Dear (McCain Supporter),
You raise some really good points here and you’ve clearly thought this over thoroughly. I know that you have an open mind about these things and are willing to look at all sides. I certainly agree with you, that don’t know if Barack can deliver what he promises any more than I know that John McCain can deliver what he promises. If history has told us anything, the answer is “probably not”. Although Scott McClellan Bush’s former press secretary and someone who has been there and seen what it takes to be president first hand said in his endorsement of Obama that he “has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done”, its perfectly understandable and probably a little wise to be skeptical and cynical. You would be naïve not to be. I completely agree that Obama won’t be able to deliver exactly what he promises. And I say that as someone with his poster on my wall. But the real problems we will face, the crises that will arise, and the events that will transpire that will define the next four to eight years are likely things we have no inkling of now. In 2000 voters were asked to list the issues that were most important to them. Defense/national security came in 10th. That of course went on to be the driving issue of the entire Bush presidency. In 2004 there were no questions that I remember asked about how either candidate would respond to a natural disaster or what they would do if the financial market collapsed. Yet those are the events, along with the war, that will define Bush’s second term in the history books. We have no way of knowing yet what will happen in the next four years, what challenges will define this presidency. We do know a few things though.
We know that when the bailout crisis hit McCain famously suspended his campaign to head back to Washington right away (of course only after appearing on the CBS News that night, having a fundraiser dinner at the ritzy 21 Club in New York, speaking at a conference the next day, and then arriving in Washington AFTER Obama who had managed to both keep his campaign going and go to Washington). Once McCain arrived in Washington a deal that had seemed imminent immediately collapsed. Both Obama and McCain attended a meeting at the White House with President Bush. Obama dominated the conversation asking specific direct questions to a number of different people present and engaging in a vigorous back and forth. McCain didn’t say a single word until 43 minutes into the meeting and even then his comments were by all accounts minimal at best. Even though McCain had vowed to stay in Washington until the crisis was solved, he then left Washington with the crisis far further from being solved than it was when he arrived. Of course after he left, a deal soon came together and even though McCain called the deal a “disgrace” and even though he had vowed not to sign it if it was loaded with pork (which it was) he signed it anyway. In the major crisis of this campaign season did McCain demonstrate the leadership that this country needs? Did he show an understanding of and an ability to solve our financial crisis?
And as it continues to change and evolve who do you think has the better judgment to handle our complex financial crisis – someone who finished 894th out of 899 in their class in college and has said in the past year “the issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should” or someone who held the most prestigious position possible while at Harvard Law School (President of the Harvard Law Review) has written complex papers on economic theory and counts amount their advisers and supporters Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, and Warren Buffet?
Now, I hear that McCain understands the military better than Obama. But what is understanding the military? Is sign of understanding the military receiving the endorsement and personal guidance of Colin Powell, Wesley Clark and over 70 recently retired generals and admirals, or is a sign of understanding the military when people from your own party say things about you like “the thought of John McCain being commander and chief sends a cold chill down my spine” as Sen. Thad Cocharn did or “his temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him” as former Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire said? Is understanding the military pushing for the country to enter an unnecessary war in Iraq and then claiming that in that war we will be “greeted as liberators”? Or is it opposing that war and saying from day one that it will be a quagmire that will be near impossible to control? For someone that understands the military so well McCain sure showed bad judgment in the run-up to the major military conflict of our time. Even Richard Clarke, Bush’s first counterterrorism czar, said, “the fact of the matter is McCain’s judgment about what to do in Iraqi was wrong. We’re at risk because of the mistaken judgment of people like John McCain.”
And if Obama would leave Iraq in a state of mass genocide as you say, then why do President Bush, General Petraus and the Iraqi President all support Obama’s plan for a withdrawal timetable?
And while we’re at it, what exactly is this change McCain has affected?
One example will suffice.
You say McCain is able to resist influence. If this is true then why in his running mate selection process after state GOP chairs said they would withhold funding and members of his campaign staff threatened to quit unless he changed his mind on choosing his personal favorite pick Joe Lieberman, did he do just that, and instead choose the exact person Karl Rove told him to pick even though he had only briefly met her once?
And if he is able to resist influence and his entire image has been built around standing up to lobbyists, why does he now employ 170 of them in his campaign?
