Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Obama Back on Top



The polls have swung back to the Democratic ticket. The average of the polls have Obama up by 3 points now. The electoral votes still look to be extremely close. On Yahoo's election site, if you do all of the math, it is a 269-269 dead heat. The RCP average has Obama winning it, 273-265. CNN is the most cautious, saying that Obama is ahead 223-200, with 115 electoral votes still in play.

What to make of all of this? Not much. It's still early. The first debate is this Friday. That may make a difference. The biggest factor by far is the economic meltdown, which appears to be developing into a much worse and long-term recession than was even imaginable a few months ago.

Signs of panic abound. People are withdrawing their savings from banks, and stashing cash under their beds. Major firms are teetering on the verge of collapse. Unfortunately, for John McCain, his legislative track record reveals he is perhaps the political leader most directly responsible for the fatal deregulation decisions that have yielded this financial catastrophe.

As voters come to understand this, his chances to win the White House are likely to fade.

But, anything can happen in a political race, especially one so closely contested.

***

Today, Sarah Palin banned the press from covering her meetings with foreign leaders at the U.N. This is one of the darkest days in American democracy. We have a candidate who is pandering to the worst impulses of the most ignorant segment of our population. She blames the press for her problems!

Hello? Who in the press impregnated her daughter? Who in the press advised her to abuse her power as governor in the simmering Troopergate scandal? Who in the press is responsible for all the basic things about our world that she most obviously does not comprehend?

Even if I thought McCain was a legitimate candidate for President. which I do not, I could never support someone who picked a demagogic fool for his running mate. If this is an example of McCain's judgment, we will pass, thank you.

For the good of our nation, let's all hope and pray that Obama-Biden will prevail in November. Then we can get down to the hard work of reversing this economic decline, getting out of Iraq, where we never should have been in the first place, and joining the world community in fighting climate change before it destroys us all.

Nothing less than the future of our children and grandchildren is at stake on November 4th. I ask all of my friends and relatives to boycott the election unless you can do the right thing, which of course is to vote for Barack Obama as President. Let go of your prejudice, let go of yor fear, let go of your suspicion.

Embrace hope that we can all evolve into a better people and that our descendants will have the chance to live life more or less as we have known it, as opposed to what is happening to polar bears, facing extinction, and now resorting to cannibalism. As crazy as it sounds, that could be our own fate, as humans, within a century, if we do not find the courage to embrace leadership that will stop our inexorable march toward extinction and reverse the death march that is inevitable if voters choose the GOP's agenda of know-nothingness.

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