How long will it be before we admit that the democratic party does not inspire confidence in this country? This party is responsible for much of the confusion surrounding health care reform and most of what goes with it.

The party is unable to speak with a single voice on the subject and just about everyday they waffle and backtrack and change course as if there is no consensus within the party. They act as though they do not meet to determine the course of action and this leads to a situation where different members say radically different things on the same subject everyday.

In many respects they are somewhat like the GOP with several talking heads and wannabe leaders. They leave loads of doubt and confusion in the public's mouth and hence it's hard to be confident in anything they say.

The DEMS are the reason why the GOP is gathering momentum. They sit back and let the GOP set the talking points and then they lazily seek to defend the,selves, if at all. I suspect that the DEMS will lose quite a few seats in the next election cycle but it will not be because the GOP won them but because the DEMs lost them.

The DEMs just do not inspire confidence in even its most loyal supporters. It's a pity.

The measure of Obama's success will be based on his ability to turn swords into ploughshares. From the looks of it, he is filling his positions with some rather hawkish warriors. People who seem to prefer wielding a sword rather than pushing a ploughshare.

In yesterday's press conference he mentioned that change is still on the way and that the change buck begins and stops at him. If this is the case, then he has one heck of a job to get his change mandate implemented with these sword wielders.

His obvious plan is to take these swords and beat them into ploughshares. If he succeeds in doing this then we know beyond any shadow of doubt that this man has mastered the art of persuasion way beyond anything seen in modern times.

I for one am very happy with what he has done so far and who he has selected. Actually I am excited because I want to see this act of beating swords into ploughshares played out in the public square. I have every confidence that Obama will get it done.

If he gets it done, you know full well that the GOP will be in for a torrid time in election cycles to come. Good for them!

I need some help here. I want to write a list of the successes of John McCain. I am thinking to myself that at this critical juncture in the campaign that McCain could easily abort the negative approach and sell himself as the American success story and win this elections by a landslide over that Obama fellow.

I was just about to grab pen and paper, write a really long list and then send it off to his campaign. I got stuck on the first line and quickly realised that I am not in a position to write on McCain's successes.

So tell me, was he successful at school and in the military? I keep hearing about poor grades and military planes falling from under him but I do not really know.

Would you say he has been successful on the marriage and fidelity front? I am not sure here either.

What about his bids for the presidency? I don't seem to think that he was successful here.

What about his handling of the recent economic crisis thing? Are you of the opinion that he got it right and now things are on the up and up economically?

Is Sarah Palin one  of his success stories? Do you think she is skyrocketing to the vice presidency and hence McCain's judgement is smack bang on target?

That Russia/Georgia conflict, I know he came out with a few talking points when that situation came to pass but I am not sure if that could be called a successful handling of that situation. What do you think?

As you can see, I know very little about John McCain and hence I am in no real position to write on the successes in his life so your help is required. In recent times however it seems that most of the things he's touched have been turning to ashes. Again it may seem that way to me because I really know nothing about the man so I am just making a bad judgement call. So help me out here.

The more I look at the two campaigns the more I realise the importance of courage required to lead. It has become obvious to me that John McCain does not have the courage to lead. He deflects the role of leadership to others while he parades as the figure head. This is ridiculous.

He has not taken the leadership role of his party even though he has been appointed as leader. Several people now seem to farm out that role every day and this is seen by the various surrogates who are in the media. Each one with a different point of view on the same subject.

He failed to take control of his campaign and hence he has been relegated to expounding positions on issues that are not his. He is given a script and he reads whatever is written on it even if he thinks it is nonsense. Look at the Wright, Ayers and the other negative issues, it is easy to see that John McCain is uncomfortable with this approach to campaigning but because he has no real leadership role in the campaign he has to go along with these talking points and lines of attack.

McCain does not have the courage to stay on message. In any elections, there will always be a core group of people who will oppose whatever message is brought to the table. McCain cowers and changes his message when his base attacks him. He does not have the courage to sell and market what he believes.

John McCain is afraid to be a leader and he is afraid to make the type of decisions that leaders make. If he cannot convince his party and his inner core of campaigners to follow his lead, how can he convince the American people? How can he convince the middle east? How will he be able to convince Russia and Europe? Seems impossible to me.

