Obama vs. McCain - Let the Games Begin!

This coming Saturday, Hillary Clinton will announce her support for Barack Obama, essentially making him the Democratic presumptive nominee. And as McCain has been the presumptive nominee for the Republicans for months now, the stage is now set for the Main Event, the One for All the Marbles.

Let me say first that I am a little sorry to see Hillary go. True, she's still a senator, and there's still rumoring about a possible VP spot for her. And while she was never my first choice for Democrats (that was Biden, then Richardson, then Edwards) I think even now that she'd make a good President. She carries the Clinton brand name, which is an accolade by my standards. And regardless of what other shenanigans Bill would have gotten into while Hillary was minding the store, one cannot dismiss the brutal intelligence of the man, and the obvious advantage of having said intelligence at one's beck and call.

Much has been made of the fact that the Democrats didn't get their collective act together vis a vis a nominee until so late in the game, comparatively speaking. With that in mind, there is speculation that those people who spent so long in Hillary's camp have become so entrenched in the "defeat Obama" mindset that now they'd rather vote for McCain than change mantras. I think this ignores the fact that the election isn't for another five months, which is an eternity in the world of politics. The American public has chronic long-term amnesia on most politicians' transgressions, which might also explain how so many of them continue to get re-elected. In November, the Democrats will vote for the Democratic candidate, and the Republicans will vote for the Republican candidate. This is a generalization, and while there will be exceptions, they will be notable only for how infrequently they occur.

To those of you that supported Hillary and now face the prospect of supporting Obama for the next five months, I say: if you truly support the ideals of her candidacy, you are best served by supporting Obama. He and Hillary agreed on 95% of all issues, and that 5% difference is what made it so difficult to choose, hence the long drawn out primary campaign. But that's over now. And if you want to see 95% of what Hillary advocated brought to fruition, go with Obama.

So now we have it, the showdown: McCain vs. Obama. And really, you couldn't have asked for a more symbolic match up: McCain represents much of what Republicans are: rich old white guys with trophy wives and an aversion to change. Obama is young, urban, a little bit angry and definitely a threat to the status quo (see: rich old white guys). Rich white guys have run things for so long, well pretty much since we got started as a country. I think it's a testament to our nation that fifty years ago, Obama wouldn't have stood a chance, and that's we've progressed as a nation to this point. It makes you wonder where we'll be in another fifty years. But I digress.

If McCain wins, it's a safe bet that all the policies and procedures set in place and kept in place with George W. Bush will find another four years of shelf life. Foreign policies, domestic policies, all would receive the cursory re-varnishing that would distinguish them as "new", but basically we'd be looking at business as usual. The question we must ask ourselves as voters is, what will that mean for America, four years hence? Is the path we tread now the same path we want to find ourselves on then? Or has our current idiot in chief so damned us as a nation that to pursue his course of action any further would spell doom for the republic? I tend to think the latter is the more likely. I have ranted at length about the sins of the George W. Bush administrations, and I believe that to pursue his twisted logic as a matter of policy for another four years in any facet of our nation's dealings would ultimately destroy us. We are at war, and for nothing. We are broke, with no plan to remedy our deficit. From health care to education, from the war on drugs to war on terror, Bush's track record is a comedy of what would be errors were they not so mind-numbingly tragic for us as Americans.