On the Precipice

Here we stand on the verge of history, hours away from something that will shape the American society, and by extension, the Canadian as well, for a very long time.

And I'm not just talking if Obama wins. The way I see it, tomorrow either pushes us off that aforementioned precipice, or pulls us back from it.

Western society is kind of teetering right now, with the credit crisis, a possible sequel to the Depression and 8 years of George W Bush pushing us towards the cliff.

If John McCain is able to fraud himself a seat in the Oval Office tomorrow (I truly think this is the only way a McCain victory would come about, and the only way 2 Bush victories did) then the world as we know is done for.

I know you're thinking, but, but, it'll be the same as the last 8 years, what will change?

Well, 8 years was almost too much to take, but people see it as somewhat of an aberration, 8 years that got away from them all, and a new President is what will cure the wounds of the Bush years. If McCain is elected, we will have the same indecisive, ideological, misguided, downright nonsensical leadership that the West has endured over the last 8 years for at least the next 4. At the same time, there will also be the constant horror of President Sarah looming over all of us.

A dash of electoral fraud and a relapse of melanoma = some scary shit happening in Washington.

No one likes to say it, but the US sets the tone for the rest of us, in the G8 and outside, so whomever sits in that big chair does determine a large part of where the rest of the world moves, not just their own nation.

That being said, if McCain is able to get in, it ruins the notion that Bush was an aberration, and I frankly think the world might look for a different guiding light than the one that has led us all since the end of World War Two.

But, anyone reading this probably understands the depth of the dangers a McCain presidency would bring, so I won't beat that dead horse any more.

If Barack Obama wins tomorrow, it is like a blank slate, a new beginning. The sins of slavery will be washed almost clean, if not entirely, and the world will look upon the US with new hope in their eyes.

Pardon the word usage, but it would be a black and white scenario.

As Canadians we now stand on this edge, watching, pained that we cannot affect it in the least, and all we can do is sit, watch, wait, and hope everything turns out the way we, and the rest of the world need it to.

I'll say it again, we don't want Obama, WE NEED OBAMA.

I for one view this race as the defining one for my lifetime, win or lose. It will either make me believe that change is possible, and the son of a single mother, who had to take student loans to get an education and who worried where the next meal would come from can actually shift the world, or it will drop me into a pit of cynicism that I probably won't be able to crawl out of ever again.

For a person that wants to get into this political game one day, and very much fits the points I listed in the previous paragraph, I really need my hopes to be heeded, just this once. I have watched election after election up here, and around the world, where the winner didn't really deserve the prize, where the person who could toss out the most ads or smear the most took the seat.

No one has ever energized me in the way Barack has. I have watched him with apt attention for over 3 years now, and I need to see him win tomorrow. I need to know that the good guy can win the race, that rationality can take hold at a point, that people can do the right thing, and not be scared into doing the wrong one.

Of course, that viewpoint is a tad selfish, and of course I want all of the other dominoes that fall with an Obama presidency. I want healthcare, I want the flow of money to stop jumping into the upper-most tax bracket, I want justice and equality, and I want everyone to have a fair shake at things.

One Canadian blogging about the American elections likely won't change one tiny iota of what is going to happen tomorrow, but this is my two cents nonetheless.

We all stand on the precipice, and we all stand together, but only some of us have the power to pull us all back, or to push us over the cliff into oblivion.

I will watch tomorrow night, as I know many of my fellow Canadians, Americans, and citizens of the world will. We will all watch, holding our collective breath, and wish with all the might we can muster that for once, we can believe, we can have hope, and yes, that things can change.

I will close with the three words that have defined this lanky man from Hawaii and his campaign, who grew up with nothing and came to be so much, who has touched so many of our hearts. They are the three that have carried us all this far, pushed us to blog, cut videos, doorknock, phonebank and donate.

The words we have carried and the words we will carry forward, to give us that hope, and to push us forward to change the world.

Yes We Can.

McCain Taps Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (???) for VP

Ok, McCain has officially sold the last shred of his soul.

He has chosen the 44-year-old, scandal-ridden, Governor of Alaska for all of 2 years Sarah Palin as his running mate.

