesitation…. Clinton and Obama are modern-day McGovernites who are competing with each other to see who can do a better job of pandering to MoveOn.org and the rest of the Democrats’ far-left base by poor-mouthing the war effort…For all his flaws, McCain is the superior choice by far.”
I resisted Himelfarb’s logic for too long. Responsibility and maturity have finally kicked in, and the diffident reality check is just too compelling to ignore any longer.
McCain may not be “conservative” enough for some of us, but hey…Ronald Reagan wasn’t conservative enough for some of us (remember Rex84?). Hell, Barry Goldwater wasn’t conservative enough for some…
Here is the cruel : Either John McCain or Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States (unless either one is a victim of an “Arkansas suicide” or natural disaster).
British Tory Leader David Cameron, during a private chat with Obama said, "And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions."
"That's exactly right," Obama said. "And the truth is that we've got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics." I confess his use of the royal “we” seems way presumptuous. Next I suppose he will start referring to himself in the third person?
Smart people flock around Presidents like flies on barnyard spoor. But smart people also make some inimitably dumb decisions.
A simple SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of the two candidates is chilling. If you do your own analysis and honestly delineate the Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats, McCain with all his imperfections, so far overshadows Obama that only the most venial, denial committed, partisan sycophant could possibly even consider making the neophyte Elmer Gantry the most powerful man on the planet.
Frankly some of the very things I find offensive about McCain serve to underscore his strength of character and courage…unlike Obama who has yet to meet a flop he cannot flip.
•
McCain opposes making it easier to expel illegal-alien gang members
from the United States.
• McCain opposes funding for a border fence to make it more difficult
for illegals to come into the United States from Mexico.
• McCain opposes interrogation methods like waterboarding against
al Qaeda terrorists—even if it is results in saving thousands
of lives.
• McCain has spent considerable time fighting conservatives and
cooperating with liberal
Democrats on a bunch of issues:
*
Illegal immigration,
* McCain-Feingold, tax increases,
* Judicial appointments
* Climate change
* And terrorist interrogation methods.
We know John McCain…the good, the bad and the ugly.
Barack Obama is too much of a Work In Progress. The ‘new’ post Hillary Obama continues to morph contingent on the results of the latest poll and the phase of the moon:
1.
Iraq may take longer?
2. Pro gun
3. Pro religion
4. Pro death penalty
5. Pro expanding eavesdropping programs
6. Anti-public campaign funding (at least for himself)
Therefore, with manageable regret, and conciliatory props to Mr. Himlefarb, I endorse John McCain. There…I said it!
