September 2, 2008

Why blame everything on George Bush?

As an independent, I have been struggling to understand why so many people say they are going to cast their vote in November for a person whose only established skill is oratory, a man with no relevant experience or history of accomplishments, who abandons decades-long friends when they become a political liability, changes positions as a political expediency, and blames everything negative in our country on what he labels the failed Bush administration.

I understand why the pandering is working for those willing to abandon their own judgment in favor of the feel-good rhetoric. However, I am puzzled that this scapegoat approach seems to be working so well for so many.

It ignores the overwhelming contributions to the current American condition made by a Congress that is at the beck and call of 17,000 registered lobbyists.

Lobbyists work for special interests who invested $2.82 billion last year and $1.58 billion so far this year to get legislation passed that is in their own best interest.

These special interests would not be investing that money if they were not receiving a reasonable return on their investment.

This election year, the junior senator from Illinois is seventh on the list of top Senate recipients of lobbyist money, and Joe Biden is 16th. John McCain is second on the list, right after Hillary Clinton.

Who should we trust to balance "the will of the many" versus "the will of the money"? Barack Obama, a man who panders to the disenfranchised, espouses feel-good rhetoric to the frustrated, and promises whatever he thinks will get him elected, or John McCain, a man with a decades-long record of public service to our country?

For me, the choice is clear. I'm voting for a Republican this time.

Rex A. Hoover
Sumerduck