Don’t’ Get Me Started
Don’t’ Get Me Started
The Picks
TAMPA, FL -- While I am no expert in politics, and especially no expert in political prognostication, I can certainly say that on the Republican side, I picked the correct vice presidential candidate. Not so successful with the Democrats.
What bothers me the most about Joe Biden, the democrat senator from Delaware, is that he is completely counter to Obama’s message of "hope, change, hope, change, hope, and of course change." Did I mention change? Biden is a long-time senator. He’s been in public office since 1972. The key element to the message of "change" that Obama has been pushing is to rid Washington of the establishment politics.
Joe Biden is as much a DC insider as anyone can get. Of course, he’s running for re-election in the US Senate at the same time. The last candidate to run simultaneously for VP and the US Senate was Joe Lieberman. And we all remember how that worked out, don’t we? And despite his feel-good story about how he was brought up from a blue-collar life and worked his way to where he is, Biden strikes me as an elitist as much as any from the United States Senate.
What also bothers me about Obama picking Biden is that Biden has said many public statements that may return to haunt them both. The Boston Herald reports on a new John McCain ad with Biden speaking of Obama during the primaries:
"I think he can be ready but right now, I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."
While I recognize that candidates will say anything they can to get nominated and eventually elected, how is it that Biden thinks Obama is not ready a few months ago, but is ready now? And I also realize that no one is truly "ready" for the White House. In fact, the only two things that actually qualify you for the White House are your age (minimum 35) and heritage (born in the US). Therefore, it is up to the voters to actually demand that candidates declare their intentions based on issues.
With all that said, Biden’s earlier comments about Obama, along with the comments by Hillary Clinton and other former Democratic opponents are going to be used in earnest by the McCain campaign.
And speaking of John Sidney McCain, there is a single word that describes his pick for Vice President: Genius!
The timing of his announcement took the figurative wind out of the sails of Obama’s ship after the convention. Obama and Biden should have continued with their high-profile, celebrity-followed, media-hyped tour without interruption -- at least for the weekend. But McCain announces his pick on the very next day, and all the talking head shows focus on the McCain selection instead of the post-convention euphoria that Obama should have enjoyed. Speculation swirled on Friday until "evidence" pointed to who was flying to Ohio and who was staying home. Finally, McCain’s camp leaked the name of Sarah Palin, first-term governor of Alaska.
The recognition of her name was until now unknown by all but a few heavily dedicated political addicts. Way back in January, I was asked whom McCain would pick. Most people’s response was "Sarah WHO?!" After explaining a few of her accomplishments and her political worldview, conservatives were impressed. In fact, some of the liberals I knew were at least enamored and intrigued.
In fact, when asked last week on First Coast News (gloating alert!), I told Donna Deegan and Shannon Ogden that the wise pick for John McCain would be Sarah Palin.
So, with all of my political bias in plain view, I will tell you more reasons why I believe picking Sarah Palin was the A-#1 pick in recent history.
First off, she is a solid conservative. McCain needed someone who is a tried-and-true conservative to offset some of his liberal (how I hate the term Maverick) tendencies. She has trimmed Alaska’s budget, told the Congress to stop delivering so much of Ted Steven’s pork-barrel spending their way, and put agencies on notice that more wasteful-spending cuts are on the way.
Secondly, she isn’t afraid of getting people off of their complacency. Accountability to the voters has been paramount with her. Palin has proven how to tell corruption that it is no longer welcome in her state. She has called out members of all parties, but especially the GOP, to rid themselves of the proverbial bad apples. That’s not maverick; it’s cleaning up corruption.
Palin is pro-life. She revealed that her youngest son has Down syndrome only weeks before birth. She didn’t want to make it a major issue, but she did prove that she is willing to take whatever children God provided her. She is now the mother of five (McCain has seven -- between the two of them, they’re catching up with me).
She is an unapologetic supporter of our armed services. Any time a major contingency of Alaskan troops are deployed, count on her to visit them. Her oldest son volunteered for the Army and is about to ship off to Iraq.
Palin carries with herself a strong, sound environmental policy. As an avid hunter, fisherman, and marathon runner, she understands how to get the oil out of the ground without spoiling the ground itself. Radical environmentalists beware: If you don’t reasonably subscribe to what she has to say, you will render yourself irrelevant.
Finally, she is acceptably pleasing to the cameras. Let’s be honest, her beauty is a refreshing offset to McCain’s "elder statesmanship."
The one thing Palin will have to overcome is the issue of firing a former brother-in-law. Before anyone realized she had a chance at the Vice Presidency, she fired a man who was once married to her sister. Originally, he performed well. According to Palin and personnel records, his performance fell -- enough to be fired.
And if that’s all their opposition can pin on her, they had better brush up on focusing on issues. Either way, it ought to be interesting.
Andy is a father of 13 children who lives with his wife of over 23 years in Baker County, Florida. His opinions usually center around mixing politics and religion with hot-button topics as his specialty. You can contact him at ACHefty@yahoo.com.
