When I was in the Peace Corps a volunteer friend of mine received a subscription to a magazine called The Economist. I remember asking him about the periodical and he said, well it is a right wing magazine but the articles are real good. I have since checked out their web site from time to time and tonight I clicked on over and what did I see? The Economist is endorsing Barack Obama. The right wing magazine is endorsing the socialist, pinko commie, terrorist comrade. Outside of Alaska’s largest newspaper, the Alaska Daily News endorsing the Democratic candidate, this may be the most surprising.

The Economist

It’s Time

IT IS impossible to forecast how important any presidency will be. Back in 2000 America stood tall as the undisputed superpower, at peace with a generally admiring world. The main argument was over what to do with the federal government’s huge budget surplus. Nobody foresaw the seismic events of the next eight years. When Americans go to the polls next week the mood will be very different. The United States is unhappy, divided and foundering both at home and abroad. Its self-belief and values are under attack.

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Tonight I was checking my daily news sources and came across the headline on the Drudge Report. Is Obama Marxist? was the big header. Vice President Joe Biden was interviewed by one of those local shock factor news stations and the anchor was grilling the Senator with a series of harshly worded questions. It really has to be seen to be believed and I’m sure the right wingers were digging the nature of the questions but if they watch closely they will see how a true professional addresses each and every question. The real issue of this interview is how would Sarah Palin fare under such a grilling? My guess is she would melt like Alaska snow in the Miami sunshine if a radical left wing host would go at her with the same vigor as this anchor goes after Biden. I have to say, Joe Biden shows great restraint in dealing with such ridiculous questions.

It is hard to understand when Obama wishes to cut taxes on the middle class, the right sees socialism or even Marxism in the proposal. Bush cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans in 2000 and no one called him a Marxist for spreading the wealth upward. Now that Obama wishes to dial back those tax cuts and apply them to those of us who need it most all of a sudden it is socialism. Anyone who has studied modern history knows one of the greatest causes of the Great Depression was the uneven distribution of wealth. The tax policies introduced by Ronald Reagan with his “voodoo economics” as George HW Bush called them (or trickle down economics as they are better known) and revitalized under the current administration has created an uber-wealthy in this nation and has gutted the middle class that was so vibrant in the decades following the Second World War. As the nation’s treasure now exits the country in the form of foreign wars and a significant amount finds its way to the nation’s ailing banks, the middle class will once again be the target of America’s recession as layoffs and unemployment grip this nation in the months and years ahead.

For John McCain to base his tax policy on the same schematic that George Bush uses is not only unfair but economic suicide. It makes as little sense as using a plumber named Sam who makes $40,000 a year as your campaign figurehead and saying he will most benefit from McCain’s plan and be most punished by Obama’s. In microcosm this is the fallacy that the Republicans have created to get average Americans to vote for their party. The irony is McCain is calling him Joe and addressing the issue like the man makes $250,000. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to use Joe the hedge fund manager as the ideal front for your campaign? Many people in the middle class whom I know would gladly do their patriotic duty (as Joe Biden says) and give up even their Obama tax cut if it meant eliminating the debt and winning the war faster so our boys can come home but unfortunately the Bush administration has so severely weakened this nation economically that the revenue generated from such a drastic step would not even balance the budget never mind chip away at the 10 plus trillion dollar deficit. The reality is we are already a socialist state. We stepped over that line when the government began buying interest in US banks. The true wave of what is occurring has yet to take hold in this country and I would just as soon have someone with the intelligence and temperament of Barack Obama as that of John McCain. After all when Bush leaves it will most likely be with a wink from Karl Marx and not from Sarah Palin.

Waiting for Nov. 4th

Huffington Post

I can’t take much more of this. Two weeks to go, and I’m at the end of my rope. I can’t work. I can eat, but mostly standing up. I’m anxious all the time and taking it out on my ex-wife, which, ironically, I’m finding enjoyable. This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it’s worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there’s still a potential cure. With this, there’s no cure. The result is final. Like death.

