Save Yourself Barack!

OKAY... I have election fatigue. I am officially tired. I am even tired of Obama and his call for “hope” and “change”. I love the guy but I am tired. Hillary just looks like a disaster to me. Mean spirited. Scolding. Grabbing every opportunity to grab the cheap sound byte and play lowest common denominator slash and burn politics. The problem is that her tactics are tried and true and they work. The republicans have proven it for years with wonderful things like the swift boating of that inept Kerry fellow but Bill and Hillary (and I still love Bill) were masters of the hard, cheap shot to the back of the leg. There is no act too cheap and nothing is deemed too low if it brings about getting the “right” person the job. These ends justifying the means politics are just what we were hoping Obama would lead us out of.

Right now he is failing us. He is embracing the politics of fear and pettiness that have dictated the argument for over 20 years. Instead he has dropped into the same thing himself and it is a grave disappointment. He has squandered his cash on fast reaction teams that respond in kind to every cheap shot in a vain attempt to grab moral high ground. It sickens me and it has to stop. More importantly he has the chance to stop it and make a difference and prove his rhetoric. Here is what I am suggesting... demanding of my candidate.

1. Call a press conference.

2. Muzzle and control your own people. Release a list of people who speak for your campaign (make it short) and make clear anyone else is NOT authorized by you or your campaign. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOUR AIDS AND CONFIDANTES SAY. Let Hillary have her pocket politicians smear you. It means nothing if the people believe you.

3. At the press conference announce the following:
A. He is ceasing all attacks on Hillary or responses to attacks. The campaign is about ideas and having the courage to leave stupid partisan politics aside. the challenge is too great and the stakes to high.
B. He will agree to use matching funds and federal funding of the national campaign as he said he would and he will donate whatever cash is stored up to the DNC.
C. He wants Florida and Michigan to be able to vote but they must be campaigns where he is both on the ballot and has a chance to campaign. He should apologize to the people in both States on behalf of the national party, and their state parties and state government for their apparent disenfranchisement and remind them that neither he nor Mrs. Clinton were responsible for it.
D. He will stop contacting and lobbying super delegates. That too is old style politics and stinks of deal making that is beneath the party and beneath the American people. These people will vote with the majority of the party and if they fail to do so the Democratic Party is done and you should lead the charge out of it.
E. He will praise Mrs. Clinton and suggest that she would be a worthy and admirable President.
F. He will praise John Mc Cain and his service to this country and acknowledge that he too would make a worthy and admirable President.
G. Whoever the PEOPLE elect he will vow to work for the change he has been preaching.
H. He will start his campaign anew with the theme NO EASY ANSWERS! He will list the things we face which have no easy answers like:

i. The economy which Bush has ruined with tax cuts, budget increases and a war he lied the country into. Americans are going to have to face up to some lean hard years while the country finds it’s way. He will bring the best and brightest of the economic leaders of our country including Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and labor leaders. If America is going to get out of this it is going to be through technology and new ideas.

ii. The War. We must get out of Iraq but he is NOT going to withdraw our troops on day 1. The blood shed that would be caused would be unforgivable. Mr. Bush’s ruining of the country has created debts and he will once again exercise best efforts and seek best advice not just of Generals but of allies, world leaders and perhaps even sit down with our enemies IF he thinks it would be productive towards our countries goals. The “war on terror” is going to be discontinued. We will defend our borders and exact a toll on those who aid people who kill Americans.

iii. He will seek justice in our own country and start to answer the question about why 1% of us are in jail. He will review the “war on drugs” which compares favorably to the “war on terror” and make the decision that we can afford neither. America leads by being strong and brave and it is hard, expensive and will cost American lives and treasure... but not without a plan and not without measurable results.

iv. He will support a constitutional amendment which specifically states that Money is NOT speech. When the founders protected our right to speak they did not protect our right to pay off our politicians and bribe them through our appallingly wasteful and expensive election system. He will lead a personal crusade against the lobbyist. He will disclose every dollar of special interest money he has received...ever and apologize and say NO MORE.

I know that there is much more to be said or done but he has an opportunity with the coalition he has to be transformative. We need to start the debate and attempt to really change the system that has lead us down this road to where we are ruining our economy and our country and borrowing against our children’s environmental and economic future. It has to stop. He can stop it. he must stop it but his time is running out and every day he plays the same old game he undercuts his chance of turning it around.
This is most certainly true.