Substance or Style, McCain or Obama?
I listened to the speeches of Palin, Giuliani, Romney, and Huckabee at the RNC with great interest and enjoyment. Their speeches clearly defined the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama. Giuliani characterized Obama as:
The least experienced candidate for president in at least 100 years. The choice in this election comes down to substance over style.
Obama is a celebrity senator without a track record of leadership or major legislative accomplishments, either in the Illinois senate or the U.S. senate. But he does have two memoirs already. While in the Illinois senate Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. It seems he was unable to decide either yes or no on the issues before him. Tough times require strong leadership and the ability to make tough choices. Voting “present” 130 times does not show that Obama has that ability.
Obama has never held an executive position, one where you have to make big decisions daily. Obama’s resume of experience is as a “community organizer.” As President of the United States it is not good enough to be present. He has never run a city, a state, a business or a military unit. He has never had to lead people in crisis.
Obama has shifted positions on numerous issues for political gain, including on public funding for his campaign, wiretapping and an undivided Jerusalem. Obama is for granting terrorists U.S. constitutional rights, voted to stop the development of more nuclear power plants, blocked efforts to lift the ban on off-shore drilling, and voted for more government spending at every opportunity.
In his speech, Mitt Romney said:
Liberals would replace opportunity with dependency on government largesse. They grow government and raise taxes to put more people on Medicaid, to take work requirements out of welfare and to grow the ranks of those who pay no taxes at all. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity.
Mike Huckabee recognized Obama’s historic achievement to become the first black presidential nominee but added that he is not ready to lead the country. Huckabee defended Sarah Palin’s qualifications, which have been under attack since she was named McCain’s running mate.
I am so tired of hearing about her lack of experience. I want to tell you folks something, she got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States.
There were many more fine comments but the one that resonated the most with me was one made by Sarah Palin. Referring to Obama’s campaign slogans of change and hope she said that:
Change is not a direction and hope is not a strategy.
Comments
By Reg Cæsar on September 9th, 2008 at 2:08 am
You might be interested to know that Sarah Palin is a Tefft descendant:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/heath.htm
Her eighth-great-grandmother Tabitha Tefft Gardiner (#1099) is the daughter of John and the sister of the Joshua who was hanged, drawn and quartered for running off with the Indians during King Philip’s War.
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By mtefft on September 9th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Makes me even more proud of her. If I had to choose between native Americans defending their country from English settlers who had no right to be there I would have sided with the Indians too. It shows that her ancestors had guts and sided against invaders and usurpers. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
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By Benedict Hudson on September 14th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I have to dissagree with you guys. I think you are falling for exactly what they want you to think. Alot of those things that Guiliani said are completely untrue.
With Palin now a part of this process, it has all become focused on image and not substance. Everything she has said from being against the bridge to nowhere to “cutting” costs by getting rid of her plane and cook are deeply exaggerated. She is the least experienced vice presidential candidate to come about in the last 30 years dating back to Mondale. Unlike her predecessors who have met foreign leaders, she cites her experience being the fact she “can see Russia from Alaska”. I need you to deeply think about the reality she could become president.
This is comparable to a bad Disney movie.
Benedict Hudsons last blog post..Thoughts on we Americans as Voters…
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By mtefft on September 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Thanks for the comment Benedict. But if Obama isn’t the most inexperienced candidate for President in the last 100 years please tell me who is. I would be interested to know. You need to deeply think that Obama could become the next President, in fact he is much more likely to become President than Sarah Palin is. You are trying to obfuscate the issue by throwing Palin into the mix. She is not running for President, Obama and McCain are.
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