THE SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE AND I'M NOT TOO HAPPY

 Another debate and another disappointment.

McCain is not running against a messiah. Barack Obama and his supporters may think he is a messiah but he isn't...really he isn't. Yet John McCain still can not deal any of the blows that Obama's candidacy leaves open and available for McCain to take.

Where were McCain's blows to Obama's judgment? Where were McCain's jabs to Obama's accomplishments? Where were his uppercuts to Obama's record or initiatives? They just weren't there.

Obama is a reckless politician who has spent his adult life seeking higher office. He has spent his career talking about great ideas and never implementing them. He has no recoord of accomplishment or defining moment in his life and he has no real vision for the nation. And even if he did, there is no reliable proof which indicates that he can implement that vision.

Yet with all of that, John McCain still has not been able to articulate the doubts about Barack Obama or the fact that all of Obama's cited plans are regurgetations of past failed, liberal policies and a reincarnation of Jimmy Carter's failed administration.
McCain has allowed circumstances to control him rather than him taking control of circumstances. He has not presented his own economic stabilization package. A package that should contain some of the basic philosophies of the party he is the nominee of. He has failed to make the case for why our nation must be on the offense rather than defense in the War on Terror and he has failed to capture the imagination of voters, even those who are fellow Republicans and want to be energetic in their support of our standard bearer.

Instead, John McCain has allowed himself to be tarnished by the mistakes of the current administration. An administration he had no part of and even fought against in many areas. An administration led by a man whom John McCain, himself, opposed eight years ago.

There is much good that this administration has done, in fact more good than bad. They were asleep at the wheel in the case of the private sector failures which threaten to destabilize our national economy. That is a destabilization that they are not responsible for but they are guilty of not averting even though John McCain warned them of the pending doom two years ago.

But despite it all, McCain's candidacy seems to be struggling to overcome the downside of the Bush administration and unable to take advantage of any of the good sides. Furthermore, through it all, his candidacy has been avoiding the chance to take advantage of any of McCain's own positive and unique characteristics.

I am coming to the point where I no longer have the strength to defend someone who is not willing to adequately defend themselves or promote their own vision. I will not give up, but I want to. I want to smack around the collective Republican voters who gave us McCain as the nominee and say "I told you, Romney was the one we needed."

Were Mittt Romney on that stage with Obama last night, we would have seen a totally different debate.

When Obama suggested that he understood why we are where we are in the economy and essentially described his proposed tax increases as budget cuts, Romney could have turned and said "with all due respect Senator, have you ever managed a business, employed people, met a budget or dealt with any of the things that you speak of? Because I have. I have successfully created jobs and wealth for others in the private sector, without any bankruptcies, government bailouts or selfish, golden parachutes. I governed a state and left it in better financial shape than it was when I took over. I know how to help the needy and less fortunate in our society. I provided equitable health care and I have the record and experience that is needed to do the same for our nation at this time of need. However; you Senator, have nothing but the words out of your mouth, a mouth that is the only thing you have experience in running."

In Mitt Romney we would have had a candidate with energy, enthusiasm and vision. a candidate who's only association with the baggage of this administration would have been the name of our party and it's lack of popularity at the moment.
Romney demonstrated the passion and judgment that we needed. He was unabashedly defensive of the right things that President George Bush did, regardless of their popularity or lack of, and equally unequivocal about the wrong decisions that the administration made.

I apologize if it sounds like I am saying "I told you so", but I told you so.

I was angry when Romney was forced out of the primaries and when my party was seemingly giving it's nomination to John McCain. Not because McCain is bad, but because he was not the best we had. Romney was.
But as usual the G.O.P. gave the nomination to the candidate that it seemed it owed the nomination to. Nixon in 1968, Ford in ‘76, Reagan in ‘80, George H. W. Bush in ‘88, Dole in ‘96 and now McCain in ‘08. Our party always gives the nod to the next in line, the guy who served the party and has the battle scars from a previous election. In going that route, we were fortunate only in 1980. After almost defeating Gerald Ford for the nomination in 1976, he became the next in line in 1980 and he got it. For that, we are grateful but what if we gave him the nomination in ‘76 rather than Ford. Could we have been spared the disastrous years known as the Carter term? What if in 1988, we nominated Jack Kemp instead of than Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush? Could we have elected him over Dukakis? We probably could have taken Dukakis by an even larger margin than we did, and he probably would have been re-elected and spared us Bill and Hillary Clinton or at least deprived them of those first four years.

But Noooooooo,.... we always go with the guy next in line.
Well if that's the case, Mitt Romney is the next in line.

He fought a good, hard battle in the race against McCain. Although others, besides McCain, stayed in the running longer than Romney he still came out with the second largest amount of delegates in the field, surpassing the totals of even Huckabee who hung in until almost the bitter end.

I am not giving up on McCain. Although I see him not as the best person for the job, he is the best choice that we have for the job. He is right on many, if not most, the issues and he is worthy. He has run more than his mouth and he has been right where others have been wrong. Most of all, he is not a false prophet. He has a proven record of achievement and strong record of putting country before party, and nation before self.
Now, if he could only get that message across, maybe I would feel more energized and more enthusiastic about my commitment to advance that message.

As for those you verbose critics, I do not make any concessions except for one. Barack Obama is a good speaker. That is how he got anywhere and everywhere that he has to date. He has appealed to peoples hearts and without using their heads, they are going with their hearts. He has been like a used car salesman who successfully sells you a car but the car has no engine. Unlike McCain, Obama is selling what is not there while McCain has let you see under the hood and kick the wheels. That is all that I concede and that is because I see the need to make the poor rich and that need is not achieved by the Obama policies of making the rich poor and strangling us off from the energy we need and the fuel that energizes our strength.

I wish we had the kind of orator that appealed to our senses by reaching our hearts, a speaker like Reagan, but we don't. We blew that chance when overlooked Mitt Romney in the Republican primaries. Although I may wish for that kind of messenger, I am still pleased with the truth of the message that John McCain brings to the table.

So for all you naysayers out their I offer you this, I may be pessimistic about the results of this election but I am not pessimistic about the content of John McCain. I am confident in his judgment and knowledge and I am comforted by his experience and direction. That is what provides me with the will to forge ahead with my continued support for John McCain. That and the fear of Obama's ultimate destination for our nation, keeps me focused and commited in this quadrennial American competition of ideas and leadership. It's not over and neither are my efforts. Four weeks may seem short but it is a political lifetime and in it many things can and will change.

Many others have come back to win the election when the polls had them down by even more than McCain is at now. For goodness sake's, the newspapers even said Truman was defeated when the man actually won. So hope is not lost, it's just taking a power nap.

Years ago, there was an old tale in the Marine Corps about a lieutenant...

... who inspected his Marines and told the 'Gunny' that they smelled bad.

The lieutenant suggested that they change their underwear. The Gunny responded, 'Aye, aye, sir, I'll see to it immediately'

.
He went into the barracks and said, 'The lieutenant thinks you guys smell bad, and wants you to change your underwear.

Smith, you change with Jones, McCarthy, you change with Witkowskie, Brown, you change with Schultz. Get to it'.

The moral:
A candidate may promise change in Washington, but don't count on things smelling any better.

                                                                         Submitted by former Emmitsburg Mayor Ed