Dear dad...

This is an open letter to my father. Hi dad, send money and wine.

A few days ago, he and I were talking on the phone. He mentioned that his mind was not made up about for whom he would vote.

Dad...wilson tango foxtrot?!?

I have and will continue to repeat Norman Chad's line about the two major party candidates: trying to pick between 'em is like trying to pick between athlete's foot and jock itch. This is one case, however, where there is such a clear distinction between the lesser of the two evils that it's ridiculous.

I hope here, with the help of some friends and family, to convince you (dad) to not vote for that doddering idiot McCain.

Let's break it down scientifically...

CHANGE
Both Obama and McSame...err, McCain are on the change bandwagon. Hard to believe coming from Democrats and Republicans, I know. But remember - Obama has been pioneering the change message from the first day of his campaign. He has constantly demonstrated a slightly different thinking - cooler, calmer, more calculated. McCain was a little different - about 8 years ago when he was running against Bush. The 2000 election showed McCain that his style was just too out there for the conservative base of the Republican Party. So now he's pandering to the ultra-religious base of the Republicans.

TEMPER
McCain's outbursts and fits of rage are legendary. He could go Mt. St. Helens at any moment. I read an article recently about an environmental dispute McCain moderated in Arizona not too long ago. One participant came away saying "If McCain were president during the Cuban Missile Crisis, we would have been in World War III in about five minutes." Obama has almost been panned because he is so calm and cool. Who would you rather have in a tight negotiation of some kind - Mr. Calculated and Cool, or Mt. Vesuvius?
Here’s a good if humorous example of Obama on his feet. it may be hard to hear what precipitated the comment of note - it was someone in the crowd shouting “We love you Obama!”


ECONOMY
I know this one is near and dear to your heart, dad. Don't buy (pun intended) the spin that McCain and Republicans are more fiscally responsible. Uh...who was running budget surpluses for years, including when he left office and laid plans for that to continue for the foreseeable future? Clinton. Who has run up the largest budget deficits in history? Bush and the Republicans. Who runs up huge increases in military spending, dwarfing any increases in spending for social programs that help people help themselves? Republican presidents. Who wants to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to buy mortgages to bail out people who bought beyond their means? McCain. (Predatory lending is illegal and should be prosecuted on its own). Who is more likely to continue the past failed economic policies that ship production off-shore, continue isolationist foreign policies that increase oil and other prices for consumers, and keep prices of goods and services high? McCain. Who’s got more Washington lobbyists than you can shake a stick at - about 80 or so at last count - on his staff?

FOREIGN POLICY
There was a reason the first Gulf War went about as well as a war can go: diplomacy was given a chance, diplomacy took its course, and when that didn’t happen, *then* force was used. I prefer Ed Abbey’s approach - “There’s no such thing as a good war or a bad revolution…”

EXPERIENCE
Some say Obama has no experience. Same thing they said about JFK. McCain has been in Congress for almost 30 years - yet is suddenly running on a platform of change. Huh?! Who will be the better leader? Obama in a landslide.

MANAGING FEDERAL LANDS
A survey last year of National Park Service employees showed that for 2/3 of us, me included, being a Park Ranger is more than just a job. This one is a no-brainer.

VICE-PRESIDENT
Whoa nelly, this one is a doozy. About the worst you can say about Biden is he's been in the Senate too long...not much longer than the alleged maverick McCain. Some say he misspeaks at times. One, I think his line about Rudy Giuliani is enough: "Every sentence out of his mouth has three parts: a noun, a verb, and 9-11." Two, the below shows his mettle. Notice how he just smiled and totally held his ground. That's the kind of thing you need in a tense meeting behind closed doors.


That's about the worst you can say about him. At best, he has triumphed through adveristy and knows that cooperation is necessary, lest you have a stalemate and no good comes.


And then you have Sarah Palin. To quote Wile E. Coyote, EGAD! She is allegedly against pork barrel spending...yet when she was mayor of Wasilla, AK, she got more money per-capita through pork than any other town in America. For a po-dunk burg in Alaska. She's in bed with the oi companies - the same guys who helped bring us $4/gallon gas. She has railed for and pounded her fists for abstinence-only sex ed in schools without even allowing debate on considering any alternatives...and then her teenage daughter goes out and gets pregnant. Of course no parent is perfect - that's why no single method alone works. Never mind that she can't even take care of her own family, let alone run the country on top of it. She and her husband are in the middle of an ethics investigation over abuse of power in trying to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the police force. She's lied like a bad rug about the Bridge to Nowhere - ardently supported it a few years ago, and then once Congress yanked the money for it (it was originally one of those earmarks she so allegedly so hates), she changed her mind...but kept the money. And does anyone really think running a town of 3,000 people and running Alaska (population: +/- 685,000) is enough to run the country? And with McCain's health and age, it's a distinct possibility.

FIRST LADY
Nancy Reagan took on drug use among children and gave them an easy way out. Hillary Clinton took on health care. Fell on her face, but took it on. Cindy McCain has…a Budweiser distributorship. I might be able to get excited if it was a good beer, not what Christina so affectionately called ‘Crap.’ Cindy McCain, she of the refusing to disclose any of her financial records. She the one with a drug addiction. Versus Michelle Obama, a strong independent woman raising a family and speaking openly and honestly, even if it’s something people don’t want to hear.


McCain really is about as close as we’re going to get to another Bush term. At least one of your kids has, for better or worse (and it sometimes feels like worse) chosen a career of service in the federal government. What kind of government do you want that to be? More of the same failed policies that leads to fear and poverty, or do you want a glimmer of hope?