She is largely unknown, because she hasn't really done a thing. She was the mayor of a 6000 person village three years ago, and now she's supposed to be ready to step in for the 72-year-old with a history of cancer at any moment as President of the United States. To quote Wayne, of Wayne's World, 'Chyyya...ruhight'

This is a straight pander-pick, in a couple of different ways. Firstly, she is a staunch conservative, anti-choice, and a creationist, for the Roves and Huckabees of the right wing. Secondly, she has a vagina, which of course means that all disaffected Hilary supporters will swing over to vote for a woman, basing absolutely nothing on policy, and everything simply on matching reproductive organs. Right-o.

This shows some serious desperation on McCain's behalf to make some sort of energetic splash with his pick, to stifle the wave Obama is riding after his speech of a lifetime last night and his bang-on pick of Joe Biden as his running mate. This really does nothing to help him, and simply casts some serious doubt on that 'judgment' he's always harping on as an edge.

Also, as an added benefit of choosing someone with less of a resume than the Democrat who you lambaste for not having enough of a resume, McCain has effectively ended the 'experience' meme against Obama, and really showed how off-base it was to start with. I think that was ended last night anyways, but this is the nail in the coffin.

I'm just trying to sort out all the negatives here, too many to count.

Biden is going to rip her to shreds too in surrogate battles and the VP debate. He has more experience and political skills in his pinky than she does in her whole career.

A lot of people are comparing this to the Dan Quayle pick of '88, as Palin is completely out of her league and her depth, and that was also a mega pander of a pick by HW Bush. I think this comparison is dead on, as Palin really brings nothing to the table besides her age and gender, which is not all that should be on the docket of someone who is a heartbeat from being President.

All in all, I'd say this is about the best news possible. Pawlenty would have brought a lot of credibility as a Governor to the table. Romney would have brought name recognition and a bevy of cash, even Lieberman can stand on his own two feet based on his experience and record, but nope, lets shelve all these experienced, qualified candidates, and just choose the best right-wing woman available. Good job Johnny.

I'm just sitting her shaking my head, and thinking how much has changed since yesterday morning. Obama passed the commander in chief test with a speech of a lifetime and McCain made the biggest error of his political career.

Wow, what a change a day can make.

Obama-Biden - A More In-Depth Look

My VP allegiance has swung a bit during the build-up, but in the last week or so, I found myself pulling hard for Joe Biden.

I was a Sebelius fan for a while there until I became convinced that she alongside with Obama, would be prime targets for a 'no experience' line of attack from the McCain campaign, and would compound Obama's biggest problem, his lack of experience.

Quick note, I don't think experience should be a huge issue in most elections, this one especially. I think every leader, when they sit behind that desk for the first time, is a bit daunted by the challenges that lie in front of them. The best thing for any leader to have isn't necessarily a long resume, but good judgment to confront those challenges in ways that progress the nation.

Anyways, I'm getting a bit off point.

Experience is an issue with this electorate though, as they are not all simply clones of myself, and so Obama not choosing someone with one of those long resumes could be an issue, shake people's confidence in what his administration would really bring to the table, etc.

So you go with experience, easy, there are plenty of people in and out of Washington that can fit that bill, right?

Problem is, when you base your whole campaign on a theme of sweeping change and eliminating the lobbyist culture and scuzzy politics of Washington, D.C., picking someone with experience is also problematic. (My what a tight rope to walk!)

So as we see, walking that rope deftly, as always, Obama has chosen a 33-year Senate veteran who, for those 33 years, has never held a residence in Washington, and never had time to fall under those special influences. A person who takes an Amtrak train every day to and from DC from his home state of Delaware.

Watching Biden and Obama on stage together Saturday, and hearing them speak only confirmed all the positives I saw in the past few weeks with the idea of this ticket.



Most of the response to Biden from the media, and the party, seems to be fairly positive, with Gov. Ed Rendell saying, "He speaks our language", and Gov. Ted Stricland quoted, "...his humble Pennsylvania roots give him a deep understanding of the challenges facing Ohio families."

