Which Three are Best Suited to Occupy the Oval Office

What’s more irritating than listening to some loudmouth politician telling you that you’re not qualified because you don’t have their record of public service? Everyone of us, regardless of where we are in our stations of life, had a beginning. Every election it’s the same old rubbish; isn’t it? ” Look at my record!”, they cry, ” It speaks for itself. My opponent hasn’t the experience needed to guide us successfully for the next four years.” Bah, bah, bah, and on it goes.

You know yourself what shape our country is in, don’t you? We’ve been going down hill an sucking wind every since converting from the gold standard in 1933. Only because it makes it easier for politicians to sell our country into debt in order to advance their pork-barrel hair-brained scams to garner votes and remain in office.. There’s a handy catch-phrase for it these days. Let me see…hummmm. Ah yes; I believe it’s referred to as Liberalism. It’s not the truth; but it gets votes. Let me see. In order to validate those claims, we would have had to have a liberal congress and a liberal President, occupying the Whitehouse these past seventy-five years. Didn’t happen, so chalk another one up to politics.

The last conservative to raise taxes to any significant level was Mr George H.W.Bush. Remember that infamous line?

” Read my lips; no new taxes.” Didn’t quite work out that way, did it? Mr Clinton raised taxes. Hmmm. But he said he would. And on National television, no less. Ballsy guy; wouldn’t you say? Yet he was accused of never telling the truth. Guess somebody got that one wrong, huh? Just politics as usual.

Got a Presidential election coming up this year! How about that? A lot of political mud slinging and the like. We have three finalist, folks. Yes indeedy Bob, we do. Three Senators! Three politicians! What do we know? Who do we vote for? What has the past taught us? Assuming we where paying attention. How does that help us with this year’s Presidential decision. I’m glad you asked me that. Where to begin? Where DO we begin?

Oh these politicians and the hoops they have to jump through to get elected. Or do they?

When President George W.Bush ran for office in 2000; he ran a fairly honest campaign. I didn’t say it was honest. I said fairly honest. So what kind of candidate was the President back in 2000? Contrary to popular belief, he was the most honest man, or woman in the entire Presidential election process. A religious man with deep core values. He spoke what he believed and meant what he said; when referring to himself and what he wanted to accomplish as President of this country.

Because there is no job, business, school or pre-training to prepare ANY of us for the office of President of The United States of America, he relied heavily on the advise of his cabinet and inner-circle during the first few years in office.

[ Vice President is as close a school as there is ]

Nothing unusual there.

Whenever I was called on to except a new command position during my years in the military; it was the same for me. You had to assume command of duties you had no previous experience in and learn on the fly with out compromising unit efficiency and mission effectiveness. So you tended to rely heavily on your senior members for their experience and suggestions to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. However, final decisions still rested with the man or woman in charge. And a President; unlike a soldier; gets to pick his subordinates.

So toss all the political hogwash out the window, in terms of qualification for President. The President isn’t the head politician of the country. Most people who listen to the talking heads and the candidates running for office on their political records, are under the misconception that he/she is. The Secretary of State; is the head politician; the President is the Head of State. The Commander-in-Chief. Keep that in mind come November.

During his second run for the office, President G.W. Bush became a politician first and President second. Well, don’t be too down on him. He’s not the first who has fallen to the grind of DC. The world of Special Interest, Party lines, last minute deals, and behind the scene negotiations.

Well anyway, we’re down to our three finalist. Three politicians. Three wheelers and dealers. So who’s it going to be?

Given the current state of affairs; militarily; the easy money is on Senator John McCain. A POW and war veteran. A man with exhaustive years of political experience. A good and decent gentleman. Unfortunately; not too much unlike the sitting President in ideas and demeanor.

The belief; and I’m as guilty as most who voted for President Bush the second time; is that you don’t want to change horses in mid-stream. The Republicans created this monster and are better in-tuned to deal with it; so lets not shake up the chemistry. However, it was apparent that lesser of two evils was actually Senator John Kerry, back in 2004. There was just the feeling of,

“This ship can be righted and there was no way it would get any worse; so why change?” Pipe dream. Yeah, I know. It could and it did get a whole lot worse. Politics, politics man.

Politicians trying to play God; instead of doing what their job’s required.

Senator Hillary Clinton. A nice enough woman. Solid track record. Could a better all around President than Senator McCain; if you leave out the military edge he holds. She WAS involved more so, in some instances than former Vice President Al Gore; in the shaping of national policies during Mr Clinton’s eight years in the Whitehouse. Therefore, if we went by overall experience in Presidential preparedness; Senator Clinton must get the nod. Unquestionably; with out a shadow of a doubt. She’s better prepared in all areas in term of overall experience than either Senators McCain or Obama. Senator McCain holds the edge in military experience. But given the fact that there are so many quality advisers and military leaders to chose from; she would in no way be at a handicap or lost within the oval office.

