Election Coming To A Close With A Smile

I've been watching the news for the past 30 minutes, as most Americans are doing tonight, waiting for the outcome of this election. The news is reporting that there have been record turnouts in voting. Nothing unexpected.

This has been the most heated, debated, passionate, funny, scary and any other words you can think of Presidential Election that I have ever seen. Why? Well, for one thing, no matter who wins tonight whether it's McCain or Obama history will be made. Obama would be our first black President and Palin would be our first female VP. So that's one reason why everyone is so excited about this race.

Another reason .....we're looking for someone who can get us out of the quagmire we have sunk into. Everyone is tired of rising gas costs, health care costs and prices while our paychecks grow slimmer and slimmer. We're tired of the housing market going downhill and trying to hold on to our homes while around us there are foreclosures. We're tired of having such a huge debt as Americans. We're tired of losing our men and women over in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're just plain tired.

Barack Obama's key word for his campaign during this Presidential Election has been "change". The one word all of America wants to see and hear. McCain has promised to change things as well. Either way, I hope one of them can.

The news reporter just stated that all over the country at the polls, whether they were voting for Barack Obama or John McCain, voters were not only enthusiastic but had huge smiles on their faces. Silly news reporter. He thinks everyone is smiling because they think their candidate is going to win....and yes, that will come later on tonight. But what everyone is smiling about while the Presidential Election is still up in the air is the fact that no matter who wins, George W. Bush will be gone!

No more President Bush who has made history by having the largest disapproval in the Gallup Poll since it began 70 years ago. No more George Bush who helped Iraq have their first "democratic" vote in over 50 years only to take American democracy away when he vetoed majority votes on three bills....one that would expanded Congressional oversight over the intelligence community and ban "waterboarding" or other forms of interrogation techniques, one that stopped the State Children's Health Insurance Program which would have expanded and helped federally funded health care and benefits for children from low income families and the one that I hated the most because I have two type 1 diabetic children....The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Democracy to George Bush means "it's G.W. Bush's way or no way".

When Bill Clinton left office in 2000, he had an approval rating of 65%, the highest rating ever for a President since World War II. The reported surplus? 559 billion. By August of 2007, the national debt stood at 8.98 trillion dollars and counting. 63,000 jobs lost in February of this year. No wonder George Bush's approval rating is now somewhere between 19% and 34%, depending on which Poll you see.

Bush's reaction to his low popularity? During a February 28, 2008 interview on Fox News Sunday, Bush had this to say...."I frankly don't give a damn about polls." Well, guess what George W. Bush. Almost every American would reply with, "Frankly, George, we don't give a damn about you!"

Second Presidential Debate A Yawner, But Obama Clear Winner

My husband and I watched the last debate and were not impressed. And we weren't alone. A lot of professional politicos also declared the debate, "A yawner." Despite this fact, I think that Obama came out the clear winner, at least in our household.

I have been an Obama supporter since he beat out Clinton. Yes, Hilary Clinton would have been my first choice for President of The United States by a narrow margin. When Barack Obama won, I stuck with the Democratic party because I felt John McCain was a clone of Bush. I had hoped that Obama would choose Hilary Clinton as his running mate, but sadly that didn't happen. My husband, on the other hand, thought he was going to vote for McCain. But after watching the debate and listening to their ideas for America, my husband said he would vote for Obama.

But getting back to the debate. Yes, both candidates brought up some interesting ideas for helping America get out of the economic distress we are in, not to mention the war and health care plans. What I noticed the most was that while Senator Obama tried to answer each question as thoroughly as possible, Senator McCain, when asked a question, would fire something off about Obama, say very few words about what he planned to do about whatever was mentioned, and just kept repeating the same phrases over and over. "My friends" which I believe I read totaled a number of 30 times. And "We are Americans. I have faith that we can get through this." Problem was, he really didn't enlighten either my husband or myself as to how Americans were going to get through the issues that have plaguing us for 8 years.

Then, Senator Obama started defending himself, making the debate more of a "he did this" or "he did that" instead of discussing America.

Many people have taken offense to the fact that during the debate John McCain pointed at Barack Obama and referred to him as, "that one". Not Senator Obama. That One. And while I wondered at first why there was such a big uproar over 2 simple words, I understand it now. In a public forum such as a debate, calling Obama "that one" instead of using his name was very disrepectful to McCain's opponent.

