LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Obama unassailable on issues that matter

Tom Harper, Henderson

Mon, May 12, 2008 (2:03 a.m.)

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In Constance Young’s Friday letter, headlined “Obama has history of poor judgment,” she states that Barack Obama’s associations with individuals, including Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., show his lack of judgment, and if Hillary Clinton doesn’t get the nomination for president, Ms. Young will not vote in the presidential election even though she is a Democrat.

With all due respect to Ms. Young, this appears to be a classic instance of someone making a decision with her heart and not with her head, ignoring the undisputed fact that Obama and Clinton share similar positions on most issues and their positions are diametrically different from those of John McCain.

While I respect the emotional and historical significance of electing the first woman president, it’s time to put gender and race issues aside and look to the best interests of the United States.

Guilt by association is one of the oldest and most vile political ploys, especially when there has been no shred of evidence that Obama’s association with these individuals ever influenced or affected any decision he made on behalf of the state of Illinois or this country.

If you want a true barometer of judgment, look at the campaigns of Obama and Clinton. Obama has run a well-managed campaign in which he contested all of the primaries and caucuses, and Clinton made what appears to be the fatal misjudgment of passing on 11 primaries and/or caucuses. Further, Clinton’s gas tax holiday proposal, which was no more than a gimmick, played into the hands of Obama, who convinced voters in both Indiana and North Carolina that the proposal was no more than “politics as usual.”

Ms. Young’s threat as a Democrat not to vote for Obama is a vote for McCain. Is this in the best interests of the U.S., when McCain’s position on Iraq may lead to a 100-year presence there, that he readily admits he knows little about economic principles and that he is willing to maintain the tax cuts for the wealthiest as implemented by George W. Bush? I hardly think so.

Discussion: 11 comments so far…

By NVMakz

5/12/08 at 6:56 a.m.

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If what was known about Obama's "judgment" now was known at the time of the New Hampshire/Iowa/Nevada timeframe, Barry would be GONE.

Guilt by association has been one of the the main rhetorical weapons of uber-liberals since day 1 of the Bush Administration, on every issue. Barry tried to cover early on for his vast inexperience and vaporous political resume by touting his "judgment". We now see him cracking on the stump as he struggles to cover for the lack of it in his past.

Obama's personal and political "judgments" has been shoddy, immature and so very socialist ("1 Liberal in the Senate). He has no business residing in the East Wing.

Barry O is simply the latest of the uber-liberals who the Democrat primary process produces. Dukakis, Mondale, Gore, Kerry and now Obama = the latest of those who really try hard to seem mainstream but who in fact are WAY lost in the fog of socialism.
By NVMakz

5/12/08 at 7:18 a.m.

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Sorry, I forgot!

Barry O voted FOR a "gas tax holiday" THREE times when he was in the Illinois Legislature.

Flip flopper!!
By MissClarity

5/12/08 at 8:27 a.m.

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Get over yourself. Some have families around us all our lives guiding us, nuturing us and we still make poor decisions. The sign of a wise sane man is that he learns from his mistakes and changes and we know who he is. The sign of insanity is to continue doing the same mistake over and over again hoping to get a good result and we know who she is. My radar is adjusted for self-righteous individuals who dare to act as though they've never error'd in judgement because if they could get over their narcissistic selves they'd be humbled by the fact that theirs aren't the only rules in town and they could get well and move into the realm of sanity, of wisedom which brings with it the humility to foregive and love and be touched by a greater force than themselves.
By JohnF

5/12/08 at 9:16 a.m.

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If you saw Obama on Meet the Press last week, you would know that he said the reason he's against a gas tax "holiday" now is because he voted for it in Illinois and it didn't work. I believe his exact words were, "I learned from my mistake."

Would you have Obama continue to do the wrong thing, knowing it's the wrong thing?

Oh, yeah. I forgot. You're a GW Bush fan, so I guess you would.
By NVMakz

5/12/08 at 9:51 a.m.

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You know, JohnF= after looking it up, you're correct. I stand corrected.

My original post still stands.
By JohnF

5/12/08 at 10:16 a.m.

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NVMakz,

I apologize for the GW Bush crack; it was snide in the slyly disparaging sense. I was doing to you what is being done to Obama by others (something I've complained about loudly). Namely, I was attributing the faults of others to you despite the fact that you've displayed none of those faults yourself. Sorry.
By frenchie

5/12/08 at 1:51 p.m.

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Six. More. Months. Wow. This campaign season has already seen more vitrol and bad blood than any other I can remember. Here's how the story is going to go: Obama wins the nomination in August. The Republicans loose (and loose big) in November. The rest is sound and fury, signifying nothing....
By NVMakz

5/12/08 at 2:58 p.m.

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Obama is the next way-left liberal in the mold of Kerry, Gore, Mondale, Dukakis and all the way back to McGovern. No POTUS has been elected from the so-far-left political spectrum in my half-century of life.

McCain IS a towering paragon of political gravitas compared to the next way-left political puppy in Barry Obama.

I DO love how "frenchie" is spiking the ball on his/her "own 15 yard line"(mq).

The political vitriol comes, about 228% of it, from the uber-liberal-Bush-haters. More or less.....
By nobody

5/12/08 at 5:47 p.m.

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Everyone needs to relax. There is nothing we can do. Go to www.zeitgeistmovie.com and it will explain everything. Good Luck and god bless us all.
By MysterMr

5/13/08 at 2:15 a.m.

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Oh, perhaps we need some of Hillary's judgment such as voting for the Iraq war and voting for PATRIOT. Perhaps we need some of her style of judgment in thinking nobody would know she was "misspeaking" (see "lying") about sniper fire. Perhaps Hillary's judgment when it comes to taste in husbands is something to be considered. Perhaps she's using bad judgment in accepting money from anyone that will give it to her regardless of what favors she will owe later.

Alternatively, Obama has shown some serious temperment in not using any of this against his foe. That temperment is quite "presidential". He hasn't accepted any corporate money.

Obama's big crime so far? He had a pastor who voiced some unpopular views - big woo! Yeah, it's really crazy and out there to suggest that perhaps America wasn't targeted randomly, but that perhaps it was America's own actions that prompted the attack against it - yeah that's a real stretch there.

The problem? Well the fact is that Obama's platform (like McCain's and Clinton's) SUCKS. It is a slower path to insolvency, but a path nonetheless. Obama may change things for sure, but he would have his hands full just trying to repair some of the damage of the last 8 years.
By jojameson

5/14/08 at 2 p.m.

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An error in judgment about one's pastor is much more forgivable than openly associating with a pastor who is hateful and bigoted, as McCain does.

McCain has still not renounced the endorsement of Rev. Hagee, who said that God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish "sinful" people in New Orleans, called the Catholic church "The Great Whore", and compared women to dogs, amoung other offensive, outrageous, and anti-American remarks.