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General Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama is as close as you’re going to get to an apology. Since leaving his high profile job in the White House General Powell has never second guessed his role in the war. Then Secretary of State Powell was a central figure in the misguided runup to war against Iraq. His speech at the UN outlining bogus intelligence was a defining moment in those days leading to war. The image of Secretary Powell holding up a vile and schematic drawings of mobile weapons labs while CIA Director Tenant looked on are now infamous. Following the invasion of Iraq his “If you break it you own it” quote about Iraq rang all too true and the inside battles he waged against Vice President Cheney are well documented. His opposition to the manner in which the war was being run ultimately caused “The Decider” to make Powell and “outsider”. Colin Powell turned out to be the good soldier, however. No anti-Bush book was written, no acrimonious speeches were given. Powell simply faded away.

This morning on Meet the Press Colin Powell, in a respectful way, complimented McCain but endorsed Obama. He based his decision not to support McCain on the negative tone of McCain’s campaign and his poor choice of VP. His reason for supporting Obama were the Illinois Senator’s problem-solving skills and his transformative message. This is a signature moment since Powell is a Republican. It also is significant because Powell, as Mark Halpern of Time Magazine states, is “a brand unto himself” and is a different kind of endorsement. Many will discount the Powell endorsement simply due to race but if anyone thinks the issue of race is a part of the equation merely has to look at a former soldier who chose the Republican party despite the fact there are only a small sliver of African-Americans who make up its rolls.

What will be the impact of Powell’s choice? The former Secretary of State has said he will not campaign for Obama but it is assured Obama will have Powell’s ear in regard to foreign affairs. There also exists the possibility of Obama coercing Powell to join his cabinet if he wins despite Powell’s admission on Sunday that he has no intention of reentering public life. Today’s announcement will surely consume a lot of oxygen these next few days, time the McCain camp needs to close the gap in the race with just over two weeks remaining. Perhaps Colin Powell will  have a chance to make amends for his role in moving this nation to war in 2003 by transforming the image of this nation around the world within an Obama administration. As Americans, we always hope for happy endings.

You always heard, back in 2000, that George Bush was a guy you could sit down and have a beer with. He was just like you. I thought then, as I think now, that this isn’t a quality that makes a good President. I was always looking for someone I knew was smarter than I am or someone who was inquisitive. In the 1990s and before 2001 we had the luxury of electing those who had significant flaws. With Clinton it was moral flaws. He was plenty smart enough and had tremendous political skills but that one flaw diminished the status of the office and torpedoed his potential Democratic successors chances. And then there is Bush, Jr who had so many flaws that his own party didn’t want him to attend the Republican convention. His brand is toxic. But we no longer have the luxury of electing an average president. The conservative columnist, David Brooks, has one of the most eloquent articles I have read in sometime about what is wrong with his party and how the decisions they have made has harmed the country:

September 16, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist

Why Experience Matters

By DAVID BROOKS

Philosophical debates arise at the oddest times, and in the heat of this election season, one is now rising in Republican ranks. The narrow question is this: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be vice president? Most conservatives say yes, on the grounds that something that feels so good could not possibly be wrong. But a few commentators, like George Will, Charles Krauthammer, David Frum and Ross Douthat demur, suggesting in different ways that she is unready.

The issue starts with an evaluation of Palin, but does not end there. This argument also is over what qualities the country needs in a leader and what are the ultimate sources of wisdom.

There was a time when conservatives did not argue about this. Conservatism was once a frankly elitist movement. Conservatives stood against radical egalitarianism and the destruction of rigorous standards. They stood up for classical education, hard-earned knowledge, experience and prudence. Wisdom was acquired through immersion in the best that has been thought and said.

But, especially in America, there has always been a separate, populist, strain. For those in this school, book knowledge is suspect but practical knowledge is respected. The city is corrupting and the universities are kindergartens for overeducated fools.

The elitists favor sophistication, but the common-sense folk favor simplicity. The elitists favor deliberation, but the populists favor instinct.

This populist tendency produced the term-limits movement based on the belief that time in government destroys character but contact with grass-roots America gives one grounding in real life. And now it has produced Sarah Palin.