No matter whether you thought it was disrespectful or nothing big, the truth of the matter is, lots of people are cashing in on those two words. For example, Zazzle found here has several "That One" t-shirts. They sell for around $24.00. Zazzle isn't the only one cashing in on McCain's faux paux. There are lots of internet sites selling these t-shirts.

Yet again, another McCain strategy has seemed to backfire. Not only did the remark make undecided voters wonder whether to vote for him, Obama supporters to have something to wear against him but it also made money for others besides himself. Maybe McCain should demand a percentage of the profits. At least that way, he would have gotten something out of it.

McCain And Palin Changing Tacts When First Ideas Draw Criticism

This week has been a very big disappointment to me as a voter and a citizen of the United States of America.

It started last Sunday, a week ago, when Sarah Palin addressed a group of McCain/Palin supporters and brought up, yet again, the ties between Barack Obama and William Ayers. Ayers, of course, was the leader of the Weather Underground which protested the Vietnam War by bombing several buildings including the Pentagon, The House Of Representatives and several police stations. And while this is a terrible thing to do, in my opinion, what Palin failed to remind voters was the fact that Obama was 8 years old when this happened.

How old exactly was John McCain when he was one of the senators who were basically bought by Charles Keating, a real estate tycoon who ran the Lincoln S&L. The same S&L that shut down costing taxpayers billions of dollars? Not only was McCain one of the senators, he was the one the ethics committee dubbed as "closest to Keating." He was at least 30 something years old. McCain was given a slap on the wrist for his dealings with Keating when in reality, the man should have been ousted from office along with the other 4 senators.

How old was Sarah Palin when she used her position in public office to get rid of her ex-brother-in-law? Sarah has been found guilty of using her position in office for personal reasons. And while a lot of Palin supporters will point out that "Troopergate" was started in order to defame the Republican nominee for President that's not true. In fact, "Troopergate" was started before John McCain chose Palin to be his running mate.

McCain and Palin spent the better part of this week defaming Barack Obama by saying that he was "hanging out with terrorist". They stood by and watched as their supporters, so caught up in the mud-slinging yelled, "Terrorist!" "Muslim" and "Take his head off!" (in reference to Senator Obama). They knew they were inciting voters by bringing up one of their biggest fears. Terrorism.

But by doing so, McCain and Palin were putting a huge target on Obama's back. We all know that this kind of mob mentality can get ugly. It only takes one crazy person deciding to "do something about Obama" to prompt what could be an attack on Obama's life. A man whose only crime is trying to become President. A man with a wife. A father to two beautiful little girls. But did they care? No. That is, until McCain and Palin realized that their tactic wasn't winning over the undecided votes. If anything, their attacks were turning people off and making them decide to vote for Obama. They didn't stop their attacks until the press brought this into the spotlight.

Now, all of a sudden, McCain is trying to stop the rampage he and his running partner have helped to cause. Friday night, McCain was booed by supporters for saying, "Senator Obama is a decent, honest man and no one should be scared to have him as President of the United States." And while I feel this course of action is a little bit late, Senator Obama thanked John McCain for sticking up for him. A very classy thing to do, I might add, since this whole McCain campaign has been one attempt after another to not address the issues but instead, to smear Obama's reputation. Still, I guess McCain deserves a pat on the back for trying, however, then again, how do we know McCain is defending Obama's honor because he's truly sorry he incited the voters so much or because he realizes his attack campaign on Obama is making him look bad to the undecided voters? Or maybe, McCain and Palin are afraid that Obama will start bringing up the Keating Five and Troopergate, smearing their reputations much worse than they could smear Obama's.

Yes, Senator Obama fought back and put up a 13 minute video called KeatingEconomics.com that has been airing on the internet but this was only after several (and I do mean several) attacks on his reputation. No matter how cool and calm Obama may be, a person can only take so much before their backs are pushed against the wall and they have to come out swinging. Unless you are John Kerry who tried to ignore George Bush's tactics in 2004. A choice that I believe ended up costing him a chance to be President of the United States.

Whatever the reasons for McCain and Palin stopping their attacks on Obama's personal life, I am glad it's over (hopefully). I believe that rational and smart Americans want to hear what the candidates plan to do on every issue instead of all the mud-slinging, so that they can make a wise and educated vote on election day.