Stick a fork in him...

John McCain is all done.

My feelings of the last night of the convention were a mixture of awe, pride, appreciation, and anger.

Noticeably I haven't been pontificating lately about my views. Really I'm admitting that it is a lost cause. I won't be voting for Obama, but I suspect many of my peers and a majority of this country will.

If you don't follow politics, have a grasp of business, or the world economy, if you don't have the urge to dig deeper, if you are moved by emotions rather than facts, and if you saw Barack Obama's convention speech and any or most of these things apply to you... then I find it next to impossible that you'll consider casting a vote for an old war veteran from the party of a corrupt presidency that by and large destroyed the Republican party. Really.... I kind of wish I believed in his politics more so I could vote for him.... but I just can't.

I watched CNN's coverage because the sound quality is better and heard several rave reviews from commentators immediately after the speech. I wanted to hear the Fox commentators because they tend to be either more independent or right wing biased. I switched over and saw Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative "Weekly Standard" basically looking shell shocked exclaiming the speech was a masterpiece. I've been watching Kristol's response to many speeches through this convention, and he was by far the most biased critic of speakers, to the point which it made me scoff at most of what he said. For him to shrug in defeat... you know it was good, and it was.

The spectacle, the charisma of Obama, and the resentment of George W. Bush are all going to carry Obama to a victory in November.

I could go on and on about the twisted things said during the convention, I could complain about Obama's socialist tendencies, I could be critical of support for affirmative action, and calls for a new affirmative action plan Obama and the Democrats are pushing that applies to women.... but in the end I'm not sure it matters. I could point out that taking profits from oil companies is going to force them to raise prices. I could point out that Obama is not cutting taxes for 95% of Americans if he raises capital gains tax by 10-15%. I could point out that Obama's plan to give students $4,000 for college for a mere 100 hours of community service is ridiculous (THAT'S $40 an hour!!!! FOR VOLUNTEER WORK!!! please.....). I could point out that Obama supports increased Unionization of American workers.... dated groups of organizations that promote corruption, decreased productivity, and drives American work over seas. I could point out that supplying health care to people in place of encouraging people to work to take care of them selves will create complacency, add more strain to the health services and decrease quality of care for everyone... I could point out that we'll still eventually end up paying for it in increased taxes or decreased wages. I could talk about how Obama is for Nuclear power (or fill in other issue) one day and against it the next. I could mention that Obama wants us to quit fossil fuels cold turkey rather than take a realistic approach....... I guess in my typed rant here... I am pointing these things out.

Yes Barack Obama is really inspiring.

I just finished reading "The Audacity of Hope" and I have to say, if I can take any solace from it, it is that I believe the Obamas are decent people. (The Clintons are not.) I believe Barack really wants to help people.

My problem is there is a major disconnect for me on HOW he proposes to do this. It is contrary to the innovative spirit and competitive drive that defines America. When Barack Obama says he believes in personal accountability, I believe he is talking about something different than what I was raised to believe it is. I was raised to believe that you have to take care of your self, and that you can't expect anyone else to. Barack believes in Utilitarian and Marxist principles. He believes that we must all take care of each other as though we are ants rather than people. The United States was created to allow people to reach their dreams.... not to collectively share our wealth to help everyone else who doesn't have the ambition to do so. We split from England because of the redistribution of wealth. Now we have someone running for president who feels a duty to redistribute wealth. This is theft, plain and simple. It is class warfare... leftist politics 101.

Barack Obama claims to believe in self reliance.... but everything about his politics says otherwise. He wants the government to make decisions for people, rather than the people to make decisions for themselves. Talk about un-American!

Barack Obama is a good man... but remember so was Jimmy Carter.

I think my one hope is that his populist tendencies allow for the health care initiatives to be watered down. That a lot of what he campaigns on is just rhetoric. (Remember Bill Clinton? The liberal who championed a GOP agenda) Of course we have a Democrat run Legislature which will probably be even more leftist come 2009. So I don't expect much in terms of reducing the deficit. In fact I believe they have been driving up spending to record levels the past two years with the intention of still being able to claim "deficit reduction" from the last Bush year, all while spending wildly more than the typical fiscal year. Anyway, I'm tired of the speculating etc. Obama will be president, so lets all just hope for the best.

(McCain's choosing Pawlenty from the looks of it----or "Huckabee-light" as I'm going to call him, (groan...) and a hurricane will likely strike New Orleans during the GOP convention, it is like an act of God, if you ascribe to that sort of thing....)