Democrats lay their cards on the table

I was able to catch a few of the speeches last night at the Democratic National Convention and they really laid their cards on the table. It should come as no surprise how they plan to win this election. We have a very unpopular President in George W. Bush and a candidate in John McCain who is being classified as more of the same. The Democrats, in Barack Obama, are fielding a candidate who’s mantra is “change we can believe in”.

Personally, I really like President Bush. I was really impressed by him during the aftermath of the terrorist attacks and I feel like he has kept us safe since then, but it is no secret that he is not a popular President, either abroad or in our own country. I believe his biggest failing has been to surround himself with people who have given him bad advice. The name Donald Rumsfield comes to mind. At any rate, the Democrats are getting into full campaign mode and are gearing up to make John McCain look and sound like just another four more years of Bush/Cheney.

I did miss Hillary Clinton’s speech last night, but during the rest of them, the theme seemed to remain the same. Let’s see now, they brought up being in the pocket of big oil companies, giving tax breaks to the very rich and leaving us common folk to fend for ourselves, women’s equality issues at the Supreme Court level; shall I go on? It sounded a bit like Bush bash night and I am not sure he wasn’t mentioned more than John McCain. Right or wrong, there is a certain stigma that has been cast around the Bush Presidency and John McCain has very much of an uphill battle to break out of that stigma and show the country if he is going to be his own man or not. Time will tell if he is successful.

I know I have been trying to support McCain and trying to show the differences between him and Barack Obama, but we need to face the truth. John McCain has baggage of his own and if he isn’t careful, that baggage is going to keep some of the very people he needs from even casting a vote in this election. The Democrats are really fired up about this election, for obvious reasons and they are showing very distinct differences between their candidate and ours.

In 2004, President Bush’s re-election was due to a vast mobilizing of evangelical Christians. These are people who vote their values and they voted en mass for George W. Bush and that was the key to defeating John Kerry. In this election cycle, those very same people are being largely ignored by the campaign of John McCain, the Saddleback Forum not withstanding. They are, however, being vigoursly courted by Barack Obama. This voting block is not one who normally votes liberal or Democratic, but he is a professed man of faith and he is trying his best to pull what Christian votes he can away from the Republican party. If he succedes, he will probably win this election going away.

John McCain is expected to announce his choice for Vice-President later this week and that decision is going to make the difference for a lot of people. Some will cast him aside and some will embrace him, because of that one little decision. In making that decision and determining how his campaign will go forward until November, McCain will determine who gets to sleep in the White House for the next four years. Barack Obama is very willing and able to sieze the moment and become the first African American President of the United States. It’s up to John McCain to stop him and for some reason, I don’t feel very comfortable with that knowledge.

That’s my take!

Larry