Barack Obama Way

Wendy and I have been confused by some reports we're hearing of things being named "Barack Obama" something-or-other.

Isn't it way too early?

Granted, he is the first African-American president-elect in our history! That's pretty neat. Yes, he has a good story. But, he hasn't done anything as President yet!!!!!

A Long Island Elementary School is now known as Barack Obama Elementary School. Couldn't they wait four years to make sure he actually turns out to be OK?

In a small town in Spain, the main avenue is being renamed Calle Barack Obama. Umm, why?

Babies are being named Barack Obama. Please don't do that yet!

I voted for him and hope, for the good of our country, that he does an amazing job. But what if he's terrible? Do you want to take the chance that you named your baby after a terrible President? I wonder how many little George W. Bushes are running around the country....

I'll say this, I like Obama's VP and cabinet picks so far. I can just see the day when we need to send someone to resolve some issue with some foreign wannabe. Who do we send?

How about, National Security Advisor Jim Jones? Badass!

Not a cabinet pick, but definitely on the Obama team, Senate Foreign Relations Chair John Kerry? He just might tase you bro!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? She won't take no one's crap!

And wait, if we really, really have to - if you step up to the US we might just have to unleash Vice President Joe Biden. We might as well give you a head start running. You done gonna get schooled Biden-style!

So, he has done that well. He picks a good team.

I have nothing but high hopes for our President-elect and I try to pray for him and his family every day. But, really, he hasn't done anything yet. Stop naming stuff after him please. Especially the babies. It's way too early.

One conservative blogger put it this way:

Imagine a child getting a trophy for just showing up for a little league baseball game.

Amen to that. I remember having to play a whole season before getting my plastic trophy. Sure, I sucked, but I played. He hasn't even started playing yet!

And, so, as I often like to do, I ask that you pray. Pray for our President-elect, our Vice President-elect, and their team. Expectations are high. I pray they're able to meet them.

VP debate

Mike McCurry, former press secretary for Bill Clinton, put it this way, "Biden won more points, but Palin probably won more hearts."

I agree. This is the same problem the Democrats have had in 2000 and 2004. They're not talking to the people.

Sarah Palin looked into the camera, smiled, winked, said absolutely nothing, and gosh darnit, people liked her.

Joe Biden spoke with experience, had his facts, and even choked up when he talked about his family, but he wasn't accessible. Unfortunately, accessibility matters to the general public.

Let me be clear, Joe Biden won the debate. But Sarah Palin also won. People are talking about how she did better than expected, how she held her own, and how she sounded better than she did in the Katie Couric interviews - that's a win after the lowered expectations.

On a side note, I loved Joe Biden's anti-maverick rant!

Joe Biden should be able to have a field day with this

I actually think the idea of Sarah Palin as VP is genius. Governor, small town, conservative, etc. Still genius. The candidate herself? Not so much.

I hope Joe Biden has a field day with this on Thursday. Take a look for yourself,

First Sarah Palin talks about the economy:


Next, Sarah Palin has to "get back" to Katie:


Then, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have fun with the interview:


Finally, it sorta reminds me of Miss Teen USA 2007 contestant, Miss South Carolina:

A pig is a pig

A good friend of mine sent me a message pointing out that John McCain has used the "pig"-line before:

Drawing comparisons between New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's current healthcare plan and the one she championed in 1993, Arizona Sen. John McCain joked Thursday, "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig."

My response:

The HUGE difference is that I hold Obama to a higher standard. I want to believe that he is different. But he's showing me that he isn't.

McCain is way off message right now and the Democrats should ride him on it. Instead, they're stooping to the typical political jabs.

I have to add, another difference is that Obama's remarks today come shortly after Sarah Palin made a reference to herself as a pitbull with lipstick. Regardless of whether Obama was speaking about "the message" or the "messenger," it is just more of the same on the campaign trail.

I keep hoping for better.

Please Mr. DJ

Stick to the issues.

I've been making the case that the Democrats should not be going after Palin for her inexperience. It takes them away from their message and the Republicans can make strong arguments in return; getting us absolutely nowhere.

Today, I have to come down on the Dems for another reason: Name-calling.

Don't do it. Please. It gets us nowhere and the message is lost. And, you may be losing the election with it.

On the same day that Barack Obama defended Palin's faith and unveiled a plan on Education Reform, he said the following:

“There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick.”

Later he went on to add, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."

"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change,'" Obama continued, "it's still gonna stink after eight years."

He also called Sarah Palin a "moose shooter."


The Republicans, with Sarah Palin playing the role of wildcard, have re-branded their message and now speak of "the change." Genius! Steal the message.

So now the Dems are pissed, nay, furious! and revert to making smart remarks. They try their hands at wit. But here's where they start to lose everything they've built.