Contrast John McCain's courage with Obama's. Obama has stayed on message from inception to this very moment. Did he get tons of challenges from his supporters? One just has to read the blogs during the primaries to see the lashes which Obama took for his message. All of his opponents stuck it to him but Obama had the courage to stay on message and sell it to the world at large... not just the American people. It is becoming more and more obvious everyday that the people have bought Obama's message. 

Obama took control of his party long before the primaries were over. As a matter of fact several people within the party wondered what was his rush. He was always in control of his campaign and its talking points are his talking points. His media voices all have the look and feel of Obama. They sound like him. He has complete control of his campaign. He has the courage so to do. 

Without vision, the people perish. John McCain does not have the courage to lead... not his campaign, not his party, not his country and certainly not the world.

A look at the two campaigns reveal a very interesting nugget.

Barack Obama remade the Democratic Party in his image and likeness. He leads, dictates and directs the core values and points of his campaign. The talking points on the campaign sound like him, look like him and seem to be him. His surrogates mostly sing his tunes right down to the sour notes. This is his campaign and party. In like manner, he has developed a core theme for his campaign from day 1 and has never left it. He is still hanging onto this change mantra

In contrast John McCain has not taken control of his party. He never got around to remaking it in his likeness and image. More over, he is not even controlled by his party but is led by a select group of people in some remote corner of his party.

His talking points never seem to be his because they run at variance to the things he supported in the past. So often the things he says are in direct contrast to what his surrogates say.

McCain seems to be someone who is sent to deliver a message. He is never comforatable with his talking points and this makes him seem grouchy and old.

There is no one on earth at this moment who say difinitvely what McCain's campaign theme, slogan or mantra really are, fearful that it will change the next day. YES, his entire campaign flutters around like shot bird and has no stability.

There is no eveidence of McCain's leadership in his campaign and this is why he will lose this election.

I am sure that his supporters are not keen on having him as president, they just do not want a democrat in the house. More particulary a democrat of Obama's pedigree.

John McCain is not ready to lead this country. He will not be president.

 

It seems to me that John McCain and his companions have come to the conclusion that they definitely will not win in November.

Out of pure frustration and anger they have decided to make the country ungovernable for Obama. They are making every effort to split the country down every imaginable line by drawing rifts between democrats and republicans, muslims and christians, men and women, black and white, minority groups and whites.. etc. etc.

Their ploy is simply, if we can't get to govern then we won't let you govern either.

I doubt this will work however. It will just be another defeat for John McCain but with a later ending. Can they not see that Obama is very focused and gets the job done?

Can they not see that he has not changed his message or style since the beginning of his campaign? Are they too blind to see that Obama has tumbled in the gutter with the best of them and won? Surely they can see that he is rumbling with John McCain and winning. Why not just throw in the towel, mop the floor and go home?

How much must it take? Why destroy the country? How sinful.

psssssssssst... pull your pants up, the world is watching.

Yes, it is very important for the peoples of the USA to seriously consider that the world is watching every iota of this election process. They already doubt the integrity of our system because of what happened in 2000. The average person will give us a pass on that because it might be a one off situation.

Judging from what's happening at Palin/McCain rallies, the world is now being asked to take another long look at the American people, its society and it systems. Some aspects of the society seem to be seething with anger at what's happening with the Republican party and that a young upstart roared from nowhere and is breaking apart the status quo. What is even more frightening and threatening for this element is that this young upstart is black... or 50% black or maybe 50 percent white. Take your pick.

What's happening is not good at all. For such to happen means that we are lowering ourselves even further down the cess pool. We are the ones who waltz around the world creating democracies. We are the ones who wage wars on those who restrict the liberties of people. We are the ones who talk of freedom to associate, freedom of speech and press.

We are the ones who tout opportunity as the hall mark of our existence. We have made the world to believe that the best things can happen..."Only in America". We proclaim ourselves as being the world leader.

How can we now have such a huge movement in our society which shouts words of treason, kill him and off with his head to a man who has pursued his american dream, which is his legitimate right. How can we be so angry because a black man is about to ascend the stairs of the "whitehouse"? How can we be seething with so much anger when someone dared to believed in what we preached and reached out and took ahold of those things which we made him believe?

Are we now seeing the real America coming to the surface? Are we asking the world to view us for the people that we really are and to look for another more honest world leader?

Hey America, let us take stock and remember that the world is watching. Our pants is down... we need to pull it up.

