A few months ago I wrote about my thoughts on the Presidential candidates while Hillary Clinton was still in the race. Now that we have Barack Obama and John McCain as the nominees though I thought I would update my post a bit. As a reminder I consider myself both fiscally and socially conservative so I freely admit to leaning toward McCain however I do my best to try and look at the individual strengths and weaknesses of the candidates.

John McCain

Strengths

• Ability to work across the aisle - Unlike some of my conservative friends I believe this is an important characteristic to have as the President. We need the ability to put aside partisan differences in order to solve some of the major issues our country faces.
• Military service - Not everyone will agree with me here, but I feel that it is beneficial for the President to have served in the military so that he/she really understands the cost of putting our troops in harms way.
• Not beholden to the party - McCain has been a maverick his entire career. In my opinion the President needs to put the party platform aside as needed and lead the country based on his own ideals. This is one area where I respected Bill Clinton as the President. He knew when the Republicans had a good idea, and he supported it. I believe McCain would do the same things with Democrat proposals.

Weaknesses

• Health - I suspect some people reading this will relate it purely to McCain's age. Actually the part that concerns me more has to do with the treatment that McCain received while a POW. He has given a lot of service to his country, but that service took an awful toll on his body. I am concerned how the pressure of 4 or 8 years as the President will wear on him.
• Temper - It is pretty widely acknowledged that McCain has a pretty hot temper. While this is characteristic that many people share, it is one, that in my mind is dangerous for the President of the United States to have. Even when action is taken against our country such as 9/11 it is important that the President can remain cool in the crisis and help lead us out of it. I am not sure McCain can do that.

Barack Obama

Strengths

• Great communicator - Obama has the ability to connect with people. Since we face a time of crisis in our country this is an important ability to have. Ronald Reagan, and John F. Kennedy had the same charisma and communication ability. I think this is important as the President has to talk to the American people regularly about important topics.
• Message - Some will see this the same as being a great communicator, but in my mind the message Obama is delivering is as important as the way he delivers it. Like many people I am tired of the way Washington D.C. runs and would like to see a fresh point of view brought in. This is where Obama's message of change appeals to me.

Weaknesses

• Lack of leadership experience - I'm not trying to claim Obama would be a bad President. The fact is that his experience is limited though, and it bugs me how this has been treated by the media. The fact is that this could be good or bad depending on what you think of the direction of our country and Washington D.C. specifically. For me I want a President who has a number of years of experience working with all three branches of government since this is an important function of the President.
• Courage of convictions - As I've followed the campaign it seems that Obama has changed his messages a few times. When one is seeking the presidency, over many months, there are going to be occasional times when the message requires fine tuning, changing, whatever, but it seems like Obama has to clarify his messages on a regular basis. It really makes me wonder exactly what it is he believes in.
• Judgement - I really question how the choice of Joe Biden benefits Obama. If Mr. Obama was not trying to run the message of change Biden would of been a fine choice, but when you are trying to change how Washington D.C. works it seems like a poor pick in my opinion. I would of liked Obama to pick a Senator or Governor who had experience, but was more willing to question the establishment. I would of liked to see someone like Joe Lieberman get chosen. That would of shown a more consistent message of change.

Conclusion

I tried not to list a strength of one candidate as a weakness of the other. This was intentional as it is not a scale where the inexperience of Obama is balanced out by McCain's term in the Senate. I tried to look at each candidate individually and think about what I thought the plusses and minuses are.  I also did not try and give each candidate a certain number of strengths and weaknesses in order to support McCain. I thought about each candidate and tried to quickly list the areas I thought helped and hurt them.

I am not quite sure how I will classify this post. The following is a collection of items I have running around in my head and don't seem log enough for individual posts.

Barak Obama

Congratulations to Barak Obama for winning the Democratic nomination. As a Republican I have to admit he gives me much more concern than Hillary Clinton in the general election. Whatever happens in November I hope that people will vote for him or McCain based on their ideas and what they stand for and not the color of their skin. We are in the 21st century now and really ought to look at what the candidate stands for, not what race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation, etc. they are. We should really look at voting as a serious obligation and study out the issues for ourselves. It really doesn't matter what our favorite news show, right/left wing blog, or talk radio host says about the issue. It matters what we believe and what the candidates believe. All in all I hope we all will take the chance to study out the issues and vote for the candidate we believe most closely matches our beliefs.

