A Horrific Democratic Ticket
The Democratic ticket is one straight out of hell. Neither Biden nor Obama have what it takes to lead the U.S.
The political debate centered on John McCain and Sarah Palin in recent weeks, which was a terribly good development for Barack Obama and Joe Biden because it prevented people from focusing on their rather obvious flaws. Now that the debate has calmed down a bit, however, it is time to refocus on Obama-Biden, and to look at whether or not they are competent enough to be president and vice president.
As Senator Barack Obama has one of the most liberal records of all his colleagues. The Democratic Party is, of course, a liberal party, but Obama is even very liberal for this party. Compared to Biden, for instance, Obama is the MoveOn.org candidate.
He may have presented himself as a moderate in recent months, but the fact of the matter is that Obama allied himself with progressive activists during the primaries. He had to beat Hillary Clinton which meant he had to outflank her to the left. Progressive activists hated and continue to hate the Clintons because they believe Bill Clinton missed a lot of opportunities to pursue radically progressive policies when in office. Additionally, many believe, both Clintons do not have a lot of respect for those activists.
So Obama allied himself with those activists, and was able to beat Clinton. His decision to reach out to them was made easier by his record in the Chicago and U.S. Senate; the activists had a look at Obama’s record and immediately came to the conclusion that he was their man.
When in office, Obama will have to give back to those activists. He will have to give progressive activists what they want. If he does not, they will turn against him eventually, which would hurt his chances of being reelected; if only a fraction decides to stay home in 2012, Obama will not be able to beat a strong Republican challenger.
Another important weakness of Obama is his inexperience. Observers focused completely on Governor Sarah Palin’s lack of experience in recent weeks, but the fact of the matter is that not Palin but Obama is running for president. As such, his inexperience is far more significant. Palin will be guided by the president, John McCain, if the Republican ticket wins. Obama will not be guided by anyone; he will be the leader.
Obama has no significant experience whatsoever. He was a U.S. Senator for only one year when he decided to run for president. Before that he was a state senator, which is not exactly experience to brag about either. And before that he was a community organizer in Chicago. Since I’m not afraid to insult any ‘community organizers’ out there: this does not qualify as experience for political purposes. Better; it is utterly irrelevant ‘experience’ and it is too sad for words that a serious contender of the presidency actually pretends it is relevant. So he worked with poor people for a couple of years? Great. I suggest he should run for president of a charity organization then.
The man’s main weakness is, of course, foreign policy. When it comes to foreign policy, Obama offers nothing new and, once again, has no experience whatsoever. He lived in Indonesia for a couple of years as a child. Great. Millions of others have done the same. I suppose that qualifies them for the job as well? Aside from that, it’s funny that he cites those years as ‘experience,’ yet responds angrily when people take a closer look at what living in Indonesia means. After all, he went to school there, he was educated there, and he had friends who were Indonesian. Everyone with a little knowledge about this former Dutch colony knows that this means that Obama was probably raised a Muslim (his father and stepfather were Muslim), and that he was educated in Muslim traditions; Muslim prayer, the five pillars, and so on. This is normal for anyone raised in Indonesia, and should not be a problem. Yet whe one points out the rather obvious one is attacked for spreading lies about Obama and ‘fearmongering.’
Terribly sorry, but as a Muslim myself (a convert) I do not have a lot of patience for such accusations. This isn’t about scaring people, this is about Obama lying about his youth. And that is serious - lying about your youth on such a grand scale, simply for political purposes, should automatically disqualify you from becoming president.
Despite what his friends in the elite media have tried to tell the American people, Obama did most certainly say he would meet with Iranian and other leaders of enemy states. In a press conference earlier this year, Obama said that “strong leaders” and “strong countries” meet with their enemies. The MSM may try to brush this aside, but that does not make it any less true. Obama promised to meet - and will probably do so because his record and past writings show that this is what he truly believes - with leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, without any conditions.
You cannot meet with enemies of the West and its allies (Israel) without preconditions. Doing so is dangerous and sends the message that the U.S. is weak and weakwilled.
Obama’s running mate Senator Joe Biden isn’t any better. He too is completely incompetent. The man made some ridiculous remarks about Lebanon and Hizbullah during the debate, which should have disqualified him from the job immediately. He contended that when Hizbullah was ‘kicked out’ of Lebanon, he and Obama said NATO troops should be sent. The sad reality is, however, that Hizbullah was never kicked out, and that no one talked about sending NATO forces year ago, neither he, nor Obama. Journalists should send e-mails to the Obama campaign asking them to explain Biden’s words a bit. Are they planning to send NATO forces to Lebanon when in office? Are they going to war with Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon in order to ‘kick them out’? If not, did Biden imply he would actively support Israel if it would once again invade Lebanon in an attempt to destroy the terrorist organization which has taken over the entire Southern part of the country?
