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This and That
Do we really have a choice?
By THOMAS MICHALSKI
Article published on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 |
The presidential election will soon be over and in January a new chief executive takes office. But do we really have a good choice of candidates? I don’t think so.
Our current chief executive, George W. Bush, has caused insurmountable damage to the nation and its people.
He has managed to get us into a war that cost billions of tax dollars and thousands of American lives. He has buried us in a financial muck that will take generations to resolve. He lied.
Bush has proven his incompetence in so many ways. He makes Jimmy Carter, long considered the most inept president in modern history, look like an elder statesman.
I am not a liberal, anti-establishment Democrat. I’m an Air Force veteran, a journalist whose parents were involved in New York City politics. I have never registered with any particular party. I’ve voted for Republicans and Democrats, though my working class upbringing leans me toward the blue side. No political party is without fault for today’s dilemmas. The Democrats got us into Vietnam. The Republicans pushed us into Iraq. If McCain makes it to the White House, we will most likely be there for a long time. Obama is smart and charismatic, but he will be eaten alive by Washington’s vicious beltway sharks.
Maybe it really is time to vote for someone who wants to change the way things are done. Both Obama and McCain say they’re up to the job. The people want change. The world needs change. If there is any hope to stop the destruction of this planet by ineptitude, weapons, pollution and ill-timed decisions, it is now.
I’m not publicly endorsing any candidate. Each has his own rhetoric on how to make this nation a better place. I am saying that we desperately need new leadership to solve the country’s ills, to make America great again.
We lost all of our heroes, our leaders. We have no one to look up to, to emulate, to follow, and to respect. There are no good guys on white horses chanting “Hi Ho Silver,” and no more Eisenhowers or JFKs or Roy Rogers or Superman. All we have today is too many foul-mouthed rap singers, overpaid sports stars and Hollywood celebrities that reside in a clouded haze of cocaine and booze.
I don’t yearn for yesterday, the proverbial good old days that I’ve always maintained exist only in selective memory. I don’t want to be 20 again. Or 30 or 40 or 50. I like living in the present. It’s just that I believe, like most Americans, that we need a captain for our rudderless ship.
I do yearn for respectful people, politicians that care, and a world without conflict and hatred. That can only come with change and only when people, all people, put their personal needs aside to work collectively for a better world. I don’t know if McCain or Obama can do that, but we certainly need someone who can.
Until next time . . .
Thomas Michalski is the editor of the Pinellas Park Beacon.
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Article published on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008
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