There are of course the Hillary supporters who are threatening to jump ship again to the (incredibly misogynistic) John McCain, but after the convention, where the Clintons will be getting two nights to speak, and Hillary's name will be placed in roll for the nomination, showing her the respect she does rightly deserve, hopefully a chunk will see the light and come back.

Joe Biden has an almost unparalleled level of experience with foreign policy issues, grew up in a small Pennsylvania factory town, made himself into a multi-term powerhouse of a US Senator, has pushed legislation to fight violence against women and fills in all the areas Obama seemingly lacks on that ever-important resume.

He has a silver tongue and whipcrack of a wit, and he seems to have no bones about taking Republicans to task. I frankly think that McCain will have to factor this into his choice, as if he picks someone safe with relatively little charisma, who isn't quick on their feet, Biden will embarrass and destroy them come the VP debate and subsequent interactions between the campaigns.

His personal story, aside from all the success in the Senate, is also very inspiring.

He overcame personal tragedy with the death of his first wife and young daughter, two weeks after he was first elected to the Senate at age 29, and then proceeded to commute every day from DC to care for his two sons in the decades following. One of those sons went on to be the Attorney General of Delaware and is shipping out to Iraq in the coming months.

I'm sure more will be said about Joe Biden in the coming months, not all of it good, as with nearly every politician, he has his flaws, but he was by far the best VP choice out there for Obama to make.

VP picks can be dicey, especially for someone who has no scandals to their name for Republicans to hammer upon. Obama is essentially tying himself to Biden, and everything that comes with him. I don't forsee any problems, but I don't think anyone saw Rev. Wright coming either.

I'm sure I'll take up many more pixels talking about Joe Biden, but for now, I'll keep everything simple.

When the microphones went cold on Saturday in front of the Old Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois, I was struck with the simple thought that this election was over, and that Joe Biden was that final piece of the puzzle to winning this thing and convincing people that Obama does have the skills, and the team, to get the job done.

I have a confession, I'm in love with a Republican

Well, a Libertarian, but that's just extreme Republicanism anyways. The one I am currently in love with would of course be the premier libertarian on the scene today. Ron Paul.

Watching the Republican debate the other night, I was struck by how on the ball and committed to the real problems facing the US today this man is, and how doggedly he has tried to get his voice into this debate.

While Mitt Romney and John McCain were squabbling over the context of Romney using the term 'timetable', and what that term would mean, Paul interjected himself into the debate, with real ideas not about whether to withdraw from Iraq or not, but that they shouldn't have gone in the first place, that they should be debating whether the US should be interventionists or isolationists, the economy, healthcare, education, tax reduction and y'know, things that matter to the regular, everyday, middle class voter. Y'know, the same ones that will make up 40-50% of the electorate?

Now while I'm not a libertarian, and far from it actually, I always love seeing someone so committed to their cause state their argument so plainly and rationally in the face of pettiness. I don't think any of the Republican nominees would be the right choice, but out of all of them, I think Ron Paul would probably do the best job. He wouldn't re-write the US Constitution to include more religious references (Huckabee), double the size of Guantanamo Bay (Romney), or keep the US in Iraq for a “hundred years” (McCain).

He would stop the US from being the world police, he would stop stomping all over 90% of the country to benefit the top 10%, and he would make things a lot more workable for the majority of Americans.

He would also do plenty of things I'm not in favor of, such as cutting taxes. There wouldn't be supportive government programs such as universal healthcare, which should be a pillar of democratic society, as a representative government is in place to benefit the citizens, or Social Security. Education would likely become less subsidized, instead of more-so, as is needed.

Libertarians put the burden on the individual to provide for themselves in a free and open market, but that market simply isn't there, as workers are not valued as prized and important components, but numbers to generate profits. I'm not going to get into a whole diatribe about corporations and the working person, but all I will say is without a fundamental overhaul of the way the US economy is structured, which is towards the rich, everyone from the middle-class down will not have the resources to make these kinds of free and open choices that they need to survive, such as medical insurance, money for post-secondary education, and retirement security. This is the reason the US economy is in a downturn. The Bush administration has put too much emphasis on the individual to secure their own futures, without giving them the ability to have the resources to do so.

