Despite all the campaign rhetoric, the US is still at war in two countries. As our young men and women continue to hope someone somewhere will finally get to it and develop a foreign policy strategy to minimize their time in battle and bring them home, we are, again, failing to roll up our sleeves and work together. Instead, we Americans continue to bicker.
Personally, I am thankful John McCain postponed this convention for hurricane Gustav. Two nights of endless speeches on gods, guns, abortion, who loves America more and isolationism is quite enough for me.
How about Mike Hukabee’s comments about Obama’s trip to Europe and I quote, “he took his campaign for change to hundreds of thousands of people who don’t even vote or pay taxes here.” Yes, Mr. Huckabee it is true that Europeans do not pay taxes here, but they are our largest trading partner at about 1.7 billion pounds every day or if you are not comfortable in pounds allow me – that is 5.1 billion dollars a day.
Those Europeans whose ideas we fear so immensely are also fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgence right by our sides in Afghanistan and many are also in Iraq. And how about that little thing called NATO, should I spell that acronym out or do you know what it means?
Wayward Republican policies are responsible for the fact that America is embroiled in Iraq, paying $4 at the pump, and still looking for Osama. None will tell you this. These politicians would rather keep you occupied with “family values.” And while all this nonsense talk is going on and this country continues to look inward, our country, my friends, is missing the boat.
As we waste away the hours in our black and white isolated universe, Turkey is mediating a peace agreement between Syria and Israel, Russia and China are buying up most of the world’s resources, Pakistan, a nuclear state I might add, is making deals with Al Qaeda, and Afghanistan is slowly but surely falling back into the hands of the Taliban. Just this week, I got an email from an Afghan colleague reiterating her fear and concern about this.
Wake up America! While your preoccupying yourself with trying to legislate people’s personal lives and thinking it is OK to insult half of the world’s population, China’s economy is growing so fast it’ll make your head spin. Last I checked it was at 9.9% compared to the US’s 2.2%.
Considering the condition of this country and its reputation in this world, we desperately need leaders who know the issues and know the government well enough to lead us in fixing the problems we face.
What we do not need is another ideologically focused and divisive team in the White House. Obama and Biden know this. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, Mr. McCain does not. It is truly a disappointment that McCain, a decorated veteran and self-proclaimed Maverick, bowed to his party and chose a running mate that was good for them and not the American people.
Choosing Mrs. Palin again preoccupied Americans, not with fixing the economy, getting our children educated or tackling energy dependency and global warming, which she does not believe in, but with the message of difference and one far too focused on religion, which is unconstitutional and further won’t bring you any closer to a job.
So far this team of McCain and Palin have done nothing but convince me further that if they are elected we all should buckle up and get ourselves ready for four more years of an ideological and divisive country.
No worries though, if they get into office and the economy sinks further and the wars get worse, I’m sure we can just blame it all on the funny ideas we got from the Europeans.