I was listening to Mark Thompson on the Sirius Left channel driving home today, and he was asking listeners to call in with their suggestions for how Obama should respond to the McCain/Palin litany of lies and smears. Like all of you, I have burned in rage at the traction these gutless hypocrites have gotten in the media, and am desperate to see Barack fight back and take these bastards down hard.
Here below the fold is the speech I want to see Barack give on TV and radio, and repeated 24/7 until it has been seen twice by every American.
My opponents in this election have talked about experience, and how I don't have the experience in government they do. Gov. Palin, bless her heart, has talked about how my experience as a community organizer is less meaningful than hers as mayor of Wassila, Alaska, because community organizers don't have any actual responsibility.
Well, my friends, I have to agree with Gov. Palin. I don't have the experience she does. You see, while she was getting experience transferring from community college to community college five times, I was busy working as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago, helping people who had seen their jobs, income, and futures disappear with the steel mills that had closed down there. I had already finished my degree at Columbia University.
Then in 1988 she got a job, as a sports reporter in Anchorage. I took a job as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization on Chicago's far South Side.
After that, she helped her husband in his fishing business. I went to law school, and became President of the Harvard Law Review.
In 1992, Ms. Palin ran for city council of Wasilla, a town with a population of 4000. I became a lecturer at the law school of the University of Chicago, and served on the boards of numerous civic foundations and funds.
In 1997, Ms. Palin ran for Mayor of Wasilla. I ran for State Senator of Ilinois. We both won.
Eventually, I ran for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, and she ran for Governor of Alaska. We both won.
I have since served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Veterans' Affairs committee, and several others, as well as chairing the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.
Ms. Palin took a trip to Iraq to visit Alaska's National Reserves. I understand she stopped over in Ireland on her way back to refuel, a visit that gets special mention on her resume.
Since then, we have both served our constituents as best we know how. Which brings us back to the question of experience. And I have to tell you, my friends, Gov. Palin is correct when she says she has experience that I don't:
Because I don't have any experience fighting for Federal earmarks, only to run away from them once it became politically expedient, and lying relentlessly about my support for those earmarks on the campaign trail.
Because I don't have any experience as a small town mayor raising taxes or running up municipal debt which will have to be paid by local citizens after I've moved on to bigger things in the state capitol.
Because I don't have any experience conducting a campaign of personal vendetta against a former family member, using the power of my office to trample the law.
Because I don't have any experience trying to ban books from the public library just because they take a different view of life than my religion does.
Because I don't have any experience claiming that our soldiers are on a mission from God, because my God does not use war as an instrument for peace.
Because I don't have any experience making women pay for their victimhood by charging them for their rape kits when they come forward after having been assaulted.
My friends, Sarah Palin has a wealth of experience that I will never lay claim to. Nor would I, even if I could lie about it.
And she has one more experience still to come which, with your help, I will never have. You see, with your help, she will be on the losing ticket of a Presidential campaign this November. Thank you and God bless you.