The young doctor and the old barber

I have a number of terrific friends who are wedded to each political party. It just seems obtuse to me. And the true comedy is that my Rep friends think I am a liberal, and my Dem friends think I am WAY too conservative. I believe the parties just move around to what they believe. I tend to be a centrist with right leanings.
Now my political leanings are these: Rather than promoting a party, I choose the tenets of Fiscally Conservative and Socially Moderate. And I believe the US Government should promote its nationalist interests on a global scale (not necessarily Imperialist interests; read Confessions of an Economic Hitman).
Going into the DNC, I was leaning toward McCain.
Now, if I believe something on Monday, and on Tuesday I have overwhelming evidence in the truth of the opposite, on Wednesday I may have a different belief.
How appropriate this had become. I decided to watch a few of the speakers at the DNC. And while being skeptical of their bias, I found them to be interesting. Michelle Obama, the Clintons and Al Gore provided excellent speeches, but did not move my vote. The Democratic Party produced Biography video was appealing, and gave some insight to Mr. Obama’s history. But his speech moved me. It wasn’t necessarily the words, or the vision. It wasn’t necessarily the delivery or the tone. It was the intangible conviction of belief. It was my understanding, that to get things done it is not just the person. It is not just the party. It is not just the politics. It is the internal movement created by a leader which is manifested in action which creates change.

Simply the best speech of my generation.

I have never seen this before with a President of the United States. Perhaps I was too young, to witness it first hand. Or, perhaps too naive to notice when it was happening around me. I can only imagine that during the Kennedy election, when the US and Soviet Cold war was taking place, there was an overwhelming feeling of dread and fear among the citizens of the US. There was a need for Vision. There was a need for action. That was given to them without the direct knowledge of how it would unfold. A decade later a dream was realized.

Without Vision, the people parish. -Proverbs

But more than that, there is a need for a definite goal in a defined time with a defined outcome. At the DNC, that was given with story and humor, tale and woe. There was little time for politics, and desire for action.
What are major issues we will contend with in the coming years? The Economic situation, Global as well as National economy. The healthcare situation and energy situation. The areas of foreign policy and international diplomacy. I was also moving through the campaigns of both of the candidates. At first blush this is what came to mind.
This is our first view of how these candidates run their “campaign/businesses/team”. A criticism levied on both candidates is that they have no experience running country/state/business. I am still concerned with Mr. Obama’s approach to allocating funds to many of the social programs he is suggesting, although how he is running his campaign is giving me hope on that front as well.

Ben Franklin framed my concern very well in this election:
“Beware of the young doctor and the old barber”

Obama – Runs a nearly flawless campaign from a financial/tactical standpoint. Uses tools such as the internet to raise more money than any other campaign in the history of campaign finance. He gets small donations from citizens rather than just corporate donors. Creates an army of contributors for many walks of life. And draws on a minimal amount of matching funds from the US government.
McCain – Campaign is nearly bankrupt 3 times. And when questioned about it, he doesn’t even know. He says he has 2 staffers who run that side of the campaign.
McCain – His strength is foreign service, yet he doesn’t know where the Borders of Pakistan end and Afghanistan, or as he said, Pakistan and Iraq border begin. Now I understand these are very mountainous regions, but come on! This is supposed to be his strength. So who does he pick? Someone who has less international experience that him.
Obama – Admits this is his weakness, so he recruits Joe Biden. Mr. Biden’s experience in Congress include the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. He also ran for to become the Democratic Nominee for President in 1988 and 2008.
McCain – To compliment his experience and age recruits a the Governor of Alaska. This certainly addresses a portion of the energy debate. As well as the age issue. More will come to light with Gov. Palin. 20 mo Governor of Alaska, and a mayor of a city outside of Anchorage, AK. Very conservative views. At first take, I like her. Although her religious views a bit too intolerant for me. And as the President of our country I certainly doubt she is ready. Her nomination is a move to drive the energy debate, and without question promote DRILL, DRILL, DRILL.
Mr. Biden and Mrs Palin speaking about Supreme Court

I have began the reading of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln created “mastermind group/cabinet” of people who were not just in his party (unlike the current administration). He viewed this as, “What the citizens deserve”. He looked for the best people for the job. Look no further than the Harriet Miers nomination, or Michael Brown as the FEMA Director to know that we have not seen this in the past eight years.
I like what I see in Mr. Obama with regards to seeking counsel. You can determine the quality of the leader, not only in his/her integrity, but what team he decides to surround himself. Do they compliment his strengths and weaknesses? Do they promote the vision? Are they people of action? I will be looking for more as we move through the next 60+ days.
What disturbs me about what I see in the Republican Party camp is what happened the day after Mr. Obama’s speech. Politically speaking, the timing was perfect. Take the news media away from the speech and the success of the DNC, and put the spotlight directly on the Republican party. And as much as I like how the Democratic campaign has been handled, I dislike what I am seeing on the Republican side. Obvious pandering to the woman vote, conservative, Pro-life (aka no-choice) vote, big oil and energy vote.
Don’t believe that was the best speech. Here is someone from the Reagan Right. And a man I have tremendous respect. (Read, Where the Right Went Wrong. –Patrick Buchanan)

I look forward to seeing more. However, from a Conservative point of view, I don’t like how the Republican party is playing politics with my future and the future of OUR children.
Well those are the thoughts of this ski instructor.