That’s just one example of horrific Biden gaffes. The man pretends to be ‘experienced’ and ‘informed’ on foreign policy, but the fact of the matter is that his understanding of the Middle East isn’t much better than that of the average 12-year old. He did not merely fail to understand the situation in Lebanon, he also has a long record of voting against policies that actually proved effective, and for policies that proved to be horrendous. One example: the military buildup of former President Ronald Reagan. Biden opposed it, it caused the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Another one: he opposed the first Gulf War. This is a war virtually everyone agrees was just and well handled. He then voted for the second Gulf War in 2003, but opposed the surge of 2007. As most know, the initial years of the war in Iraq were handled terribly, whereas the surge actually resulted in relative order and stability.
The man is a clown - yet running for vice president.
When Russia invaded Georgia both Obama and Biden seemed to be willing to let Russia get away with it. This while Moscow declared a new Cold War and will do everything in its power to combat the U.S. wherever it can. It already has established ties with some South American countries, and it is trying to bully former Soviet Republics and puppet states into submission. Such actions should be condemned, and the U.S. should come up with a plan to counter Russia’s plans in the coming years. A new Cold War has been declared, the U.S. should act on it and adopt a new policy of containment.
Together, the Democratic leaders, Biden and Obama, are among the worst candidates the Democratic Party could have come up with. They lack experience, and if they do have ‘experience’ it is of the worst kind. Both do not know much about foreign policy, and the one who is supposed to be the foreign policy expert makes a fool of himself whenever he talks about the subject. They are reaching out to moderates now, but their records show that they are among the most liberal members of the Democratic Party alive and active. They are willing to meet with enemies but they do not understand that you should support and reward those on your side.
They are incompetent and radically progressive; they are not the right people to lead the most powerful country on earth.
I think I’m going to write in Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong as President and Vice President. We may as well have some REAL comedians in the White House.
i respect your opinion but you are so silent about the weaknessess of the other side and that makes this article nothing but a scrap full of bias and very nonsensical!!!!
LOL - Is the far right version of Shaun Mullen writing here now?
Well, Rudi, since you have often been known to support and endorse Mullen (even to the point of running to him to tattle when he was criticized by people here), should we take your comment to mean that you agree with the author?
If not, perhaps you should comment in response to the substance of posts instead of constantly just trying to bait people.
Remind me, Rudi isn’t banned because?
LOL that’s actually true.
I didn’t run to Mullen, it was Abel(I believe). No, I don’t agree with the author, his biasis apparent in this case. As comment number two states, what about the other side(Palin/McCain).
This post over at Larison hits the nail. What would conservatives say if Kaine or Sebelius were the Dem’s VP pick.
http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2008/10/03/edification/
My first comment was 100% snark. While I read Mullen, I realize his post are completely in the tank for the Left, but I doubt his journalism in the past had the same bias. He doing his retirement slinging mud, not starting a journalism career with mud. Give the old fart a little slack…
This article appears bias. It would be a much better article had it looked at all four who are in play. Making cheap shots by comparing Biden, for example, to a 12 year old’s understanding of foreign policy is a stretch and it chides his record as a Senator. He has been a Senator longer than you have been blogging. I was a McCain supporter, but I don’t agree with several issues that have come up since the last time he ran for president. Yes, Obama has not been in office long, but the man has a better understanding of Constitutional Law than most. He also has a fiscal background and was a civil rights attorney. Those are good qualifications. John McCain went to the Naval Academy and served during the Vietnam War. He has four terms of the Senate under his belt. However the defining difference is that John McCain is out of touch with his constituency and has gone with the Bush Administration very often. As a 30 year old, I have had the opportunity to save lives, bring lives into the world, and make tough decisions with families who are in poverty. Obama gets it. Most people I work with are 200% below the poverty level. I have never struggled so hard as during the Bush Administration on a personal basis as well. When it comes to foreign policy, going to Iraq, I said from the very beginning was myopic. There was no hard proof, except for a few samples of biological samples sent to Iraq from American soil legally. I doubted there was no hard proof and that it took the focus off of Afghanistan where much conflict continued from the last time the US was involved. It seemed to me at the time even in 2001, when I was still in college, only 23, that Afghanistan should be the focus and I wondered why not more was being done. If a 23 year old can figure that out, how come Bush couldn’t come to the same summation? Guess what? The 23 year old and Obama were right. McCain supported the war in Iraq. People were telling me to buy a house for no money down and I thought that was fool hardy. People told me to invest in the stock market, but looking at the history of the last major crash of the stock market, I did not and invested in very conservative assets. Yes, it doesn’t take much "experience," to have common sense, correct judgement, and effective communication. When people talk about ‘lack of experience,’ what does that mean exactly? How come is it that one of my good friends, who is in his forties is responsible for large multimillion dollar accounts and does quite well at it and helps thousands of people around the world? How come is it, that in my short life, I have delivered babies, saved lives, and made fundamental judgement calls that even the Bush administration failed to see or rather ignored? To me, it’s a slap in the face of the good hard-working 30 and 4o somethings I know who work for the greater good to keep the United States healthy and prosperous.
