Columnist Jamala Rogers
There may be a few special people who are still undecided about the presidential election. For them, and as confirmation for others, I want to point to the two candidates’ respective campaigns as considerations when sizing up the character and leadership of Barack Obama and John McCain. Management of a campaign takes many of the same skills set as running a country.
Let’s start with how McCain and Obama deal with their respective family members.
McCain dumped Carol, his first wife and mother of their two children, for a young heiress of a beer dynasty, Cindy McCain, who was half his age. While McCain was a prisoner of war, Carol was crippled from a terrible car accident and became overweight from her inability to be mobile.
Cindy promotes herself as an only child when she has two half-sisters.
The McCain’s adopted daughter from Bangladesh stands to inherit half as much of the family fortune as her siblings. Cindy’s half-sisters never got their share of the fortune either.
Compassion and equality start at home.
Obama left his campaign to visit his ailing grandmother, Toot. He always talks lovingly of his wife, children, mother, grandparents and even his absentee father.
McCain used his privilege and family connections in the Navy to get into the Naval Academy. He was a goof off and womanizer, graduating 5th from the bottom of a class of nearly 900. As a pilot, he wrecked numerous planes but was never grounded because of his dad and granddad’s pull in the Navy.
Obama attended Occidental College and Princeton University. He went on to graduate from Harvard where he graduated magna cum laude. Obama was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He learned discipline and the importance of hard work from his mother and grandparents. Obama was taught that he would get no privileged pass in life and his family didn’t have the big hook-up.
Although there are many who know about McCain’s time as prisoner-of-war, especially those who were there with him, there are few who are courageous enough to talk about the flawed account of the ordeal. Except for maybe Lt. Col. John Dramesi. Tim Dickerson’s recent article in Rolling Stone revealed “a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty” in McCain’s life and military career.
The McCain campaign mocked Obama’s community organizing stint. But I believe it is exactly that experience that has created one of the most organized, well-financed campaigns in the history of presidential elections. The excitement has generated millions of new, first-time voters. His message of change and hope has resonated across the land as he vowed to bring this country together. Judging from the crowds that come out to hear him, he’s on point. Obama has emerged as a poised, astute and competent candidate.
McCain’s erratic campaign lacked vision, substance, message and imagination. His pick of Sarah Palin, after meeting her only once, is a testament to his decision-making and it has cost him dearly. Republican insiders have dubbed her a “rogue diva” promoting herself at the expense of the campaign. An Alaskan ethics panel ruled that “Barracuda Barbie” had unlawfully abused her authority when she fired the safety commissioner when he refused to terminate Palin’s ex-brother-in-law.
The duo has stooped to more than just negative campaigning; they crossed the line by fanning the racial flames in the base. Ashley Todd, a McCain volunteer, said she was attacked by a big, black man who was outraged at her McCain bumper sticker. It was a sick, choreographed hoax.
Hyping up the false connection with Islam, McCain supporters have called for Obama’s lynching as a terrorist. Recently, the feds arrested two skinheads and aborted their assassination plot.
Even if you ignored the predominantly white crowds that McCain and Palin are attracting, these despicable acts could never unite the country and the racist residue will linger long after the election.
After the longest, most expensive presidential campaign ever, one thing is sure: We really know the candidates and their running mates. We know the measure of their characters, we know their campaign platforms and we also know that the U.S. is in bad financial, moral, social and political shape.
In a few days, this country must send a clear mandate to the world that the American people understand that we are at a crossroads. We will aggressively exercise our right to vote, hold elected officials accountable, and move in concert to redirect a country derailed by greed and short-sightedness.