Right now the voters have a crush on a pretty faced empty pantsuit (Palin) and this has caused McCain’s numbers to go way up. This despite high unemployment, bank failures, the mortgage crisis, the energy crisis, a trillion dollar war (that we were told would pay for itself), another war in Afghanistan (that we’re losing) against the actual 9/11 attackers, a ballooning national debt, the fact that Palin lied in nearly every point from her speech to the RNC (the ebay jet, firing the chef, opposing the bridge to nowhere, opposing earmarks, etc)—McCain is in the lead.
By contrast the Democratic party has a highly intelligent, charismatic candidate who’s an amazing public speaker, understands the economy, and has shown true wisdom in his foreign policy proposals (this has been born out by the fact that Bush has adopted many of Obama’s proposals to great success of late—though before doing so of course both McCain and Bush ridiculed the proposals).
In the face of all of this if the Republican party still pulls out this election the United States of America will have truly "jumped the shark."
Take a look at this 2006 article by Tom Freidman from the journal Foreign Policy to see why McCain’s policies (especially “drill, drill, drill”) are moronic and would only lead to an even more dangerous world:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/...
Moral to the story our addiction to petroleum is the root cause of much of the instability in the modern world. We fund all of the world’s most dangerous governments every time we fill the tank (not to mention the contribution this makes to the dangerous warming of our planet). The higher the price of oil the more dangerous petro-dictatorships become.
Ronald Reagan did not topple the Soviet Union; its government which was structured around the revenue it took in from the high oil prices of the 1970’s collapsed when the price of oil collapsed in the 80’s and early 90’s. Now that the price of oil is higher than it's ever been, modern Russia has become bolder internationally as it has more money to throw around to modernize and maintain its military—and project it’s power outside its borders. Our addiction to oil has empowered anti-democratic forces in Russia, Iran, Venezuela and elsewhere.
McCain is the wrong choice if we want America to truly lead this new century. With Barack Obama we will lead—to quote Bill Clinton—“by the power of our example, not by the example of our power.” By retooling our economy to cleaner, more hi-tech, nonpetrolium or coal based technologies we can solve our climate crisis, economic crisis, perceptual (our tarnished image overseas) crisis, and foreign policy crises with one blow.
The question is whether Americans will be bold enough to lead the world into the future, or whether we’ll cede our leadership, money and safety to others who are not friendly to our interests.
This is the most important election of our lifetime. Far too important to allow ourselves to be blinded by an empty pantsuit with a pretty face, who’s shoring up an elderly politician whose ideas are just as old and tired as he is.
All of us need to get out there, volunteer, talk to family members, donate money--do what ever you can to be sure that Barack Obama wins in November.