John McCain voted for the resolution that authorized President Bush to launch a war against Iraq, remains hawkish on Iraq, has no exit strategy from this war without end and consistently denounces any suggestions that there should be a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. His touting the success of the surge is analogous to a guy seeking credit for helping to contain a forest fire that he started.
He would like to move an already far too conservative Supreme Court and federal judiciary even further to the right. In this regard, he opposes a woman's right to choose, and he wants Roe vs. Wade to be overturned.
He admitted that he doesn't understand economics, recently stated that he thought that the fundamentals of our economy were strong, and he wants to preserve and expand Bush's tax cuts for corporations and the rich. If you believe that this man has any plan and is qualified to lead us out of the economic crisis in which we now find ourselves, I have a bridge to nowhere that I would like to sell you.
He graduated at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy: 894 out of a class of 899; that's right, just six people from the very bottom of his large class! This is a reflection of both a significant intelligence deficit and a disdain for education. By contrast, Barack Obama graduated with honors from Harvard University Law School and was president of the Harvard Law Review.
McCain is ill-tempered, erratic, impulsive and reckless.
Perhaps most important, his disgraceful, embarrassing and politically desperate and unprincipled choice of an unqualified person to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency put this country—the country he claims to love and place "first"—at extraordinary risk.
There is a huge intellectual and ideological gap that separates McCain from Obama, but there is far too little difference between McCain and the failed policies of the Bush administration. This election takes place after eight years of horrible leadership by the verbally and intellectually challenged current president, who launched an unwise war of choice in Iraq on false premises, destroyed our credibility in the world and drove our economy down the tubes. We cannot afford more of the same. Let's not squander the opportunity we have to listen to and be led for the next four years by a thoughtful, articulate, smart, calm and deliberate leader—Barack Obama.
Michael Saphier
Sun Valley