Barack Obama built his campaign around change. Bringing us hope. Trying to keep the higher ground.

But now that John McCain is stealing that message and wrapping it around an elephant-agenda, Obama is derailing the campaign by taking shots an McPalin. Please Barack, don't take the low road. Don't.

Unfortunately, the Democrats have already lost a handful of people in Middle Small-town America due to Palin's entrance. But now they're going to lose another handful due to their poor choice of words. Handful by handful, in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, they are starting to lose this election. I didn't think it could happen, but it is.

When I was in Ecuador back in July, my family there was asking me if Obama was going to win. I told them that unless he got caught stealing money from charity and puppies, he was a sure thing. I may have been wrong.

Once again, go after McCain-Palin on the issues. Go after them on their record. Force them to talk about the economy. Keep it positive and on message. Please.

I was right!

Today is a great day for the United States of America. First, because I was right! And second, because of progress.

On Wednesday I made my guesses for the Top 3 possibilities for McCain's VP:
http://bapcog.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-top-3-guesses-for-mccains-vp.html

I chose Sarah Palin because she's conservative enough so that McCain won't lose as many votes to Bob Barr or the Conservative Party and she brings youth and a fresh face to the ticket.

Plus, she's a woman. Now, I know that John McCain is not dumb enough to think that Hillary Clinton's supporters will vote for Sarah Palin simply because she's a woman. If he wanted that, he would have chosen somebody more towards the center, a moderate Republican. Sarah Palin is not a moderate.

However, just as with any political election, there's a whole bunch of people out there that vote for superficial reasons. And, I know for certain (because I know some of them) that there are people who will now vote for John McCain simply because he has a woman on the ticket. Nothing to do with her qualifications, all about the gender. They are few but they do exist.

Smart move by John McCain today. And, oh yeah, I was right! But so was my friend, Paul Snatchko! (and to be honest, I've been hearing about Palin from his blog for months).

On to progress: As of noon today we know that unless something catastrophic happens in the next few months, come January 2009, we will have a biracial President or a female Vice-President or perhaps even an African-American female President. Now, isn't that something?

It's taken a long time, from the Civil War to the Suffrage movement to the Civil Rights movement to the Equal Rights Amendment all the way to 2008. And we're here. A place where no matter what happens, history will be made this November.

Congratulations to Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, and Cynthia McKinney for being a part of history.

And now, who will Ledesma endorse? Stay tuned.

A denial I disagree with

In the Roman Catholic Church there has been a lot of talk, going mostly one way, about the denial of holy Communion to pro-choice politicians. The issue has been going on for years.

Four years ago there was talk about denying the Holy Eucharist to John Kerry and nowadays it's about Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. Here's what I don't understand: Why would you deny Communion to the people who might need it the most?

Back in 2004, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) issued a memo to the US Catholic bishops giving guidance on denying Communion to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion. In it he stated that there should be a private admonishment of the sin, but if necessary, there should be a denial of Communion. He wrote that "the minister of holy Communion [is not] passing judgment on the person's subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person's public unworthiness to receive holy Communion due to an objective sin."

However, in this "reaction" is this minister not making an actual "judgment" on the politician? The very action of deeming someone unworthy requires the formation of some judgment.

If the Church is worried about the public unworthiness of a public servant, I agree that they should privately chat with the politician, and perhaps even make a public statement disagreeing with the politician's public position. However, denying them the body and blood of Christ does little to change that politician's mind. The Church in this case may be alienating people that they should be trying to form. Jesus gave us Himself in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist to nourish our souls and bring us into communion with Himself, the Father, and His followers. Talk to them, teach them, let the Holy Spirit guide them but do not turn them away.

What would Jesus do? I propose He would say to the pro-choice politicians, "Stop doing that! Let me tell you why..." and then invite them to dinner.

Read Mark 2:15-17,

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."


(Photo courtesy of http://stmartincatholichurch.com)

Biden

By the time I got home last night at 1am, the news outlets already had the "Breaking News" that Obama was picking Joe Biden as his VP. I asked my friend, Adam Who-Should-Become-a-Rabbi what he thought about the pick via text message. A one word response: boring.

In some ways Biden does nothing to bring Obama up in the polls. People don't really know him too well, and those who do tend not to like him because he shoots from the hip. Biden also delivers the state of Delaware - already a Blue state. He's a Catholic! (that can go either way in the polls).

I think that tells us that Obama's not worried about needing a boost in the polls or winning a certain state. He needed to build some foreign policy experience on his ticket, and he got it. Biden's got tons of Foreign Relations experience and has been in Congress longer than even McCain.

I like Joe, even with his lack of filter. I think he's one of those politicians who says what's on his mind so you always know what you're getting. I like that.

I wonder who the Maverick, John McCain, picks now...

Guesses?

(Photo courtesy of http://biden.senate.gov)