Like President Bush, she has a former President in the family to brainstorm with. And there’s little doubt in my military mind that retired four-star general and West Point valedictorian, Wesley Kanne Clark, features prominently into Senator Clinton’s plans if she secures the Democratic nomination. He would be a shoe-in as Secretary of Defense, to head up the Pentagon. She wouldn’t make the same mistake the current administration made with Mr Powell, by placing Mr Clark in the State Department. If she wants to keep him closer; make him Vice President or National Security Adviser.

And last, but certainly not least; we come to Senator Barrack Obama. Very talented, energetic, highly intelligent, well mannered. A soft-spoken man with very new ideas.

Scared the heck out of republicans, until the wheels came off a few weeks ago, with the political attacks over his friendship with a fiery old-school preacher. A preacher with ideas that reflect a generation past. But as the ole saying goes;

” Am I my brother’s keeper?” This man is no more responsible for the words of Reverend Jeremiah Wright than Timothy McVeigh’s parents can be held Accountable for his actions.

I have three brothers. All have been in prison, at one time or another. So should I be publicly lynched for not denouncing them? Should I be victimized in the press for still loving them, talking with them, sharing moments of solidarity with them? I think not?

Only a politician or a foolish , empty-headed simpleton will put much stock in the public flogging of this man’s character. Cause I’ll tell you what I see as the most striking thing about Senator Obama. He’s real. He’s confident, and he’s honest to a fault. And he has short-comings; as do we all.

I knew a candidate whom was of similar character and limited political experience, just eight short years ago. His name is George W. Bush. Your current President. There’s only one slight difference between the two,that I ask the reader to please take note of. I mentioned to you earlier that Washington has changed our current President. And it has. Well, Senator Obama has labored in that exact same city, but has thus far emerged unscathed.

He’s the real goods and the best candidate for the job; IF; it’s a moral leader you want running this country for the next eight years. He’s seasoned enough to do the job and intelligent enough to surround himself with the right people, within key positions, to not make the same blunders as this current President has made. With youth, a real desirer to try to undo the mess that has become a part of the political process, and a real desirer to make a difference; you can’t go wrong with this man in the Whitehouse.

But as you can see; there is no real wrong choice here. Just personal preferences.

Senator McCain is a strong military candidate that we all can feel comfortable with as Commander-in-Chief. His is a steady hand at the political helm. A seasoned veteran of international diplomacy. The Senator, during his speeches, has appeared weak on domestic issues and too much like the current administration. And I for one; don’t believe this country can survive another four to eight years of the kind of policies we’ve endured these last five.

The War Budget has got to shrink; and soon. Whether it means bringing our troops home in bunches, our getting other countries to boost financial output for the war in Iraq. We can’t sustain these financial outputs another two to four years without bankrupting our kids future. It was one of the points Senator John Kerry made during his bid for President in 2004. The United States is already 80% or better in hock to foreign countries, due to the indebtedness we’ve endured over the past twenty-five years.

Lacking in personal military experience; but having one of the most brilliant strategic military minds at her disposal, in General Clark; Senator Hillary Clinton is the most well rounded of the three candidates, as well as most ready to assume the position as President of the United States. It’s foolish to think she wasn’t privy to the workings of her husband, while he occupied the most powerful seat in the world for eight years. She not only knows what worked and what didn’t work; she also knows why; as she shared the inner circle. She’s ready and she’s capable from day one to get to work.

If there’s one fault, it’s that she’s a bit too A Political. However, Congress should be more than capable of keeping her on the straight and narrow; but hopefully not providing an obstacle to progress. Something the last three Presidents have had to deal with. But if she’s half as good as her husband was with Congress, it should be a good eight years for America.

To win a nomination to the senate from the Windy City, is a big deal. Huge! To wallow in the top echelon of American Politics and remain above the chattel of corruption and sleaze is to be commended. My hat goes off to the young man from Illinois. I’ve listened to him speak and think I hear my words and my thoughts on politics in America, some three, four years ago.

Dynamic, straight-forward, unyielding. That’s a refreshing change from the politics as usual approach.

“It is what it is and I’m not going to sugar-coat it to distract from the real issues that we as a country needed to be focusing on during this election process. We don’t need the political games that these proceedings are characterized upon to garner votes and distract from what we ought to be focusing on. The issues and who has a real plan. I want the people to know who has real answers to the issues that effect their lives and their futures.”

Wasn’t that a breath of fresh air? He makes you believe that there is someone who can get this country headed back in the right direction and won’t be weighted down with political posturing and party flag-waving. A too familiar scene that has come to symbolize our Nation to the World. I’d give him four years to show his stuff;knowing we can reward him with another four, come reelection.

Three people. Three candidates. Three Presidential hopefuls. I urge you to tune out the politics and listen to the issues. At this juncture in the history of this Great Nation, we simple can not afford to falter.

Let the politicians be politicians; but lets put a real leader in the Whitehouse. All three are good candidates. All three are politicians. Let’s see who can rise above the political frey and conduct themselves as the Commander-in-Chief-in-waiting. We’re in desperate need of a President, worthy of be called our Head of State; not a Secretary of State in President’s clothing.