Actually, Rudi, I suggest you read this. Stop nagging then.
So Rudi’s and Joys rules are either blog about both sides or else neither. Why don’t the same rules apply to the AP and …… ?
Oh, never mind. Interesting post, imo, with good insight from one with an often underserved pov. Thanks for posting it. In spite of the fairness doctrine violation.
OTOH we would (notice the would, I am not convinced by your post) have incompetent radical stagnatists/regressives. Both McCain and Palin have:
Made lies comparable to Obama not spontaneously coming out with his muslim childhood.
Made ill-thought blunders about an important crisis.
Shown a remarkable amount of personal weaknesses and worrying tendencies (Palin believes in cronyism and nepotism and she is ruining the very ide of true feminism by running from the press, McCain shows poor temper and complete blindness on economic matters and is doing to the concept of maverick what Palin is doing to true political equality for women).
Shown hardline conservatism that is just as far from the beloved creamy center that Obama’s LIBERALISM is. If Obama is the MoveOn candidate then McCain is Mark Steyn’s candidate.
McCain has shown ambiguity and extremism regarding the idea of diplomatism. Many flip-flops, they’re to see if one cares abut examining McCain’s record.
Gaffes and short-sighted from both the "experienced" republicans (Palin’s experience amounts to putting a town’s budget in the red and surrounding yourself with yes-sayers and incompetent buddies that pass the christianism and social regressive litmus. Perhaps if you are not contaminated with BDS that is impressive experience.)
For every (talking) point you raise against the dem ticket, for every warning, criticism and failure, you automatically bring down the rep ticket just as much. Notice that I’ll admit that you make a potentially strong (if very subjective) case for your hilariously attention-begging headline, but much like Palin you fall short on substance and bore me with talking points. Eat the cake or keep it, I won’t let anyone have both.
If this is supposed to bring down the dem ticket (notice that I am undecided on whether your words stick to Obama and Biden, and McCain and Palin by association), then it can serve to bring down the reps by the same distance.
great to read someone from Europe who actually knows what the USA is confronted with in this election.I made my mind up about the Palin -Biden victor on the basis of that one extremely dangerous comment as regards Lebanon.It was bordeline insane and bodaciously dangerous.
#12
Despite what you may have learned from Coulter and the like, putting lots of scary words in a post doesn’t make it interesting or sincere. You have to show people you made a basic effort, like MvdG did, and actually bother with putting spaces after a period and rereading your post after spelling errors.
What would conservatives say if Kaine or Sebelius were the Dem’s VP pick.
As someone who’s lived with Sebelius as governor for the last several years and who voted for her twice (because the specific GOP alternative sucked both times), I would have mixed emotions. Namely, my reaction would be [1] "Am I glad we have a moderate convert as a Lieut. Gov!", [2] "That posturing lightweight as VP? Was Sacha Baron Cohen booked up or something?", and [3] "What the hell were they thinking?"
Your mileage may vary, but Sebelius almost makes Obama look experienced and substantial.
OH! And about Obama lying about being a muslim or at least living a muslim lifestyle when he was a child. factcheck.org points to a Chicago Tribune article that mentions that "interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia."
So far, it seems that there are no more voices mumbling about Rezko and Ayers than Palin or Corsi, and I don’t know which of the two has a worse track record on truth and intellectual zeal.
Terrible article. Filled with bias and factual inaccuracies. Try and do some proper research before attempting to write a serious article.
That was the argument by Republicans before they picked Governor Sarah Palin. I’ve noticed one thing since then: they’ve stopped using it, because I think they realize continuing to criticize state-level experience would be hypocritical.
I will just repeat the rather obvious again: obama is trying to become president. palin is trying to become vice president. obama will be the boss, palin will basically be the assistant. See the difference in importance? A vp can be inexperienced, as long as the presidential candidate is experienced. Since he is the one who should lead.
Now, if we look at the Democratic ticket, you’ll have Obama being led by Biden because Obama has no experience whatsoever, and Biden is a man who was wrong about virtually every major foreign policy issue in the last 20 years.
Listen Michael, I know you’re an independent (and very reasonable) - a vp is not a p. And it’s a difference you should keep in mind.
Some people in America will need to get a grip on major changes that are coming.. God will have the last say so..whoever wins will be the one who is suposed to be in Presidency.. For whoever has issues with Color I surely won’t expect to see you in Heaven.
God Bless America… I still like Bush!
MvdG is exactly right on the experience debate. The talking heads on TV talk about Obama’s 18 months of immersion in foreign affairs topics, etc., during the campaign. But this is like learning from a book - it’s not the same thing as having lived it. He’s a well-read rookie about to take over the big chair, whereas Sarah Palin would be effectively invisible if McCain is elected.
@Mrs. Scott - God often lets men do all the stupid things they can imagine before acting, as with the Old Testament Jews. The fact that Obama is elected president may be anything but God’s will.