Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Voters Have A Real Choice This Year


There is a huge difference between the two parties nominees for president this year when it comes to the seemingly endless occupation of Iraq. Two candidates could not have more different views than Barack Obama and John McCain.

During the Vietnam War, sometimes it was hard to see the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans as far as the war went -- it was just a matter of degree. Neither party could really be called the party of peace. It is not that way in 2008.

John McCain will make sure the Republicans remain the party of war. For all his protesting that he is different than Bush, you certainly could not tell it by looking at his views on the Iraq War. He is actually trying to put forth the idea that we can win the Iraq War.

In fact, yesterday he made the statement that he would NEVER surrender in Iraq. It looks like he was serious about that "hundred years". Whether you call it "surrender" or "withdrawal", the conflict will not end until American troops leave Arabic soil. Surely he does not think the Iraqis will surrender their country to a foreign invader.

Ask yourself, would we ever surrender our own country to a foreign invader and accept a puppet government put in place by that invader? I think not. Why would we then expect the Iraqis to do so?

On the other hand, Barack Obama understands the dirty truth about the Iraq War. He opposed it from the very beginning. He says we must start a dialogue with countries in the region and get them involved in negotiations for peace in the area. He believes we can have our soldiers home in no more than 12-16 months.

Some say we cannot leave because there would be a bloodbath between Sunnis and Shiites. But that might be avoided with a multi-party Arab peacekeeping force established through diplomacy and negotiation. But the killing will never stop as long as Americans are based on Arab soil -- and Obama realizes that.

So voters have a choice as clear as night and day. We can continue to follow the Bush/McCain policies and endure many more years of war and see thousands more of our soldiers die. Or we can give Obama the opportunity to fashion an honorable withdrawal, and let the Arabs choose their own path.

We do not have to be an enemy to the Arabic world. They would like to be our friends. But they will never submit to America's will through force of arms. Isn't it time to vote for peace and a sensible solution to our problems with the Muslim world?

I think 4,084 American deaths are enough. I'm voting for Obama.

7 comments:

  1. You voted for kinky friedman too.

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  2. Yes, I did. Nice to know you've been reading for that long. I appreciate that.

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  3. You're assuming Obama will be the nominee. Will you vote for Hillary or McCain if that's the choice?

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  4. Yes, I am assuming Obama is the nominee. I was always pretty good at math.

    The question is not who I'll be voting for - that'll be Obama. The question is who will you be voting for in November?

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  5. Depends if the Democratic party counts the votes of good intentioned Democratic party voters in Florida and Michigan. After the 2000 election it is sad that the Obama camp wants to disregard votes. The Democratic party can kiss Florida & Michigan goodbye in November unless the delegates are seated in full. Penalize the state party, not the state voters. The people of FL & MI did nothing wrong. The only reason the Obama group doesn't want the votes counted is that they are afraid of losing (fast-forward to November). Oooh and what about Obama's Rev. Pfleger's comments on Hillary? The stuff keeps coming out of the closet...

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  6. Hillary was fine with punishing the Michigan and Florida "voters" - until she started losing. Now she's on a grand crusade.
    If you want to vote for McCain then do it, but stop whining about poor Hillary. She lost because she ran a poor campaign against a better opponent.
    And I didn't hear Pfleger say anything that wasn't true.

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  7. Then you are probably behind Rev. Wright's comments as well. Does Obama belong to a church or a comedy club? What uplifting sermons. No wonder Michelle was never proud of her country.

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