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The far left has rightfully been vilified for their antics. For example, it is common for the loony left to shout down  right wing speakers at college campuses or to degrade  those who proudly wear the US uniform. But we are seeing there is an element on the right that is as equally dubious. As the presidential campaign enters its final phase, the McCain-Palin rallies have attracted some Republican party faithful with some hateful and inherent bias that is indeed troubling. It begins with those who choose to highlight Barack Obama’s middle name. What is the insinuation? Is it that he is a closet Muslim or is it simply to equate the notion that anything associated with the Near East is unworthy? Obama = Osama and Hussein = Saddam. It is the word association of the ignorant, of those who have never stepped one foot beyond this hemisphere or Europe and who have been insulated behind the walls of American bias and infused with a sector of the media that caters to an insular world view.

I would like to tell a story that occurred to me recently.  In the late 1980s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Yemen. I taught in a small village named Oozla that was serviced by a single lane dirt road. The classes were huge by American standards; often well over 60 kids in a room with benches as seating and their laps as desktops. I left in 1990. Last week I received an e-mail out of the blue. It was from an ex-student of mine named Mohammed who went on to study English and became a productive member of society there. Though his English is not perfect I would like to share an e-mail he sent to me:

It`s nice to hear from you.Is Yemen mentioned in the history subject you teach?I hope a great future for your daughter.
I want to know where do you live in the States.
Mudir Abdulwahab lift the school in 1992 and replaced him Mr. Ali AL-Duais.He has now  a grocery in Oozla and his son got top 7 in high school certificate in Yemen and left for Germany to study university.Regarding your crazy neighbor he kicked the bucket 15 years ago.Of course I do know Mohammed AL-Omary,he taught me geography at high school.He is also my friend and his hair still like monkey`s.I promise to provide you with pictures for Oozla and all your friends when I go there.
Actually, the economy is going bad everywhere and hope you cope up with these bad situations. For Yemen, there is a massive raise in prices and we are suffering from unemployment.However Yemen was developed during the past 10 years, but the live is still hard.
My personal life, I am engaged and getting married in January 1st 2009. You are invited for my wedding in Oozla and hope you come with your family.I am wondering for the srtong memory you have got because you still remember funny characters from Oozla.Say hello to your family for me.
my best,

Mohammed

Mohammed is in his mid 30s now and despite all that has happened since 9-11 there is still that bond that links people not by their names or what their governments do but what is inside all of us. In January I could go back to Oozla to Mohammed’s wedding and be welcomed as if I was a member of his family. So when you see people single out Obama’s middle name, know they possess the ignorance that is the worst that America has to offer, a bias that is not based on one’s character but on the implausibility that his father was African, gave him an Arabic name and that he had the ability to perhaps be the most powerful man in the country despite that fact. And that is what is best about the American spirit.

It is ok, conservatives, you can vote for Obama. The current climate in this nation is going to require energy and vigor and let’s face it, John McCain ain’t no spring chicken. Also, (I had to throw that in there for Sarah’s sake) Sarah Palin is too risky to have as a number two for a very old President. If I can’t convince you, how about listening to the son of one of America’s most famous conservatives…and a conservative himself.

The son of William F. Buckley has decided—shock!—to vote for a Democrat.

The Daily Beast

Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon. It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance.

Or would they? But let’s get that part out of the way. The only reason my vote would be of any interest to anyone is that my last name happens to be Buckley—a name I inherited. So in the event anyone notices or cares, the headline will be: “William F. Buckley’s Son Says He Is Pro-Obama.” I know, I know: It lacks the throw-weight of “Ron Reagan Jr. to Address Democratic Convention,” but it’ll have to do.

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The discourse among the McCain campaign has become angrier than that of the candidate himself. The clips from the stump speeches, especially Palin’s, border on ugly. After Palin’s ridiculous statements of Barack Obama having associations with radicals you could hear the most offensive things being shouted from the audience. “Kill him”, “traitor”, etc… Those who introduce Palin now take great pride in referring to Obama’s middle name to make him seem somehow unamerican.  It is obvious the McCain camp has tacked hard toward a negative campaign, hoping the race will turn in his favor through character assassination. This tactic has come from the most unlikely of sorts.

