I anxiously await the text message. Yes, THAT text message. The one from the Obama campaign, announcing his vice-presidential running mate. The one that will likely dash my hopes for a juggernaut, game-over Obama/Wes Clark ticket. Or even, just to scare the white supremacists, an Obama/Bill Richardson ticket. However, I continue onward and upward with my own presidential campaign. I continue to search the land for the perfect VP running mate. Email me your resume. I might hit you up.
Meanwhile, there’s been hubbub that John McSame, er, McCain is rising in the polls. And the now-discredited Zogby polls has him actually leading slightly. Well, so much for his supposed “victory” during the quasi-debate of spirituality and faith between him and Obama at Rick Warren’s church. That was a foregone conclusion to begin with. If Obama had proven himself the second coming of the messiah, conservative mainstream media and evangelicals would still have touted McSame the winner because he has an “R” next to his name instead of a “D.”
But then this week gave Obama a neatly-wrapped gift of showing how much of an elitist McCain really is and that, for all his attempts to play to the middle class, McSame is thoroughly out of touch with average America. Forget that he said he pretty much doesn’t care for 21st-century computer technology (i.e. The Internets! Electronic mail!) Answering some questions on the campaign trail, McCain admitted to forgetting how many homes he has owned. At least 7? Wow, John. Think of all the homeless people who have a hard time recalling how many shelters they’ve managed to sleep in. Or how many bridges they’ve slept under. Or how many homes the average working person, who’s struggling to make ends meet, could possibly dream of owning in a lifetime that is now facing the cruel reality of a mortgage crisis, inflation and worsening job prospects.
Funny. Robin Leach. Yes, he of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” fame said this much about McCain’s memory lapse: “"He probably was confused as to which homes are in his name, his wife's name, or corporate names. In his attempt to be honest, he put his foot in his mouth." Uh-huh. Or more recently McCain had to have an aide remind him what car he drives. Oh let’s face it, what car he “owns,” but not necessarily drives. He’s got a driver or two, ya know. So much for the new ad in which he tries to still link Obama as nothing more than a superstar elitist lacking in experience and substance. The ad line is “Celebrities don't have to worry about family budgets. But we sure do."
Well, according to a news blog, “the McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns. That's right. The McCains pay $270,000 per year for butlers and maids--that's $50,000 more than the median value of an American home.” It doesn’t do him favors that one of his key donors happens to be a former member of the infamous “Keating 5” savings-and-loan scandal.
And then there’s the fact that McCain, a Republican and former prisoner of war, isn’t exactly shoring up support from those two critical GOP voting bases: evangelicals and veterans. He isn’t polling as high with evangelicals as Dubya did in 2000 and ’04. (The fact that the Demo Party is slowly yet surely rising in popularity with mainline Catholics and Protestants doesn’t help matters.) And that a new report shows that active troops overseas are donating 6:1 to Obama over McCain. Imagine that. Or that some pundits are questioning the total accuracy of his POW stories told at Warren’s church recently.
Or that while McSame brags about supporting the armed forces, he voted against an amendment to an emergency appropriations bill for 2006 "to provide an additional $430,000,000 for the Department of Veterans Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient and inpatient care and treatment for veterans," designating large amounts towards post-traumatic stress disorder treatment and readjustment counseling. Heck, take it from a decorated former Naval pilot who is pointed in his criticism of McSame:
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164859,00.html?wh=wh
And McCain picking “Mitt” Romney possibly as his VP mate won’t endear him to evangelicals or to the middle class. Mormon. Owns a few houses himself. A nickname that sounds like baseball equipment. Oh yeah. Republican voters will find a few more reasons to go out in droves this November. Eh, maybe not.