You say McCain has a lot of character, but what is character? Is character leaving your wife after she suffered a deforming injury in a terrible car crash for a rich much younger woman you picked up at a bar while you’re still married, or is character sticking with your family through good times and bad? Is character continuing to run robocalls, calls McCain himself described as “hate calls” in 2000, even after numerous members of your own party have pleaded with you to stop saying the calls are “disgraceful” and “beneath your dignity”. Is character running a campaign that even Karl Rove (Karl Rove!) says has “gone too far” and whose ads he says “fail the truth test”? I always thought character was having integrity and principles. And if that’s what character is tell me how this story displays character - In 2000 after the South Carolina primary in which Tucker Eskew spread the stories about McCain’s wife’s pain killer addiction and tried to insinuate that he had fathered an illegitimate black child, McCain said “there’s a special place in hell for Tucker Eskew”. But who did McCain hire this time around as one of the senior officials of his campaign? That’s right – Tucker Eskew. Is that the “lot of character” you were referring to?
Look it’s a shame really. I used to love McCain. Back in 2004 I even claimed that I was going to vote for him in 2008 if the Democrats nominated Hillary. There’s proof of this online somewhere. But I can’t vote for McCain for the same reason I’ll never vote for Hillary – because he sold out everything he believed in just to be president.
In 2000 he called Jerry Fallwell an “agent of intolerance” and then in 2007 he went to speak at his college. He made a career out of opposing torture, for obvious reasons, but now he is in favor of it. He was famously risked his political future by being one of two Republicans to vote against Bush’s tax cuts and now supporting them is one of the key elements of his campaign. In March he told the Wall Street Journal “I’m always for less regulation” but told the same paper in September “We’re going to enact and enforce reforms and regulations to make sure these outrages never happen in the first place”. On September 16 he said “I do not believe the American tax payer should be on the hook for AIG” and then on September 18th he voted to bailout AIG. During the campaign he has also repeatedly renounced the McCain-Feingold Act and the McCain-Kennedy bill two of his signature achievements during his time in Washington. Two things he felt strongly enough about to not only write, but to put his name on. He’s also completely changed his stance since declaring his run for President about offshore drilling, the estate tax, storing nuclear waste, the GI Bill, hunting down terrorists in Pakistan, teaching intelligent design, funding No Child Left Behind, and immigration. It’s a shame the McCain I used to love isn’t still around because then this election would have been interesting
But in the end it doesn’t matter, because this election isn’t about McCain. And it isn’t even about Obama. It’s about a transformational moment in American history. Just like Kennedy and Reagan before him Obama is more than one man - he is the face of an entire political moment, a new chapter in American life. After living through eight years of an administration that promoted fear, mistrust and divisiveness, we now have the chance to be behind someone that promotes hope, inspiration, inclusiveness, and the best qualities that America has to offer. This is our chance to define our generation and to change the world. Will it work? I don’t know. But I do know one thing - you are planning to actively oppose it with your vote because you don’t “trust” it and you aren’t “convinced”. And that’s your right as a voter. And I understand. Change is never easy and great progress never comes without great risk. But safe and comfortable candidates only get you safe and comfortable results. Extraordinary times such as these call for extraordinary people. And extraordinary people are never going to seem safe. Barack is admittedly a risk. Sometimes though, as you well know, you just have to base your decisions on faith. And I can’t convince you of my faith any more than you can convince me of yours. I can’t know that Barack Obama wont be the worst president in history any more than you can know there is a God. Sometimes though in the absence of proof one way or the other you have to do the hard thing - you just have to have believe. And I believe Barack can be a transformative figure in American life. I believe he can bring people together. I believe he can make the world a better place. And I believe because I’ve seen it.
Two days after Hurricane Ike I was at the park here in Astoria. It was full of people of all ages and races and types. Now a while back I, like everyone I know, had donated money to Barack, so periodically I would get texts from his campaign about various events and such. Well this day, laying out in the park I suddenly began to hear phones go off all around me. It was like a symphony of phones. Bizarre and very surreal to say the least. And then sure enough I felt my phone vibrate as well. I looked down and it was a message from Barack. It said that if I would like to donate $5 to help hurricane relief all I had to do was text “yes” back to a certain number. I did and I had donated $5 for a good cause just as simple as that. I looked around the park and saw a sea of people all texting away on their phones doing the exact same thing. And I realized that scenes like that were happening all across the country at that exact moment. This story wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the media and I never once heard Barack bring it up. I have no idea how much money was raised that day and it doesn’t even matter. Because what I got to see that day was the best of America. Each of us doing our own little part to help our fellow man. I got to see our potential as a people and the better angels of our nature. That is what you can be a part of. That can be the legacy of our generation. You can make that happen. You can choose to doubt, or you can choose to believe. I can’t make that choice for you but what I can say is this - when I pull that lever on November 4th that will be the proudest moment of my life so far. That night when the results are announced I can guarantee you that every person I am with will openly weep tears of joy. There will literally be dancing in the streets. And there will be hope and joy and pride like we’ve never known before. These things are guaranteed to happen because of Barack. And I love you and care about you and I want all those things for you. I want you to be a part of history with me. It’s not too late.
