I have said too little, I have allowed myself to be too distracted by and too involved in the petty concerns of my daily affairs, and thus I have neglected my duty to you, my treasured readers. This has not been all in vain, as for the first time in the better part of a decade I know I am acting in the right, and I know this because the knot in my stomach that for so long I assumed was just a natural affliction of living has all but dissipated, but still; you lot have stood by The Secret Base for six, now closer to seven years, and your loyalty deserves my best effort.
At the eleventh hour, then, let me implore you not to make a dreadful mistake. Let me beseech you not to allow your good judgment to be bamboozled by a witch's brew of indefensible pessimism about the present and irrational optimism in some intentionally vague notion of "change" and societal transformation. Let me beg you not to vote for Senator Barack Obama. I make my argument in two parts, one of them taken directly from Senator Obama himself and the other divined by mine own reason.
The Question of Experience
Senator Obama is an impressive man who meets every Constitutional qualification to execute the Presidency of the United States. But being a natural born citizen of thirty-five years of age and residing inside the United States for fourteen years are the minimum qualifications for the office, distinct from being the least we should expect from a major party candidate. He has no executive experience to speak of and extremely scant legislative experience; during his three terms in the Illinois Senate, he voted "present" almost one hundred thirty times, and he has served less than one term in the United States Senate.
Spencer Abraham served a single term in the United States Senate representing Michigan. Does this mean Abraham has the experience and judgment to be the leader of the free world? Senator Obama's defenders explain that the majority of the "present" votes were examples of crafty political scheming; I salute his cunning, then, but that is hardly an explanation why he refused to stand up and be counted on issues important to the people of the State of Illinois. You may refute that the senator was reelected by his constituents, indicating that they felt well-served by him. Former Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick was reelected by his constituents; did this mean they were well-served by him? In 2004 President Bush became the first president since 1988 to be win a popular majority (not just the plurality he won in 2000 or that President Clinton won in both 1992 and '96). He was reelected by his constituents: does that mean you feel you've been well-served by him during the last four years? Voters more often than not reelect incumbent politicians, seemingly regardless of performance in office.
And why go on at length about Senator Obama's experience in the Illinois State Capitol? Because he has almost no record in the United States Senate. In late 2004, Senator-elect Obama declared that he would not seek national office and provided a clear and sober explanation.
You know, I am a believer in knowing what you're doing when you apply for a job. And I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket I would essentially have to start now, before having served a day in the Senate. Now, there are some people who might be comfortable doing that, but I am not one of those people.
The Senator's logic is unassailable. Were he to seek national office in 2008, he would have to start campaigning in 2004, without having any experience in the U.S. Senate. And, because he would not have any experience in the U.S. Senate, he would then be applying for a job without "knowing what [he's] doing." He would not run for national office in '08 because to do so he'd have to forego accruing experience in the Senate to be out on the campaign trail. Yet here we sit in 2008, without Senator Obama having foregone accruing the necessary experience in the United State Senate in favor of spending his days and nights out on the campaign trail. Unless you are able to identify a flaw in then Senator-elect Obama's argument, I submit that Mr. Obama would, as President, not know what he's doing. Before you wager the integrity of your conscience on this man, ask yourself what he has done in the last four years that have readied him to be the most powerful human being on the planet.
Michigan Economics 101
The people of the State of Michigan believe Senator Obama would be a good steward of the American economy. This fact in isolation should be accepted as proof he would not. Consider: the people of Michigan supported the structuring of the state's economy around heavy manufacturing. The people of Michigan supported significant unionization of the manufacturing workforce. The people of Michigan opposed for the last twenty-odd years any effort to mandate an increase in the fuel efficiency of American-made motor cars. Michigan has been in a one-state recession, and arguably a one-state economic depression, for most of the last two decades. This is largely because manufacturing jobs have fled the state. Manufacturing jobs have fled the state because even considering transportation expenditures and the capital required to construct new factories overseas, unionized Michigander workers were expensive to the point of inviability compared to foreign labor. And even within the domestic market American motor cars have continued to lose market share to foreign competitors in part because of their markedly inferior gasoline mileage.
At every step along the way, the people of Michigan supported this economic strategy wholeheartedly. The people of Michigan supported putting all of the state's economic eggs in the single basket of heavy manufacturing, supported pricing themselves out of the labor market with extravagant labor union-coerced compensation and benefits, and opposed efforts to raise the fuel efficiency of U.S. automobiles. The people of Michigan were the authors and stalwart supporters of our own economic demise. And now the judgment of these same people steadfastly supports Senators Obama and Biden's economic program. If that does not give you pause, I cannot imagine what would.
The Long and Short of It
Even at this late stage, Senator Obama remains a largely unknown and completely untested quantity. The only significant policy decision he has made outside the realm of rhetoric is to choose as his running mate Senator Joe Biden, the most blatantly racist candidate for president or vice president since Governor George Wallace in 1968; few seem to have noticed since apparently it is acceptable in the 21st century American context to be racist against South Asians. What little we do know about Senator Obama suggests that he would be the most ideologically left-wing chief executive since President Carter's disastrous administration of 1977-81, a period which saw our ally Iran converted into our most persistent foe, among numerous other debacles. If you think a President Obama would "unify" the country and administrate in a bipartisan fashion, you are fooling yourself and ignoring the man's own history.
Do not vote for Senator Obama because you oppose the policies of President Bush. Mr. Obama's suggestion that Senator McCain is running for President "Bush's third term" is pure propaganda. Do not vote for Senator Obama because of the past eight years, consider only the next eight years. Barack Obama is a well-intentioned man, and with such intentions is paved to road to ruin. Mr. Obama is a gamble the United States of America can ill afford.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Vote For Kodos: Lies, Damned Lies, & the News
I am so very weary of the implication that there are no good reasons to oppose Senator Obama's election, and that racism is the sole remaining, albeit indefensible, reason to vote against him. So very weary, yet I remain defiant. I oppose Senator Obama not because of the color of his skin, but because of the content of his character (as expressed through his politics). If you want to suggest otherwise, have the decency at least to look me in the eye when you accuse me of racism.
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Less Than Jake, "Last One Out of Liberty City" from Hello Rockview (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: The opening line, "Last one out of Liberty City, burn it to the ground," inspired the curse that was screamed - screamed at the top of our lungs - during my return from Texile, as the paramount reason for a stop along the side of the road as soon as the border into Arkansas was crossed, "Last one out of Texas, burn it to the ground!"
Sonntag, 2 November
No Doubt, "Sunday Morning" from Tragic Kingdom (T.L.A.M.)
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