Serving As A Volunteer

I have really come to believe the maxim that , "No good deed goes unpunished." In my church I am responsible for the 12-18 year old young men's program. I have been doing this for about 2 years now and am really starting to realize what a thankless position it is. Most of my frustration comes from the other leaders though, not the youth themselves. Actually I enjoy working with the young men and seeing them mature and takes the steps to determine what kind of people they will be in their lives. I could really care less about the politics, and backbiting that the rest of the calling has though.

Gas Prices

As gas prices continue to go up and up and up I keep wondering when we are going to realize that we have oil in our country and need to go get it. I wonder how many other countries in the world would have a resource and decide to to use it? I realize this is a simplistic example, but I compare it to playing a real-time strategy game. In most of that genre one of the keys ways of winning is generating as many resources as you can. I think in some ways that applies to real life as well. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I think with a country as great as ours and with the technology we have we should be able to get the resources we need while still protecting the environment.

Global Warming

I guess I would say my position on global warming is that the Earth is getting warmer, but we don't know why. I realize that makes me a simpleton in the eyes of those who believe the debate is settled. I have tried to study as much as I can about both sides of the issue, but it still seems like there is a lot of confusion out there. Honestly I wonder if we really have the ability to determine the exact cause of changes to the climate. I mean there are a lot of variables that can lead to the Earth getting warmer or colder. Not only do I think we are still missing variables I also think we don't really know what the weight of each variable is. Do humans contribute .01%, .1%, 1%, 10%, etc. to global warming? I am not sure we know what our impact is. I recognize that there are people who say even if we only are causing .01% of global warming we should still take steps to make that .01% 0. I agree to an extent, but wonder if we are behaving as the Sorcerer's Apprentice trying to cast a spell without understanding the rules of magic? If we legislate changes now will we find that we changed the wrong things while ignoring those that were really causing the world to get warmer?

My friend Harry (Devhawk) posted an interesting entry on his thoughts on the Washington Caucus and how the race seems to be shaking out. He says that we are free to write a comment telling him what an idiot he is if he insults our favorite candidate. I won't say he is an idiot because I consider Harry to be a very smart individual and enjoy the talks we have about politics since we are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. I also found his points to be very thought out and worthy of consideration. With that being said here are my thoughts on the race.

Republicans

I think that the Republicans have some serious problems heading into this presidential election cycle. Look, I voted for George W. Bush 2 times, but even I can recognize that the choices his administration has made have done no favors to the GOP. Honestly, I am one of the very conservative bunch that isn't sure that I can support John McCain. Unlike some, I don't believe McCain is a traitor to the party, but I find him to be too moderate for my tastes. Since I have discussed my faith (LDS) here on a few occasions I will also say that I did not and do not support Mitt Romney either. So at this point it looks like I will have to either:

1) Vote for McCain while holding my nose.

2) Vote for a third party knowing I am helping the left.

3) Vote for the Democrat because at least it will be a change from the Bush administration.

At this point I am leaning towards option 2, although I haven't ruled out option 3 either depending on who gets the Democratic nomination.

Democrats

One area I thought Harry neglected is the strife in the Democratic party with the delegate count between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama being so close. At this point it doesn't seem that one candidate can land a knock-out blow on the other, although if Obama keeps winning he may accomplish that feat. It appears that the Democratic convention could be quite entertaining/contentious depending on what happens with the delegates from Florida and Michigan. I'll have to ask Harry his thoughts on this, but if things stay so close going into the convention, will their be significant anger from the opposition against the winner of the nomination (Clinton or Obama). While I admit as a Republican I would find that entertaining as it may be the only chance a Republican has of winning the presidency this year, I also wonder about any long-term effects to the Democratic party.

Conclusion

No matter what happens I think this election year will still have some fascinating twists and turns. I hope that no matter your political affiliation you study out the issues and the candidates and chose the one you fell will best represent you and this country. I've always felt that voting is not simply a right but is an obligation as a citizen, and our best real chance of getting our voices heard.

P.S. The Washington State GOP made a horrible blunder regarding their decision to stop counting votes during the caucus on Saturday. That was a reprehensible decision.

