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October 15, 2008
Exclusive: Election 2008 – Vision vs. Blind Ambition
What is this election really about? Is it about party or race or change? Here is a list of what the pollsters tell us are the priority issues.
First, the economy:
I am an American, a capitalist, and therefore optimistic. In spite of the fact that I am now in the two percent bracket, I know, without the benefit of economists that what goes up comes down and what goes down comes up, and I defy either candidate to explain it more coherently with their sub-prime blather about the government so-called rescue. I also know that Nancy and Barney and company defied ordinary common sense in lending and mortgages and now they hide behind the wreck pointing fingers and pretending that Barack Fixit Obama and Congress will straighten it all out.
Second, health care reform:
Both candidates should spend a day at a city hospital which, like all hospitals nationwide, makes the most advanced health care available to all patients regardless of income or class or insurance or legal immigration status.
They might learn that the only health care reform and patient-friendly cost-cutting has come from hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and doctors who have developed life-saving procedures which often obviate major surgery, reduce risk, lower costs by reducing the length of hospitalization, and leave patients less vulnerable to hospital borne infections.
Among these “kinder cuts” is the increased use of stents to provide support and maintain patency in blood vessels, which is part of an ongoing revolution in non invasive medical treatment developed by interventional radiologists, and increased use of minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery for removal of ovaries, gall bladders, and portions of colon as well as hernia repairs.
Thanks to pharmaceutical and medical technology companies working with hospitals and physicians, modalities such as dialysis can be conveniently administered at home and many infectious diseases, formerly requiring weeks of hospitalization, can now be safely treated at home with self-administered delivery of antibiotics through a catheter inserted into an artery.
These are only a handful of leaps in health care which have come about in spite of the interference of government or politicians who are obsessed with cost cutting rather than reforming the bloated and coercive Medicare bureaucracy which remains the model for all insurance plans.
Neither candidate offers anything that would encourage and reward doctors or research or development of medical technology.
Furthermore, neither candidate even whispers about tort reform which would liberate doctors and drug companies, nor, do they even speak of public health threats such as pandemics and germ warfare and vaccinations – as if the anthrax scare had not even happened.
Third, energy:
Here McCain/Palin leave Obama in the dust. While they offer and support domestic drilling, clean coal, and most important, nuclear energy, Obama dithers on all the above while tilting at windmills.
Fourth, national security:
Both candidates flunk. There is no discussion of terrorism, intelligence, homeland security, emergency preparedness, proper law enforcement or foreign control of our financial infrastructure.
They both think it is a priority to catch Osama bin Laden but avoid mentioning the ideology that drives terrorism and bin Laden’s minions who are already on our soil. Jihad and Islam? Forget about it.
And here’s a question that Jim and Tom or Gwen or Charlie or Katie don’t even ask:
How does the candidate feel about the Patriot Act of 2001 which is up for renewal after the next inauguration?
Its purpose is "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” Many of its original provisions for surveillance and monitoring were altered or gutted when reauthorization and extension were agreed to in 2006.
Both candidates voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act in 2006, although Sen. Obama voted against extending the wiretap provision. What would the candidates do and what would they alter or abrogate or extend or add? Hello candidates? Have you got an opinion?
Fifth is immigration:
Both candidates want to “decrease illegal immigration”….Would they mind telling us how? They basically agree on this issue and Obama was actually praised by McCain for standing up for the Kennedy/McCain “reform” (read amnesty) bill of 2006 which passed 62 to 36 in the Senate but mercifully died in the House of Representatives.
Sen. McCain now speaks of “securing the border first” and then promoting immigration reform. Would he please clarify?
Sen. Obama maintains his support for allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. He also marched for “immigrant rights” on May 1, 2006, in Chicago. Would he please explain that?
How would either candidate keep terrorists out? To paraphrase Tom Brokaw’s question: Is entering the United States by illegal means a right or a privilege?
Sixth is foreign policy:
Is there a new and heating up cold war with Russia? Can we trust North Korea?
Would a real maverick still cling to the nonsensical notion of a "two state solution" for Israel – a nation beset with Jihadist neighbors, a potential fifth column within its borders and a lunatic genocidal enemy in Iran, not even to mention a United Nations fully ganged up against its very existence?
Is it change or actually retrograde to think that one can talk enemies and terrorists out of their stated agenda?
Finally, it just boils down to the “vision” thing.
Obama is gifted with charm, presence, and a little “cool” hauteur. His vision is of big government, social engineering, and redistribution of wealth as evoked by his socialist mentors. It has never worked and it cannot work in a freewheeling entrepreneurial nation such as ours. On foreign policy, he is a "root cause" digger who is eager to find American complicity in all the world's problems. Most worrisome is the blind ambition that permitted consorting with criminals and terrorists to give him a leg up on his steep ascent to power.
McCain is stodgy, superannuated and dull, but his vision of America is of a less than perfect but exceptional nation with limitless possibilities in every endeavor and every frontier. Defending this nation and its blessings is his driving force. He is the best example of a less than perfect but exceptional American who still puts country first.
I believe he should win – but Obama’s luster and bluster seem to obscure the vision of the media and the gullible public they report to.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Ruth S. King is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column in OUTPOST, the publication of Americans for a Safe Israel. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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