At this point in time an Earth-shattering bailout of Wall Street is still in the works. This bailout will cost we the people $700 billion dollars and I have heard it may be as much as $1 trillion dollars. Can any of you out there even conceptualize that staggering amount? I know I cannot and that is what frightens me.
Much to my astonishment was watching this segment on ABC’s, “This Week” and if I thought I was frightened, hearing these seasoned and well known journalists express the same fright as me took me back. It was as if the oxygen left the room in watching it.
When ABC’s Sam Donaldson lashed into McCain when McCain said the "fundamentals of this economy are strong" he went onto say that "the question of age is back on the table" I do agree with him concerning John McCain’s age. When any president is sworn into office, it is this part of their oath we all should zero in on, “and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." Given McCain’s age, it is his ‘ability’ that I call into question.
In my opinion, McCain is too old to execute that one particular duty. I called into question his mental state in my previous column where I connected Ron Fournier to the McCain campaign through that race-baiting article. If folks cannot vote for Senator Obama because of his race, they really should rethink their decision given McCain’s age. I will also say those who cannot vote for Obama given his race not putting this country first. African-Americans have spilt blood and continue to spill blood in defense of this country. Much of our job force is made up from these hard working citizens.
Cokie Roberts stated of a poll who people trust in handling a crisis, McCain “polled seventeen points higher than Obama.” George Stephanopoulos opined, "Do the events of this week call that into question?" McCain’s own unsteadiness last week when this crisis hit the fan only loaned many to feeling anxious and called into question his ability to actually lead this country through desperate times. If he reacted that way to this financial threat upon our nation one must ask: How his age and the way he lashed out will come into play if a terrorist attack were to happen again. Will he be all to ready to go nuclear?
This is precisely where that three-o’clock call must come into play given the fact that McCain is 72 years-old. Not to ruffle the feathers of senior voters out there, but in reality if they are lucky enough financially they have retired after many decades of hard work: Would they be up to the challenge of running this country given the unique pressures this job brings? If you are a senior in your seventies, for America’s sake answer that question.
George Will stated of McCain's actions was to "fire Chris Cox" he also called that statement coming from him, "un-presidential" In my opinion a president gets all the facts before immediately lashing out as McCain did. George Will even said “Who looked calm and unflustered?” and my guess is that he was saying that of Barack Obama. It was Senator Obama who presented himself as being presidential last week when he spoke in measured tones which also relayed the gravity of this all to a frightened nation. While I was still anxious, he lessened that anxiety for me and I do suppose others. That is exactly the leadership we as Americans deserve.
Sam Donaldson stated, "For John McCain who voted for all this deregulation for him to say would be the hardest regulator, is a hard pill to swallow." He even mentioned Phil Gramm who is McCain’s economic advisor stating “we are going to have to clean this up and at great expense.” So when Sarah Palin ad nauseam cites, “Let’s take the maverick out of the senate and put him in the White House” is laughable at best and grave at worst. There was no maverick to be seen in McCain and his economic advisor Phil Gramm, only a callous disregard for America’s financial security.
Most of what caused this stock market crash like no other was caused by trickle down economics and we all know who that came from. The Reagan administration. While I do not pretend to be an economics expert, what I do remember was that he was a proponent of the free-market system where basically these big corporations were left to roam free from government regulation. This is what John McCain has believed in and now he changes his tune given the gravity of the situation.
Senator McCain is many years late and almost a trillion dollars short and thanks to legislators like him, the full brunt will be felt by the American taxpayer and I see no justice in that. In all honesty, I feel royally screwed by John McCain.
McCain who has always been a proponent of the free market system has let Americans down. Smart regulations put forth by any government is society’s safety net. Now this government is throwing all of us life preservers as we all jump off of the U.S. Titanic while these greedy executives get the life boats. We the taxpayer are left to feel the icy cold waters of endless debt while these incompetent executives are protected. Is this just the tip of the iceberg where other companies will come forth expecting a handout which will sink this mighty ship known as the U.S. Titanic?
In that “This Week” segment, George Will stated this of McCain, "John McCain showed his personality this week and made some of us fearful." I sat up in hearing that. In all honesty, I am terrified of a McCain/Palin administration given the fact of McCain’s age his choice in Sarah Palin. That was a purely political move and if he was truly putting country first, there are other women within the Republican ranks he could have selected with far more experience to fill his shoes given his age.
Now we get to the war in Iraq. Do voters realize that is still going on? As of this writing the cost of this war is a little over $556 billion dollars and that leaves out how much is being spent in Afghanistan. Add that to this $700 billion dollar bailout. I want to go hide under a rock somewhere.
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