A Day to Remember and Pray

I am pausing today to remember and pray.    I remember the horrible events that occurred seven years ago today.   I remember the thousands of people who have lost their lives as a direct or indirect consequence of those events, and I remember and pray for their families.    I remember how the country was united immediately after September 11, 2001.    For a brief period, there were no liberals and no conservatives, and there were no Democrats and no Republicans.  We were all proud Americans sharing a common grief.     Regrettably, I also remember that the unity and sense of common purpose that existed for a short time after 9/11 soon disappeared.    The blame game started.  The Republicans blamed Clinton, who had been in office for the previous eight years until January 2001.   The Democrats blamed Bush, who had been in office for the previous eight months since January 2001.   Each side started exploiting the horrible events of 9/11 for political advantage, and they have been doing so ever since. 

In my prayers, I will thank God for my many blessings, including the fact that I am a citizen of the United States of America, that my family was not directly affected by 9/11, and that the United States has not suffered another major terrorist attack within our borders for the last seven years.   In my prayers, I will ask God to forgive and to help me forgive the terrorists who planned and executed the horrible events that occurred on 9/11.    I will petition God to give our national leaders the wisdom and courage to know how to deal with the problem of evil and to address the problem of global terrorism.   I will also ask God to provide guidance and comfort to the next President of the United States, whether Obama or McCain.   Finally, I will pray for peace.

 

Experience and Achievements

During my career, I have reviewed thousands of resumes submitted by candidates who were applying for a variety of different positions.   I have reviewed resumes submitted by attorneys, corporate executives, potential Board members, administrative assistants, secretaries, and even church pastors.   The review of resumes is normally the first step in the hiring process.   In reviewing a resume, I have always attempted to compare the experience and achievements of the candidate with the duties and responsibilities of the position that needs to be filled. 

If I were named to a committee to identify candidates for the position of President of the United States, I would not select Barak Obama for further consideration.   After reviewing his resume, I would conclude that Obama does not have either the experience or the record of achievement to qualify him to be President.   He has served only two years in the United States Senate during which he has spent most of his time running for President.  He is only four years removed from being a member of the Illinois State Senate.   He has no executive experience.  I am not aware of any significant achievements on Obama’s part, except that he has run an excellent campaign for President.   

Unlike Obama, McCain has a strong resume.   His resume, in my opinion, clearly shows that he has the experience to be President of the United States.  McCain attended the United States Naval Academy and thereafter spent 22 years in the U.S. Navy.   He served as the naval liaison to the U.S. Senate before retiring from the Navy in 1981.  His naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.   McCain has spent the last 26 years as a member of the U.S. Congress.  He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and to the U.S. Senate in 1986.    

There is clearly no comparison between McCain’s extensive experience and Obama’s limited experience.    Some will argue that experience is not the only factor to be considered in electing the next President, and I would agree that experience should not be the only factor.   In my opinion, however, it is an extremely important factor that deserves great weight.    It is important because experience brings with it wisdom, judgment and knowledge.  

Obama’s supporters have jumped on the fact that McCain’s choice for a running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, lacks the qualifications to be President, as if this somehow makes Obama more qualified.     I agree that Gov. Palin does not have the qualifications to be President, and I wish McCain had selected a more qualified running mate.    But Gov. Palin, if elected, will be Vice President—not President.   Moreover, in my opinion, Gov. Palin, although lacking the experience to be President, is more qualified than Obama.     She has been a member of a City Council, a Mayor, a Governor, and a member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.   Obama talks about reform but has no record to stand behind his rhetoric.   Gov. Palin has a strong record as a reformer and as someone who is willing to take on the establishment, including fellow Republicans.

 

 

The Voting Records

Barak Obama would prefer to be running against George Bush rather than John McCain.   Since he is not running against Bush, he is doing everything possible to link McCain with Bush.    He refers to “Bush-McCain” or “Bush-Cheney-McCain” repeatedly during most of his speeches.   It’s actually a pretty good strategy, and it may work due to Bush’s unpopularity.   

During his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, Obama, in a further effort to link McCain with Bush, said McCain has voted with Bush some 90% of the time.    Let’s ignore the fact that Bush doesn’t have a vote in the U.S. Senate and assume Obama meant to say McCain votes with the Republican Party 90% of the time.  There are still a couple of problems with Obama’s statement.  First, he neglected to mention that he has voted with the Democratic Party 97% of the time.    Second, these statistics are fairly meaningless because most issues that come before the Senate are non-controversial and receive a unanimous or near unanimous vote.   

Anyone who follows politics knows that McCain is a maverick and has made a habit of sticking his finger in the eyes of conservatives and his fellow Republicans.   The conservative wing of the Republican Party was extremely unhappy when McCain clinched the Republican nomination for President.   The reason for the unhappiness was that McCain has a long record of exercising independent judgment and doing what he thinks is best for the country without regard to party politics.   McCain has opposed the Republican Party’s position on a number of major issues, including campaign finance reform, the original Bush tax cuts, climate change, interrogation methods, spending and earmarks, immigration reform, and the conduct of the war in Iraq prior to the surge, to name just a few.    He also has promised to appoint Democrats to his Cabinet if elected President.  I have not always agreed with McCain’s positions, but I have always admired his independence, which is what we need in a leader.   

What about Obama?    He has only been in the Senate for approximately two years, so his record is much more limited than McCain’s.    I am aware of only a few major issues, however, where Obama has taken a position in conflict with the Democratic Party’s position.   While running for President, he voted in July of this year in favor of amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that were opposed by many members of his party.    He also voted against a bill supported by most members of his party to fund the war in Iraq, and he voted against the confirmation of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and General Michael Hayden to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.   In most cases where Obama has voted against his party, he has taken a more liberal rather than a more moderate position. 

Although Obama has been attempting to move to the center since locking up the Democratic nomination, his voting record clearly identifies him as a hard-core liberal.    According to National Journal’s 27^th annual vote ratings, Obama in 2007 had the most liberal voting record in the United State Senate, a distinction that helped him get the Democratic nomination.   His running mate, Joe Biden, was not far behind.   The National Journal ranked Biden as the third most liberal member of the Senate.    To his discredit, McCain did not receive a composite rating from the National Journal for 2007 because he missed too many votes to qualify under its rating system.    On social issues, which include immigration, McCain received a conservative score of 59, which means there are 58 more conservative members of the Senate on social issues.   In 2005 and 2006, McCain received a composite conservative score of 45 and 46, respectively, which places him squarely in the middle of the pack of all U.S. Senators.   

In politics, I think you have to judge candidates by their records rather than by what they say during the course of a campaign.   McCain has a record of showing independence and going against his party on important issues.  Obama says he wants to end partisanship and bring people together, but I am not aware of anything in his record to back his talk.    

Which candidate has the most credibility when he says he will take a non-partisan approach to governance?    Let the record speak for itself.