Even Little Kids

To avoid any confusion, this post is simply my opinion based on facts that I read about and is in no way an attempt to persuade people to change their minds. Many have already made their decisions. I am just stating what I read to enlighten people. If it happens to change their minds, great. If not, oh well.

You wouldn't believe the article I'm reading as I write this. In a local elementary school, 200 4th- and 5th-graders participated in a mock Presidential election, in which Senator Obama won. 10-year-old kids voting for Obama and McCain in a mock election. Some of the reasons they gave for their choices seem too sophisticated for a 4th-grader to learn on his or her own. Then again, maybe kids today are smarter than we give them credit for. Let me provide an example of what one child said when he told reporters who he was voting for:

"I am going to vote for Sen. Obama because I think he will pull out our troops from Iraq," said Jonathan, a fifth-grader. "I am against the war because so many people are dying and we are not getting anything accomplished over there. I also like Obama because he provides us with something new.

"McCain has been in a lot longer and he will do routine things, while Obama might have a new spin on something." (Asbury Park Press, 30 Sep 2008, app.com)

Does this sound like the banter of an overactive youngster with ADHD? No, it sounds like a decent educated reason for wanting to cast a vote for Senator Obama.

Honestly, is it so obvious that Obama is the better choice that even little kids get it? One child cast her vote for McCain. She said simply, "He has more experience than Obama." Doesn't McCain have anything else on Obama?

What I gather from this is that Republicans and their little sprouts are more drawn to someone who spent more time in politics. Granted, throughout his career, McCain has TRIED different policies for things such as anti-smoking campaigns, trying to stop pork barrel spending, etc., but if you know your political history, you would know that damn nearly EVERYTHING McCain tried or supported or voted for FAILED. Sure, he's been there longer, but he sure doesn't see how the outcome might be. Just from reading SOME of the things he's supported, it would occur to me that Senator McCain does not look at the things he supports in the long run. Sure, it sounds good at the time, but will it LAST? Is this the kind of guy you want in the Presidency? Pretty much Bush's terms for another 4 years? If you're interested in reading about John McCain's "accomplishments", simply search his name on www.wikipedia.org.

Now, to be fair, I must bag on Obama. It's up to you, the reader, to decide who to vote for.

Barack Obama. Well, while he was in high school in the '70s, he'd tried marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol. Now, don't act so shocked. He openly discussed this at the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, and whenever else that came up. In college, he studied political science and international relations. After that, he worked for Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group. He also was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, a campus newspaper at Harvard, where he supervised over 80 editors. Later, he moved to Chicago where he was offered a fellowship at the University of Chicago Law School. He directed Project Vote, a program designed to encourage African-Americans in Illinois to vote. He succeeded, getting 150,000 of the 400,000 registered African-American voters to actually vote. In 1993 he became a lawyer and focused on civil rights and neighborhood economic development. (By the way, this is all BEFORE he even got near Senate.) In 1996, when he was elected to the state Senate of Illinois, he got support from whites and blacks alike for legislation reforming ethics and healthcare. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.

Yeah, Barack Obama is such an dumb, inexperienced guy. All of the above information is spanned from Obama's birth to just before he started thinking about running for US Senate. If you'd like to read about his accomplishments while in US Senate from 2005 to present, simply search "United States Senate career of Barack Obama" on wikipedia.org. (I know, it's bad to cite a website that can be edited by anybody, but recently more creditation has gone to the site since its reform of just who can revise and edit certain pages.) Wait...I bagged on him, right?

All in all, it's a no-brainer. Each candidate has pros and cons, but consider the success rate of each Senator. Who has more insight to know which bills will be good in the long run for the country, and which ones which would only provide temporary headache relief from a brain tumor that needs to be removed? (Good analogy, right?)

Well, that's all from me. Voters, it is getting closer and closer to E-Day. Exactly five weeks away, You don't have very much longer to make your decision. Please don't consider this to be anti-McCain and pro-Obama. I'm simply stating the facts. The decision is up to you.