Ponder This

I can’t wait for the election to be over.  Political ads are filling up my recycle bin and have loaded down my email’s trash folder.  And most of the messages that have been forwarded a million times are so outrageous and offensive I’m occasionally incensed that anyone I know (and you know who you are) keep passing them along. 

But I’ve got a few political thoughts of my own.  This campaign has raised for me some interesting questions.  I feel like assumptions have been made and taken for granted.  I can’t help but wonder, would be saying the same thing about these men, and lady, if their personal histories were reversed.  

The point is to ask yourself, WHAT IF…?

What if the Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin tickets and personal histories were switched around? Would the country’s collective point of view be different?  It’s something to consider…

What if the Obamas had walked five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if Obama had left his first wife after a severe car accident disfigured her?

What if Obama met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the candidate’s wife who became addicted to painkillers and acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker and Obama had difficulty reading from a teleprompter?

What if Obama were the candidate whose military experience included discipline problems?

What if Obama were the candidate known to display publicly a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama’s family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if McCain graduated from Harvard with a Juris Doctor (J.D.), Magna Cum Laude (that means “top of class”)?

What if Palin earned duel BA’s in History and Political Science from the University of Delaware and a Juris Doctor (J.D) from Syracuse University College of Law?

What if Obama ranked 894 of 899 in the United States Naval Academy

What if Biden spent 1 semester at Hawaii Pacific University, 2 semesters at North Idaho College, 2 semesters at the University of Idaho, 1 semester at Matanuska-Susitna College, then finally three semesters at University of Idaho earning a B.A. in Journalism