Presidential Finalists – Really?
For about two weeks, we have had two finalists in the Presidential sweepstakes, two United States Senators, John McCain (R) from Arizona and Barack Obama (D) from Illinois. We predicted this outcome well over three months ago in ‘And the Winner Are…‘ but the Primary season dragged on into June and so it is only now that we have reached this point where the upcoming Party conventions in August and September will officially declare these two gentlemen the candidates of their respective parties.
This allows Common Sense Politics to move forward now in our process to present our thoughts and opinions in this matter. We will take closer looks at both candidates and attempt to analyze in great detail their backgrounds, experiences and proposals for America’s future. One thing we can already share at this point is our conclusion that while there are very distinct and strong differences between the two men, they are in our humble opinion two poor choices for America!
For the first time in a very long time two current United States Senators are pitted against one another and while both claim to be qualified to be President, we disagree! The position of President represents the Executive branch of our government and being a Senator is not an executive position. Of course, one could say that being a U.S. Senator requires to be in charge of one’s office staff or one might even be a Committee chairman and to do so means having to have some executive ability or experience by being constantly forced to make decisions and so on. Let us remember though, that the tough decisions a President has to make are not learned in Congress where no decision is singular in nature. One’s personal decision in the Senate is considered one vote among a group of 100 members. A Senator will vote Aye or Nay and then the totals are tallied and the majority wins. Some Senators have been able over long periods of time to be persuasive and powerful and introduced legislation that has won a majority of votes among Senate colleagues and then those pieces of legislation in many cases even had names assigned to such bills (such as the McCain- Feingold Campaign Finance Reform and so forth). But that is in our common sense thinking not an experience-qualifier to be President of the United States.
It should therefore not surprise anybody that the most recent five Presidents (from the current President Bush back to President Carter) all had been either governors or Vice-President before being elected President. In fact, the last Senator that became President won the White House in 1960, nearly a half century ago, and his name was John F. Kennedy. We are convinced that there is logic behind this historical reality. But this year, the voters cannot rely on this fact and have to make their decisions based on what they see, hear from the candidates and the media and determine what they like about the two finalists.
While many have hailed the fact that Barack Obama is the candidate of a major party is historical because he is black and conclude therefore that he should be elected President is absolutely ridiculous. This kind of thinking represents the same false premise that skin color should determine what a person can achieve in America. After all, we are now in the 21st century, almost 150 years have passed since the Civil War after which slavery was abolished and nearly a half a century has passes since the Civil Rights laws were passed and enacted. Martin Luther King in his August 28, 1963 “I have a dream” speech yearned for a time where his children would no longer be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. Let us honor him by doing just that. Let’s not look at Senator Obama as a black man but as an American trying to attain the office of the President.
In upcoming articles we will attempt to thoroughly analyze both candidates for the highest office in the land, the Presidency, by reviewing their lives to date, their achievements, their plans for the future and also some of their character traits that could help us better understand what they both would bring to the White House next January. As we have done before, we will apply common sense as we see and interpret it to our analysis. We will do so solely for one reason: To persuade you to think for yourself when you make the decision as to who will get your vote in November.
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