I Need Some Meat

Let's stick to the issues, cut through the crap and get to the red meat of the upcoming election. Consider the issue of experience, or the lack of it, first. It is contended by the Republicans that Obama's lack of experience is the reason he should not be elected. This lack of experience has to be placed in the proper perspective. Look at what the "experienced" politicians have done to the country. We are in a war on foreign soil because these experienced people lied to us and, as a result, we have lost our moral authority in the world and more than 90,000 Iraqi citizens have died, not to mention thousands of American soldiers. Our domestic policies have placed hundreds of thousands of American families in situations that have not been seen since the depression of the late 1920s. Their homes are being taken away via foreclosrue and their lack of health insurance means that the basics of decent health care are unavailable to them. Quite simply, experience is no indicator of success. I welcome what Sarah Palin can bring to the table in this campaign. At the very least, the issue of experience will, of necessity, be toned down and hopefully lead the way to reasoned discussions of where each team stands on the real issues of our times. There are real issues, and the positions of the two teams have real and legitimate differences. The challenge to McCain is to separate himself from the cloak of He who would Be King. Sometime in the last year I wrote that I would like to hear the candidates describe how they would handle the ever-burgeoning deficit created by the fact that the 10 billion dollars a month being spent on Iraq is literally being kept off the books by the Bush administration. How will the candidates deal with that? So far, no word from either of them and we have no inkling how that huge debt, which saddles each child in our country with a staggering amount of debt at the moment of birth, will be handled. McCain voted against Bush's permanent tax cuts. Now he has turned around and endorses this position. The problem is that he does not tell us why he has reversed his position. I would like to know why. I would also like to have assurances from the candidates that the taxing of our citizenry will be, at the very least, fair. Corporations are treated legally as citizens of the country. Citizens should pay the fair share of the country's tax burden, but many multibillion dollar international corporations unfairly pay little or no taxes by manipulation of accounting sheets and practices. The same with high end individuals who have been given devices and tactics unavailable to the little guy in return for campaign donations. I need the specifics as to how each candidate proposes to handle this critical concern. I need to know and understand why McCain wrote an immigration bill and now opposes that very same bill. There must be a reason byond simply pandering to the conservative base. Likewise, I need to know where Obama stands on this issue.

Bottom line; as long as the campaigns keep the focus on whether or not Obama is black or is wearing a flag lapel pin, or whether McCain cannot remember his seven houses, we miss the opportunity to seriously ponder one of the most exciting campaigns of our times. With the backdrop of a failed eight years, let's move on to the meat.