I have been reading several reports where black congressmen and others are complaining about the Palin/McCain's new line of attacks. They are noting that it smacks of racism and fear. This might be true but...

Such negative campaigning should drive us to do something other than griping. It really should get us so riled up that we make it our personal business to ensure that every living soul in the US votes for Obama/Biden. We should all start campaigning too. Believe it or not, all supporters of Obama/Biden are surrogates and hence we too have a message to deliver. 

These congressional folks in particular have huge platforms on which to stand to counter whatever they think is not right. They have an automatic constituency to which they can appeal for help. The have an instant voice in the media, the blogs and several other news delivery machines.

Hey.. stop griping and get to work. It's time to push back in a more united and cohesive manner on the Palin/McCain's crap and make sure that even our pet rabbit or moose votes for Obama/Biden.

Griping solves NOTHING.

There are some in the MSM who are already saying that this debate is not a game changer. Forget about them...  they are thinking that based on this evening's debate that Sarah did enough to keep the race chugging along at the same pace but they are WRONG.

I assure you that over the coming 10 days that Obama's lead will solidify and this will be due in large measure to this debate tonight.

What actually happened tonight is that Biden reassured voters that the Obama/Biden ticket is sound. He showed that the ticket has more than talking points. It has content, it is knowledgeable and passionate, it is sincere and honest and it knows how to respect the opposition. That's all he needed to do and he did it excellently.

After tonight Palin has only assured voters that she did not wilt under the lights of the debating stage but she has not moved her ticket any further up the road. People are still thinking and saying that she cannot be the next president, that she is out of her depth on issuess and that she is only about charisma and presentation.

So the McCain/Palin ticket has work to do while the Obama/Biden tickets needs to make concrete out of what is now a solid ticket. Keep watching the polls and listening to the public's talking points and you will confirm my thoughts here..

I am convinced that Sarah Palin will vote for Barack Obama.. either deliberately or by accident. However she does it, I expect her to Vote Obama.

Look, she keeps using his talkingpoints, keeps supporting his strategies and tactics. When she is not spouting support for Obama, she is talking gibberish and pig latin when she is supporting McCain.

What is the obvious conclusion here? I think she intends to undermine McCain and vote Obama.. hmmmmm.

Why is the media giving Bill Clinton so much air time? I do not get the impression that he is giving any significant support to the candidate for president from his party.

He seems to lavish the praises more openly on the opponent and give his candidate a rather tepid endorsement.

Is the media trying to fuel division in the Democratic camp? Are they still trying to pave a path for McCain to win these elections? Are they trying to level the playing field and gave McCain a chance to catch up?

What is the media working on with Bill Clinton? Why is Hillary not getting similar air time?

Just wondering...

Resilient.

Throw the kitchen sink, knock him down.... he gets up again and pops up to the surface.

What more can a people ask of a president?

The way I see it, Obama has the better talking points, a better plan for the peoples of the USA and is more presidential. In the midst of all his crises, he has always been calm and strong and has always come out with a plan which rescued both him and the campaign.

Based on what's happening in the US and the world at large, Obama has presented himself as the better candidate yet with all this, independents, women and white men have not clambered to his side of the fence.

He addresses the economic woes better, he handles women's issues better, he sides with the military and veterans, he ensures that the young are taken care of, he makes sure that those who want to work can work and that everyone has some entitlement to good health. Yet.... his support is not overwhelming.

So what will be the real deciding issue? We know at this point that its none of the above. Will it then be race?

What ever became of this "goodly gentleman"? I have neither heard nor seen him since the RNC convention.  I am not seeing him buzzing around the mccain campaign anymore.

What's the matter with him? Is he ill? Is he sorrowing and sulking because mccane gave his VP slot to a lil beauty queen from Alaska? Is he somewhere in a corner morphing into an Obama supporter? Could it be that his full time post in the mccaine camp is to give sarah her talking points?

Where in the world is Joe Lieberman?

Is there any reason why Sarah Palin shouts rather than speak? Is this because McCain is not using a PA system at his events? If she continues like this she will develop a rather sore throat. She needs to turn it down.

I get the impression that she is full of confidence as being a great politician.  I suppose this is because she is able to run rings around the truth with no shame or guilt at such an act. I think she believes lying is what makes a great politician.

Her day is coming and I know its not far away. The crash will be loud and will resonate for years to come. Mark my word.