Root, root, root for the home team...

By this time, most people have decided who they will vote for in the Presidential election.

This means that most people have decided that there is no answer to any question from any source that would change their behavior in the polling booth.

No matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, their minds will explain away anything that portrays their candidate/party/political perspective negatively or his opponent positively. Any event will be interpreted as either wrong or inconsequential.

There are three questions that are worth considering:

1. What is best for me?
2. What is best for my country?
3. What is best for the world?

The answer should be the same or there is something wrong.

For DocBrain it is taxes, defense and leadership as the three answers, and the best choice is McCain.

Say it aint so!

http://www.rabbisforobama.com/

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, includes in the service a communal expression of sins of the community, where we each pray for forgiveness for sins done by members of our congregation. The sins of pride and hautiness certainly are present in the group of rabbis who found it necessary to bond together to make a statement about their support for Barack Obama. This website states as much as implies that other candidates, such as McCain and Nader, would be disastrous for Jewish interests and would be incompatable with Jewish teachings.

Rabbis are teachers, but also looked at as thought leaders for Jewish matters.

The concept of a group of religious figures telling congregants who they should vote for to be good Jews is not only repugnant, but implies the presence of a foresight that is infallible. Many Jewish leaders supported Adolf Hitler in his rise to power, indicating the fallibility of preconceptions. I do not equate Obama with Hitler, only the hubris of those who believe they know the unknowable (the future). These rabbi-mavens further act to alienate congregants with other viewpoints. Is this a mitzvah? How comfortable would be a dying Jewish Republican to be visited by her Rabbi for Obama?

While it is important that each citizen have an individual stance on politics, this banding together to create a voting bloc or bully pulpit is not something that rabbis should do. It fails the smell test, and these rabbis should know it. I believe that each rabbi on the list should ask fellow congregants for forgiveness and atone to G-d. And vote in secret as is the American way. Amen.

'nuff said

Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary. "If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."


The above statement by Biden, uncontested by Obama, indicates a concerted focus on the past. As we learned in the final years of the Clinton administration, you can not adequately focus on both the past and future. While Clinton focused on Monica and Ken Starr, Osama escaped a certain death and prepared his 911 attack, Enron floundered, the .com bubble burst, and none of us were better off than we were 4 years ago. And Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar with years of experience in government administration.

I need not point out that partisan attacks will lead to a collapse of the bipartisanship needed to accomplish the stated goals of the Obama-Biden ticket.

So, it boils down to the following:

1. You explain away what Biden said because you trust/like Obama-Biden more than McCain-Palin. "He was not speaking for Obama." "He doesn't really mean it. He is just trying to pump up his democrat peeps."
2. You do not need this knowledge because you trust/like McCain-Palin more than Obama-Biden. "Yes, but look at what Obama will do to taxes."
3. You believe that, even if this is true, there are other key issues that transcend whether or not Obama can accomplish anything. Perhaps appointing to the Supreme Court or his stance on social issues or the symbolism of having a democrat in the White House, even if he can't deliver.
4. You believe that, absent a denial, this is true. Then Obama will not do any of the things he promises, and is just scamming us. If you hope for a government that does nothing, this is a good thing. If you are hoping for something new or better from government, this is bad.

DocBrain wants change. That he can believe in. Obama-Biden at this point do not deliver.

Why not now?

Obama stands for change and has the backing of the democrat party. He has ideas of how to change things. These things, he believes, would be of great help to America. Apparently, his democrat colleagues also believe his proposed changes would be of great benefit. At this time, the democrats control the House and Senate. So, why not send legislation to Bush that is exactly what Obama wants. Nothing extra. Nothing less. This way, the obstruction of the present administration and the need for Obama in the White House can be clearly demonstrated. This would be similar to the Republican contract with America, where changes were done with a Democrat president. In that case, Clinton did go along with much of the contract. Perhaps Bush would go along with the dems as well. The positive spin of doing good for us even before being elected would definitely be change that I could believe in.

No country for old men (or young women)

Liberals have decided that McCain is too old and Palin is too young (she has young children). This ageism and sexism is a bad reflection on the party of inclusion. Biden, without a wife, spent hours each day away from his work as a Senator taking care of his children, and yet no criticism from the left.