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I believe Senator Obama could still lose this election, and speaking from the perspective of a Republican/Independent, the openings he has left for McCain are glaring at him, and he seems not to notice them. The most obvious one has to do with which candidate is decisively better equipped to lead this country out of the "Little Big-Horn by the Tigris" before we find ourselves facing a nuclear-equipped terrorist state in Pakistan. (If I could afford to pay Senator Obama to simply read this post: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/t... I would, but I wouldn't even know who to ask in any case.)
Hopefully, "the melt-down thing" will distract voters long enough that the unfinished business of disposing of the foreign policy/Commander in Chief issue won't matter. However, Senator Obama doesn't seem to notice that the failure of the markets to respond to a series of fairly dramatic moves by the "finance ministers" of the key western economic powers has meaning, and may precipitate what I would call "yet another crisis point" before November 4th, one which could erase his fragile lead overnight.
I'm a systems analyst, not a financial analyst, so I'll stipulate that my views might be considered sophomoric by those of you who actually do have expertise in these areas. Nonetheless, the more I see of Senator McCain (who I supported for many years BTW), the more I worry about the possibility that he might be elected. I see some serious psychological issues, as well as what I consider obvious early signs of something very common in his age group: dementia.
Had he selected Elizabeth Dole as his running mate (why didn't he? I guess we can all hazard a guess...), I wouldn't be so worried. But I worry greatly about having a President who is subtly impaired, or a successor who seems so out of touch with her own limitations. If you care to check out the above mentioned link ("Land Mines Between Here and Nov. 4th"), I'd feel better. Either you will conclude it's worthless, or you'll pass it along to someone else who might benefit from the perspective at least. Either way, I'd feel better knowing someone more connected than I gave it a read.
Thanks,
Ted in Portland, Oregon
I read your post, and you make some very good points. The Obama campaign needs to continue to be vigilant against unfounded Republican attacks by responding to them with a healthy portion of truth and reason.
As far as the coordinated moves by the economic powers around the world, I'm not sure how they have meaning good or bad for either of the campaigns right now. What we're seeing in the equity markets is irrational selling. Everyone is scared and is getting out in some cases at a huge loss. There is no way that all of these companies are really worth so much less than they were a couple weeks ago. That just doesn't make any sense. The equity markets are not indicative of the underlying issue which is really all about credit. When even banks won't lend to each other, you know we have a huge problem. Our government's job now is to help convince banks that they will get their money back when they lend it. That's the big challenge, and I think we have the tools in place to do that, but it's going to be a long time before we are able to really see how this will pan out. Like Barack keeps saying, this is just the beginning, and the rescue bill was just the first in what could turn out to be many attempts to resolve the financial crisis. We need to make sure we elect Obama and Biden so we have sound leadership in place to deal with what lies ahead.
"CEOs got greedy. Politicians spent money they didn't have. Lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn't afford -- and some folks knew they couldn't afford them and bought them anyway," Obama said, as the crowd applauded. "We've lived through an era of easy money, in which we were allowed and even encouraged to spend without limits, to borrow instead of save."
He conceded: "For many folks this was not a choice but a necessity. People have been forced to turn to credit cards and home equity loans to keep up, just like our government has borrowed from China and other creditors to help pay its bills. But we now know how dangerous that can be. Once we get past the present emergency, which requires immediate new investments, we have to break that cycle of debt."
This is very encouraging!