The only way I know to restore the U.S. to all-around security is to elect Barack Obama as President. A vote for McCain is a vote for the same conservative principles that showed this country the way into the crapper – and enabled those who knew better to make off like bandits in the wake of Wall Street’s meltdown. Impeach or fire the greedy lot, I say.
Consider Obama’s tax plan, one for financial security: cuts for middle class families who have been strapped since we invaded Afghanistan, and higher taxes on millionaires who don’t really need the freakin’ money anyway. Even childless singles like me benefit, with $500 coming to me and $1000 going to working couples. (Oh, the endless possibilities with $500:…a plane ticket to visit relatives; necessary engine work on my car; a sizeable donation to Heifer International so that others may eat; tickets for four to see Wicked; hell, even 6 months’ worth of Botox…or just plain saving it for a rainy day!)
Obama wants this country to be radically less dependent on foreign oil, and thus radically greener. By developing renewable technologies and energy, we can save millions and create needed jobs within the energy industry. There’s nothing sexy about the process of “going green”, but it’s infinitely sexier than the alternative: dried up, starving, and hot. Our energy security has been deeply compromised; it’s time to wake up and both smell and drink the coffee. At least we’re alive and not fighting each other for the last quart of kerosene at the hardware store, like we are at the gas pumps these days. Besides, won’t it be great to tell Hugo Chavez to kiss our collective American ass when we tell him we don’t need no more of his stinkin’ oil??
Educate and then educate some more, to prepare for and preserve our well-being as we retire: our future’s security. Obama plans to revamp No Child Left Behind and mean it, because it’s morphed into No Child Left Untested, But Still Some Left Behind since its inception. He’ll also give tax breaks to college students and their families, and ensure that incentives are along the road to college, like free community college tuition for students who have completed 100 hours of community service. And teachers will finally have salaries that will keep roofs over their heads instead of merely augmenting what their partners or spouses make. Hey, before you complain about your tax dollars going to educate kids when you don’t have kids or aren’t putting your children through public schools, think about this: do you want to be dependent on marginally-educated health care workers in your dotage, or do you want your physical therapist to be the best in the city? There’s no guarantee you’ll have a doctor who attended only private school, and since kids these days test stoopider than they did 20 years ago, the likelihood is greater that you’ll lose your right arm along with your appendix. Do you want some dingdong with a bogus MBA degree off the Internet counting your shekels come tax time, or do you want a CPA who graduated tops in her class from Wharton? Pardon the pun, but it’s a no-brainer.
Our national security depends on hammering out agreements that are both diplomatically and politically sound. Ignoring heads of state because they differ on opinion regarding arms, or human rights issues, or nuclear proliferation doesn’t exactly endear us to the Bad Guys. C’mon, let’s get with the program here: talk to the man. (Or woman.) Contrary to what McCain thinks, why wouldn’t you speak directly with the leader of a country, even if he is getting on your every last nerve? Just because he’s hiding nuclear weapons and some of your best military personnel in the back of a tent somewhere in the Gobi desert doesn’t mean you have to be rude to him and speak to him via your Secretary of State. Try eye-to-eye contact over lunch, or a direct statement to him as you’re enjoying the third day of a cricket match in 105º heat. Foreign policy doesn’t have to be suits, gloves, and détente all the time; it’s about connecting with another leader and cultivating an atmosphere of understanding and tolerance. Pre-conditions are for pussies; show me a pre-condition of meeting with the leader of Hezbollah and I’ll show you a mandate for, and the sustaining of, distrust. So let’s let Obama speak with Ahmadinejad with no pre-conditions; let’s elect Obama so that he can help Tzipi Livni in Israel finally reach agreement with both Palestine and Syria; let’s ensure we open up dialogues, spontaneous and otherwise, again between this country and her old friends. It’s the only way we can be supportive and move forward in uncertain times. It always helps to have the aloe of friendship around us, and Obama is that person to slather it on our backs. He’s the icebreaker this country needs the next time it shows up again at the planet’s Big Eight party.
God, I love Obama. I’ll volunteer to babysit the girls while he and Michelle are partying on down at the Inaugural Ball.
Obama-Oh-Eight
I love it! Couldn’t agree more.