If Ron Paul gets elected (fat chance, I know) he would likely bring about the kind of change necessary to make a Libertarian-style system work, but it would be a long, tough road, and I'm not sure the US electorate has the stomach to weather that kind of storm and let the government that set them on that road stay in power. It’s always the short-term fix that wins elections, not sound, long-term policies that will bear fruit after a long slogging.

Libertarianism, and Ron Paul by extension, are long slogs, and while it possibly could turn out for the better, and Ron Paul is a strong and determined man who I have a lot of respect for, people don't have the stomach for it.

Ron, we could have been beautiful, and some place in my political heart, I'll always have a place for you, but for now, I think its best if we go our separate ways...

Huckabee wins West Virginia

Mike Huckabee has won the West Virginia Republican convention, with a slim majority of the vote over Mitt Romney.

W. Virginia votes on a plurality-majority type system, much as it would in the national elections, and if no one garners 50% support in the first round, they rangle behind the scenes and vote again.

This happened, with Mitt Romney winning the initial vote, but not a full 50% majority. Huckabee ran a close second, and McCain was a distant third, as this is an overwhelmingly Christian conservative state.

So McCain, at this point, saw a political opportunity and shrewdly threw his supporters behind Huckabee, to deny his closest rival Romney a big opening victory on Super Tuesday. Huckabee is going to play a role in the race from this point forward, but I don't think anyone believes he is going to take the crown overall. All McCain did here was take 18 delegates away from Mitt Romney when they both roll into the Republican National Convention.

Smart, very, very smart, and I respect the move. It's power politics at its best, and I applaud McCain for doing so.

Huckabee is looking good as a possible VP nominee to McCain, as he gives him the Christian conservative vote, as well as a strong number 2, that ran third nationally all through the race. This could be the start of a ball rolling on that type of ticket nationally, but that might be getting a bit ahead of everything.

For now, Huckabee has scored a good PR win, McCain denied his nearest, and only viable rival the delegates and PR he so richly needs, and Romney, well Romney gets nothing out of the deal, except out-manuevered...

I'll be back with more updates as they hit the airwaves.

Super Tuesday is here!

The political Superbowl has arrived people, and I'll be watching and reporting as the polls roll in.

With such rich delegate states as California, New York and Illinois up for grabs, this day could define what is turning out to be an Presidential election that will shape all of our lives for a generation.

On the Democrat side, Clinton and Obama are in a virtual tie nationally, and in California. Both are leading their home states, Barack his actual home state in Illinois, Hillary her adopted one in New York, and both will likely score big victories. It is not a winner-take all type vote, as the Republican party runs, so we may very well come out of this hugely important day still at a standstill as to who the Democratic nominee. Barack seems to have more resources and more momentum on his side, so if this race goes further, the downward trending of Hillary and the upward trending of Barack will likely continue. Hillary wants this race to stop today, but I don't think that's going to happen, and the longer it goes, the more Barack has the advantage.

On the Republican side, the country is really being split. The Christian, right-wing conservatives are having to choose between someone who is unpalatable in a general election but has good conservative 'value' positions, Mike Huckabee, and a man that no one seems to trust, but is seen as the only alternative in a national campaign to John McCain, Mitt Romney. McCain is running ahead of them both nationally, but his conservative positions don't really get the motor turning as much as Huckabee and Romney do. Huckabee is mainly a spoiler now, but he could easily 'Ralph Nader' this race away from Romney by pulling in the Christian conservative vote away enough to let McCain slip by on his national security credentials.

This is an amazing and interesting race, and like I said above, one that will decide all of our fates for a generation. Will the US renew themselves, elect a progressive leader that will change the world's opinion of the lone superpower, or will they doggedly stay with a Bush-style politician, and leave their standing with the world as low as it is right now?

This affects us all, Canadian, American, Afghani, Iraqi...I could name them all. The US sets the tone for the world, and they are electing the man or woman that will set that tone for at least the next 4 years.

Vote smart, vote well, vote with a future in mind, not with just a single issue. Vote overall, and vote for the person y0u think will change the US, and the world, for the better when they are done sitting in the Oval Office.

Best of luck, go change the world today....