A month or so back I proposed that I would post entries on the topics of this election that concern me, comparing the main party candidates. As should be obvious, I have not done so. The reasons for this are immaterial but should not imply a lack of interest in these topics. A simple example as to why is that I am on a flight to Iowa right now that I booked less than 4 hours ago.
The election is now less than two weeks away. The competition has brought about many suprises; the first African American is running for president, Virginia seems likely to vote Democratic, it seems likely both of our Senate seats will be held by Democrats. The presidential contest seems to represent a generational shift in politics. On my way to the airport I heard a statistic saying that the 18-24 demographic favors Senator Obama by a 56% to 32% margin. Quite an indicator as to the direction of the country. Something that makes me happy.
As my readers should know, this matches my feelings. While I respect Senator McCain (I supported him in the last Republican primary against Bush), I find that to become “electable” in the eyes of the Republican base, he has compromised the things he stood for. He has fallen to playing the game of “politics of fear” as it has been called. The tone of his campaign has turned so ugly it is just disrespectful; so much so that at times he even appears embarrassed by it.
I believe that it is time for the next generation of politicians to take the lead. That is not to say that they are perfect, they are human like the rest of us. I have hope that Senator Obama will be a good president. He needs to be as we have many challenges ahead of us.