Written by JMG Wednesday, 14 January 2009 15:22
John McCain complains about linkage with George Bush, but his political family tree actually goes back even further than that - to Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy in fact. Early on, Nixon pledged to "Bring Us Together," then skillfully played the "divide and conquer" game -- pitting blacks against whites, young against old, and demonstrators against "hard hats." Bush's "I'm a uniter, not a divider" played the same cynical game. McCain and "Appalling" Palin go further, and resurrect Joe McCarthy when they say Obama is "willing to lose a war (Iraq) to win an election," and that "he pals around with terrorists."
How can anybody pull the Republican lever for anything after eight years of Bush, his endless, catastrophic war and an economy put in a coma? The choice of Obama, the most gifted candidate for president seen in a long time, is obvious. He will end two great national nightmares: Bush's War and the last gasp of lingering racism in this country. His victory will also provide the necessary post-Bush convalescence, healing, and recovery this country needs, even as do our gravely wounded soldiers in military hospitals.
On January 3, 2008, the people of Iowa enacted the second Emancipation Proclamation. Obama's nomination strikes an enormous blow for freedom. It transcends a great historic sin and tragic flaw in our national character, and blazes a trail for all of those heretofore excluded.