Lee Atwater was the driving force behind McCain’s faltering in the 2000 race by linking the Arizona Senator to an illegitimate Black baby (the baby in fact was a Bangladeshi child which Cindy McCain adopted and brought back from Asia). This tactic was utilized in South Carolina and would eventually give us the illustrious George Bush. They say time heals all wounds. Many people thought it was remarkable in 2004 when McCain campaigned with George Bush after the 2000 incident. But now we are seeing the essence of a man that prides himself on character. We are learning McCain’s time spent in the Hanoi Hilton did not create a moral man. When he returned from Vietnam he found a wife handicapped from a car accident while she waited for the POW to be released. He left her for an attractive wealthy heiress named Cindy Lou Hensley. And to trump it all he has hired the same Lee Atwater who brought down his campaign in 2000 with racist overtones. Are you seeing the picture clearly? So now you have the last desperate gamble from the heroic Vietnam veteran who has made character the central theme of the campaign even though we are facing some of the greatest challenges this nation has faced in sixty years. The Republicans are invoking the name Hussein, not just among the elite but among all loyal Republicans. The name itself is used to replace the N word. In my mind one’s birth name is no different than one’s skin color; it is something of which one has no control. And why would Senator Obama wish to change his name since the name Barack means Blessed and Hussein means Handsome? We can be sure that neither blessed nor handsome are terms that describe the nature of either McCain nor his campaign.

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Senator John McCain’s Veteran’s Affairs Report Card

Senator Barack Obama’s Veteran’s Affairs Report Card

Senator Joe Biden’s Veteran’s Affairs Report Card

Senator Claire McCaskill’s Veteran’s Affairs Report Card

Senator Kit Bond’s Veteran’s Affairs Report Card

60 Minutes tonight aired a piece about the market meltdown and its causes. Described as a “shadow market” the details of the crisis were revealed in detail and it told how millionaires were made on the backs of ill advised loans to scores of Americans who could not afford them and these loans were in turn bundled together and sold as commodities along with a deregulated form of insurance. When the borrowers reneged on their loans the house of cards came tumbling down. Much of this is well known but the intricacies highlighted in the program were enlightening. But what was not addressed in the episode was who we were actually bailing out. All those Wall Street and banking con artists who made a fortune on this corrupt business will not forfeit one dime of the wealth they have generated from the housing swindle. In essence we are taking over those bad loans from the wealthy who made a fortune on them.

Conservatives rail on the social welfare programs that reward the laziness of the poor with food stamps and the like but no hard working American would ever want to switch places with those who are destitute, no matter how much government assistance they received under the current system. Compare that to those who have reaped millions in the real estate scam that is ensuing. Is there one among you who would turn down 10 million dollars if you knew the government was going to come in behind you and bail out the mess? This is worse than communism. In essence, the bailout is the socializing of debt and the privatizing of profit.  Most Americans are seeing the disaster of fiscal policy playing out right before their eyes; $700 billion for the war in Iraq and a similar number for the bailout. Everyone is asking, for what end?

Joe Biden was criticized recently for stating that paying taxes was patriotic. He was referring to the wealthy who will be required, under Obama’s plan, to return to their tax rate they paid during Clinton’s administration. With the $700 billion bailout bill ($850 if you include all the pork) there was a tone to its passage that sounded a lot like Biden’s. It is the right thing to do for America we were told and all those wealthy people (and a lot of not so wealthy people who are heavily vested) heard the heavenly music upon its passage. But most Americans are not comfortable with the bill. Why didn’t the Democrats use their majority in Congress to simply pass the bill on their own? The reality is their constituents didn’t want them to pass it. Those who face tight races in their districts or states, whether Republican or Democrat, would have this vote as the last visual reminder of their voting record in Congress and thus they voted no to save their political hide. To some who voted yes it may be the last vote they ever make. We are told, despite the price tag, there is no guarantee the bill will stem the tide of the damage that has been done but what I am sure of is those who made a fortune off of the backs of us Americans are neither moral nor patriotic. But the sad thing is the bill may curb the golden parachutes of future CEOs of these institutions but for most, these criminals have already landed safely thanks to you and me.