Traditionally, the presidential election is a time to select a candidate, to vote for someone. The 2008 election will prove to be a different sort of election, however: one wherein a conservative’s focus might not necessarily be who to vote for, but who to vote against. Barack Obama is a dangerous political opponent for John McCain. This isn’t necessarily because he poses a strong threat as a candidate, but because his following’s loyalty borders on fanatic obsession. John McCain might not be your ideal Republican candidate, but he deserves your vote precisely for who he isn’t: Barack Obama. What follows are the five reasons I’m voting for John McCain and against Barack Obama.
Reason #1
If Barack Obama is defined by the company he keeps, he’s a racist, anti-American extremist. From Jeremiah Wright to William Ayers to Bernadine Dohrn, just enough of Obama’s skeletons have come out of the closet and endorsed him to cast a cloud of danger over his electability as the president of the United States. Indeed, much of Obama’s primary campaign has been fraught with various allies from Obama’s past and present dancing into the media spotlight. Then, after a fair amount of unsavory press, Obama apologizes for and separates himself from the same friends he aligned himself with mere months earlier. We need only consider Obama’s remarks about Reverend Jeremiah Wright as his mentor, then the exposure of Trinity United Church and Obama’s subsequent denouncement of Wright’s anti-American speech to recall the pattern. Known terrorists, both domestic and international, endorse Barack as their man. Young Palestinian men lobby on his behalf in earnest. They do this because Obama in office serves their own interests.
Reason #2
Obama’s patriotism is questionable. In an election, we naturally compare one candidate to another. One candidate doesn’t wear a flag pin. One candidate doesn’t hold his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. One candidate has no military experience. One candidate’s idea of foreign policy is to negotiate with enemies who wish to obliterate our existence over a cup of coffee. The role of the president should be filled by someone who loves our country, who values our history, and who has proven that he is ready to die to serve our country. The role of the First Lady should similarly be filled by someone who honors and respects the country her husband serves. It doesn’t count when your patriotism begins just as your husband enters the presidential campaign. If Obama’s friends don’t derail his campaign, his own wife and life partner surely will.
Reason #3
Obama is a skilled orator, a trait that has earned him a devout following in a party largely comprised of atheists. When Barack Obama opens his mouth to speak, liberals’ ears seem to filter out the message and listen only to the words in a hypnotic trance. Their devotion to Obama mimics that of radical Christians to Jesus Christ. Criticize Obama to a liberal Obama supporter, and it’s as if you’ve questioned the existence of God, only the resulting argument is much angrier and holds far less intellectual merit. It’s more like telling an environmentalist that chaining himself to a tree won’t save the earth, or informing a war protester that no one in Washington cares what he or she thinks.
It isn’t Obama’s following that is of the most concern, however. A public speaker as smooth as Obama will inspire fans on his own talents. Let’s remember, however, that Barack Obama was a lawyer before he became a senator. And, like most lawyers, his words are best when rehearsed. However, Obama crumbles under pressure, and his improvised remarks typically fall flat or offend. We need only recall the fallout from the “bitter small-town Americans”, “typical white person” and “Can’t I just eat my waffle?” to recall Obama’s propensity to fumble the ball when he’s running an unscripted play with nary a playbook in sight. It’s one thing to offend foreign, enemy nations during wartime; offending majority populations of the country you represent is another, especially as you align for their vote in November. Judging from the multitude of politically incorrect missteps in his primary campaign, Obama seems to think that he doesn’t need votes from entire segments of the population; namely, the middle of the country. This blatantly blase attitude must cost him the election to teach Democrats that conservative minds will not be discounted.
Reason #4
Obama’s politics and ideals are too far skewed on the liberal end of the political scale to strike a balance with Americans as a whole. No matter the political affiliation of a sitting president, his job is to appease the majority of his constituents, the American public. Radical liberals clamor for our next president to be a polar opposite to George W. Bush; conservatives know that accomplishing this won’t automatically fix the ills that plague our country. The checks and balances within our legislature make any change a gradual one, over many years. Amid a tenuous situation in the Middle East, too liberal of a response by our next president casts the United States as lily-livered pansies, too afraid of hurting feelings to eradicate terrorism. Extreme left-wing Democrats either don’t realize this or don’t care, and Obama is their man. If he gets into office, small-town typical white Americans had better cling to their guns and religion, because Obama will muck up civilian rights to both.
Reason #5
Obama’s experience is lacking. This isn’t to say that a junior senator can’t be president one day. The presidency is fraught with unique challenges, however, ones that can’t be adequately prepared for in any branch of the government. In the business world, even the best candidates from upper management must pay their dues before aspiring to become CEO. The team captain must prove his or her leadership potential over several seasons to earn that ‘C’ on a uniform. In every other successful realm of the American culture, experience yields a top leadership position. Why should the presidency, the most historically esteemed and influential position in the country, be any different? Obama’s inexperience lands him into trouble with his improvised remarks and shaky responses to tough issue-based questions. His inexperience causes him to make crucial errors and oratory missteps under pressure. He is simply not ready. Democrats can clean up his image and repackage him in 2012.
In every endeavor, Barack Obama has flouted the intellect of the constituents whose vote he aims to obtain. He’s dazzled his starry-eyed followers with well-crafted speeches that render them vociferously loyal; in cult-like fashion, they zealously support Obama to all who will listen. Separate Obama from his gilded memorized passages, and his words clang jarringly and offend like a cat walking across piano keys at twilight. Pin him in a corner with tough questions on issues and his allies, and he strikes like a caged animal trapped in a corner. Obama’s speeches act like a mirror through which radical liberals see exactly what they want to see in their next president. It is up to the rest of us to peer through the looking-glass and see Obama for the inexperienced, unsavory presidential candidate he is.
