Debate No. 2: Style vs Substance

When Presidential Candidate Barack Obama opens his mouth to speak, what comes out are words and sentences and ideas. Not prepared speeches. This cannot be said about his opponent.

When Barack Obama Has a Point to Correct, he speaks it out. He does not deliver zingers against his opponent, but merely corrects the record. He always speaks his opponent’s name with respect.

When an Obama Speaking Turn Was Completed during the debate, he returned to his seat and listened to his opponent with respect, watchfully. (On the other hand, on some occasions while Senator Obama was speaking, his opponent was seen roaming around the stage in the background.)

Barack Obama Is Running for President of the United States, and he does not refer to everyone in sight as “my friend.” He treats everyone—friend and opponent alike—with respect, with dignity, and with consideration. He rightly plans to talk with foreign friends and enemies alike, as needed to help improve America’s role in the world, and to help all of the world toward peace.

When Moderator Tom Brokaw Asked Both Candidates how they would prioritize certain issues in the first days of their administrations, Barack Obama spoke directly to the question, describing a priority which led from one issue to the next. Senator McCain claimed he would not need to prioritize—as if the economy were not in upheaval, or as if our treasury were a limitless money tree.

Barack Obama Spoke Well on Foreign Affairs in Particular, never delivering a canned speech nor dropping the name of some nation that he could barely pronounce. Senator Obama spoke directly about the need to move decisively in Afghanistan, while addressing those failed policies of the Bush Administration that Senator McCain supports and promises to extend, if the Obama campaign does not prevail.

The Room Lights Up When Barack Obama Stands Up. His poise, his composure, and his sincere smile show that in an Obama Administration, the United States will have an authentic leader as commander-in-chief.

Senator McCain Wants so Badly to Become President. But he lacks the presence and the temperament necessary to serve the Nation well in that capacity. He lacks clear insight into world affairs. He lacks range concerning military affairs and the economy. John McCain lacks both the style and the substance to serve America as our next president.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden Ask for Your Vote on November 4, 2008. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild America will serve us now. It's legacy may well serve us for generations to come.

Please Be Sure to Cast Your Vote. America needs all of us right now.

But Seriously, Folks: Who’s "Really" to Blame for This Mess?

[The following presentation comes from The Open-Eyed Voter™]

Whether We Will Admit it or Not, most Americans don’t know which side is really most-responsible for the current economic meltdown. And most Americans—whether Republican or Democrat—gladly blame the other side—whichever party we each consider “the other side” to be.

But From a Distance, It’s Not Really Possible for the independent voter to tell who is telling more of which truth. Is it the Democrats? The Republicans? Does either really know how it got this way?

The Open-Eyed Voter™ Does Not. But here is our best effort at figuring it out, as objectively as we can manage:

In the First Place, the Democrats insisted that the opportunity of home-ownership be opened up to all Americans, even to those who couldn’t afford it.

Then, the Republicans Took this Mandate of universal home-ownership, and decided that they’d show the Democrats how foolish this idea was. They created mortgages, which almost anybody could qualify for, that were step-up adjustable-rate mortgages. These mortgages would start low to qualify lower-income buyers, but then jump up to high rates that the borrowers could not realistically manage.

The Combined Result: Too Many People bought houses that they couldn’t afford—at interest rates that they couldn’t afford—while lacking the money-management skills necessary to keep up with their payments.

Next, the Glass-Steagall Act Was Removed. This Depression-era provision kept commercial banks and investment banks separate. Into the breach, mortgages brokers set themselves up in the new territory between commercial banks and investment banks. No one noticed that the gap existed. Too many risky mortgages got written. These risky mortgages were then resold as if they were the old-fashioned kind: solid and dependable. And the rest, as they say, is the current economic crisis.

In the De-Regulatory Economic Climate that has prevailed in America over the past 28 years, the path to this disaster was inevitable. Between the Democratic effort to mandate equality of opportunity and the Republican effort to profit from the presumed equality of individual responsibility, the whole financial system was brought to the brink.

It Would Be Constructive to Hear Barack Obama and John McCain each respond to a narrative such as that preceding, and to hear each identify what genuine blame lies within their respective parties. Now, that would be putting “Country First.”

Right Now, No Matter Who Is to Blame, we are ready for the “Hope” and the “Change” necessary to really get us out of this mess