McCain and the Gang have successfully used three things in their effort to define Barack Obama.

1. He is a Celebrity
2. He does not love America
3. He might Be a Muslim (They Don’t Say this but they don’t dispute it)  

So the Obama campaign has spent the last few weeks refuting all 3 of these things. Upon return from his successful trip abroad the McCain gang branded him a celebrity. Prior to going to Iraq the Republicans criticized him for not going and when he did go they accused him of using the opportunity as a photo-op.  So the Republicans compared Barack Obama to famous airheads Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. His campaign had to spend time refuting this contention and in doing this they did not really get the benefit of the successful trip. Secondly, McCain says he has not questioned Obama’s patriotism yet he continues to say that Obama would rather win the election than win the war. That is questioning someone’s patriotism. McCain calls it questioning his judgment, but this is merely a word game the McCain gang is playing with the voters. Finally, Obama is a Muslim. McCain has never said this but his operatives continue to keep this rumor alive and well. Obama and his team are spending so much time in refute mode that they are not in the action mode.  To win in November Obama has got to be a man of action not reaction.

Saturday night at the Faith Forum John McCain said that he would go to the gates of hell to get Osama bin Laden. The pro-McCain crowd erupted into thunderous applause. McCain is the no nonsense tough guy. With wars on two fronts one has to wonder where we will get the manpower to pursue Public Enemy Number One? We are already forcing service people to stay in longer than their original deployment. What are we going to do? McCain the man with solutions has a plan. Asked about the draft last September, McCain said, “I might consider it, I don’t think it’s necessary, but I might consider it if you could design a draft where everybody equally could serve.” We have seen in other wars that the people drafted are usually poor and in most cases minorities. We have not been able to design a system that selects people from all economic levels. So as we approach November we need to think about our children. In November I will be voting not just for me, but for my son because like McCain I will go to the gates of hell to protect him.

Throughout his campaign Barack Obama has talked about running a different kind of campaign. He was committed to keeping the race positive and talking about real issues that face Americans. After returning from Europe the McCain camp through the first blow. They started defining Obama as an empty-headed, elitist, celebrity. They launched a series of commercials with this as the central theme.  Obama finally gets it. He has to fight the fight that he is given. He can not continue to allow McCain to question his patriotism and not address it immediately and with the same level of vigor. If your opponent is a street fighter you can’t just complain that he is not following the rules. You have to come to grips with the facts that the rules have changed and you have to adjust. Obama recently acknowledged the situation “Everywhere I go, people have told me, ‘Oh, I’m getting nervous. The Republicans — they’re so mean. What are we going to do?’ ” Obama said. “They did it to John Kerry. They did it to Gore. They tried to do it to Clinton; they did it to Dukakis. That’s what they do. That’s their politics. They don’t know how to govern, but they know how to run a negative campaign. But I’m here to tell you in Albuquerque that it’s not going to work this time.” America is worth fighting for and Obama had to fight to get the nomination and he will have to continue to fight if he wants to take the oath of office next January.  

This week we are enjoying our summer vacation. The kids go back to school next week so this is summer’s last hurrah. This morning while enjoying a leisurely breakfast at our local IHOP I was reading the USA Today.  I saw a political cartoon that showed Barack Obama, Rick Warren and John McCain. The cartoon bubbles read as follows: Obama’s said I have to convince these people that I am not a Muslim. Warren’s said I have to convince these people that I am as important as the Pope and McCain’s said I have to convince these people that Obama is a Muslim. I laughed and showed it to my husband. When he read it he said, “how many times does Obama have to say he is not a Muslim?” One would think he has said it enough but the rumor still persist and the rumor mongers will keep saying it until election day. The author of Obama Nation has a NY times bestseller which is full of lies and rumors about Barack Obama. The right wing is touting this book like it is their own Bible. So he has to keep addressing the issue. As we sat in the pancake house I looked at the patrons, and saw  they truly represented a cross section of America. I wondered what was the biggest issue impacting their lives? Was it the cost of living, war in Iraq, college expenses, job stability?  These are important concerns and hopefully the rumor mongers will not be able to take the minds of Americans off the main thing. This election is too important to get sidetracked by a lie. So let’s say it again Barack Obama is not a Muslim!!!!!

At the Saddleback Forum Saturday night when Rick Warren asked John McCain to name three people that he would seek their counsel if he were elected president. One of the names he said was Congressman John Lewis. When he said it I thought that was an interesting choice, but I really thought these two men really had little or nothing in common. I had never heard of the two men having any association. Lewis is an icon in the civil rights community. As a student he was active and also served with Martin Luther King Jr. John McCain was an opponent of the making King’s birthday a legal holiday back in the early ’80s. Since that time McCain has acknowledged his vote against the hoilday was a  mistake. When John Lewis was questioned about McCain’s statement he said they do not have a relationship. “I cannot stop one human being, even a presidential candidate, from admiring the courage and sacrifice of peaceful protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge or making comments about it.” But, he added, “Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him.”  This just makes one  wonder why would he have picked Lewis’ name out of a hat when there are so many people that he truly consults with on issues. One that comes to mind is former Sen. Phil Gramm, but that choice might not have seemed noble, but it at least would have been true.

Throughout the campaign John McCain has bragged on his considerable experience. He has yielded the experience card like a sword. He has diminished Barack Obama by calling him a young man with interesting ideas, but lacking the experience to be the commander in chief.   Barack Obama has successfully leveraged the experience argument by saying he had the judgment to be commander in chief. Recently, John McCain has started touting his judgment. He is moving away from that argument because it is not resonating with the voters. Hillary Clinton touted her experience when she campaigned against Obama and that argument failed to win her the nomination. Today McCain said “And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president — as we were all reminded 10 days ago by events in the nation of Georgia.”  He went on to say “Behind all of these claims and positions by Sen. Obama lies the ambition to be president. What’s less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief,”. He is questioning Obama’s judgment and accusing him of wanting to be president.  First of all Obama was right on Iraq and McCain supported the war. That was a judgment issue that McCain failed. Secondly, he accused him of wanting to be president well the last time I looked both Obama and McCain were running for president.  McCain has more experience in the ways of Washington, but that is not what America needs this election year. Obama has the judgment to be president and that’s an argument he can not afford to lose to McCain. 

Last night Rick Warren said that McCain was in the “cone of silence” while Barack Obama was being questioned.What we learned is that he was not in the building during the initial questioning. He was actually on his way to the venue. So we trust he did not hear any of the questions in advance, but we did notice he was answering some questions even before Warren finished asking tham and he also brought up some subjects prior to Warren bringing them up. When asked about this Warren said, “I trust the integrity of both” candidates, and said he “knew they would abide by the rules.” He joked McCain may not have been in the cone of silence, but “he was in the cone of a Secret Service motorcade”. Warren told CNN Sunday evening, “we flat out asked him” if he heard any of the questions. The McCain campaign “confirmed that McCain did not hear or see any of the broadcast” in the motorcade or after he arrived. So we have to trust they are telling the truth. We simply say there has to be a first time for everything.

“We all want America to be a better place’ these were the last words said by Pastor Rick Warren tonight.  Both candidates had an hour to answer questions from Pastor Rick. He asked each of them the same questions, but we got an opportunity to see how very differently they approach situations. Obama tends to think things through before responding and McCain tends to have quick direct responses that emanate from the gut.  Obama actually engaged the host in a real conversation and McCain talked to the audience and did not engage the host. McCain was a man with a mission and that was to repeat the things that he says on the stump. We did not get a clear view of who he is a man and for him that was not his mission. One of the questions that showed their stark contrasts was “is there evil in the world?’. Obama seemingly talked about evil without personalizes it to an individual, whereas McCain started talking about Osama Bin Laden and terrorist extremists. It is true that Bin Laden is evil, but I found this perspective interesting that almost all his answers somehow could be tied back to his POW years or Iraq. The other question that garnered an interesting response was “what existing Supreme Court Justice would you not have appointed?” Obama said Clarence Thomas. Thomas is the only African-American on the bench so it was a little jarring that this was the justice that he would select, but he explained that he did not think he was intellectually bright enough for the bench. McCain’s response included every liberal mind on the bench. McCain’s response is in keeping with his attitude of my way or the highway. So what did we learn tonight? We got the rare opportunity to see how the two men approach problems. Obama is given to thoughtful reflection before responding and McCain is much more reactive. What scares me about McCain is his approach seems a lot like George Bush. A very definate point of view that separates good from evil and sees no in between and that is the attitude that took us into Iraq. He has an answer before he even hears a question. America has a choice to make which approach is the best choice for a better America.

Rick Warren has done what journalists have been unable to do. He will have Barack Obama and John McCain under the same roof answering questions about what they will do if they are elected. I am looking forward to this forum because Rick Warren does not have an ax to grind, and he is not looking for a “gotcha” moment.  I am not naive everyone has an agenda and he has one too, but having the two of them at Saddleback solidifies his position as one of the most prominent ministers in America.  In the past he has shown Republican leanings, but he is not a member of the radical right. He has already arrived so he is not going to use either of them as a diving board into the bigtime. I have read his book Purpose Driven Life twice. In his book from the very opening he states “It is not about me”. This is what I hope Warren will keep in mind tomorrow. It is not about him it is about us, and hopefully we can look forward to real conversation with both candidates and not a night of snippets from their stump speeches. Warren is not a journalist and this case I believe this is a good thing.

The press will not let the Edwards story die. He lied to America and he lied to his family. To hear pundits and relatives of the other woman criticize Elizabeth Edwards is just too much. On The Verdict we heard the other woman’s sister say if she had been Elizabeth Edwards she would have left John Edwards. Who really cares what this woman thinks. Nobody, but the fact is this story refuses to die, and now they are reaching out to drag Elizabeth Edwards into the mud. This is a woman who is a cancer survivor and to turn the spotlight on her is simply horrific. John Edwards is at fault here and the media should leave his wife out of it.