I meant to post this on July 4th, but with all of the holiday activities my family was involved in I just didn't have time to get to a computer. We are at an interesting time in our country's history and I want to share my thoughts on the holiday and what it means in this time of unrest.

• As I posted a long time ago now, the level of political discourse in this country has got to improve. The fact is, and I know my left-leaning friends don't want to hear this, it is just as much the fault of the Democrats as it is of the Republicans. It seems that our 2 parties would just rather fight than actually consider what might be in the best interests of our citizens. By the way I meant citizens...not illegal's, you can tell me all of the reasons they are here and how they want to improve their lives, etc, etc, etc, but it is all bullshit. They are here committing a crime, and for any of us to justify it is absolutely sick. We need to pack them all up and send them back to whatever country they came from. If you want to come to America, come here legally, otherwise get the hell out.
• Now to all of you Bush haters out there. I have stated on several occasions I am a conservative. I voted for Bush both times, but I recognize he has made some colossal screw-ups. At the same time, don't keep blaming Americans for voting for him, blame your own idiotic party for not being able to run a candidate more compelling than Al Gore or John Kerry. For all of his faults, Bill Clinton was and is the ultimate politician. He not only knew how to read the shifting political winds, he also knew how to connect to people. If the Democrats want to take over the presidency next year I think they really need to get behind Obama, rather than Hillary, because even though I don't support many of Obama's positions he has that same ability to connect to people.
• What bugs me about both parties is that they appeal to the extremist fringe and neglect the middle. A friend of mine who is left wing and I have lunch fairly often. While it is true we disagree on many things it is also true that we agree on many items. We spend so much time in this country looking at our differences that we neglect to focus on our areas of agreement. Polls show that the majority of people are somewhere in the middle. They may lean right on items like support for the military, but left on social issues, etc. I don't think most people could go strait down the line and would find themselves on one side for every major issue our country faces. 
• As I look at our country I want to make it clear that I am a conservative, not a Republican or a Democrat. I want to see the government tax us less, but in order to do that spending must be cut. Basically I want the government out of my life as much as possible. Unfortunately I see both major parties going in the opposite direction. They both want to make us dependent on them so we will continue to vote for them. Personally there are a great deal of enterprises I believe the government has no place in. Here's what I want the government to do. Keep up the infrastructure (roads, police, fire, mail), protect our shores (military), and stay the hell out of everything else. We have developed a culture that believes it is the government's job to take care of our needs. That is complete crap. It is our job to take care of ourselves.

OK, the political rant is over, now back to our normal programming.

After a few days off I am back to blogging. It has been an interesting few days. I have been really busy getting ready for some upcoming scouting activities the youth in my church are involved in.

Before I write my thoughts this morning I want to put in a disclaimer. All of my thoughts today are political in nature. While I feel they are well thought out I realize they may be offensive to some. Consider this as a warning before reading further.

• I have said on many occasions I am a conservative. While I generally take that view point on issues, I find myself in agreement with one of my coworkers today that Alberto Gonzales needs to resign, or be fired. I doubt President Bush will do that as he has proven to be quite stubborn. The Attorney General looked incredibly incompetent yesterday in his testimony before congress. At the same time I do feel compelled to point out that congress should not be looking into this mess in the first place. Attorneys serve as the pleasure of the President and congress has no role here. Of course this is different from when Clinton was President when interns served for the pleasure of the President. :-)
• After the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech this week there have been many discussions regarding gun control and the 2nd Amendment. I am a believer in the right to own guns, but I have always been of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with requiring background checks and getting licensed just like we have to in order to drive. In my mind this licensing could involve some safety courses, as well as testing prior to obtaining the license. Much like a driver's license the bearer should have to get a renewal every few years. I also believe all guns should be registered, once again like a car.
• Finally this week, I applaud the Supreme Court on their decision about late term abortions. It is important to keep in mind they simply said the law that was passed by the U.S. Congress was constitutional. No matter what the press says, women are not losing their rights here. At the time late term abortions are performed there is no health benefit and this type is murder.

Barack Obama

"The arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact" - Barack Obama

That is very funny Senator, don't let facts stand in the way of a good quote. It is the nature of modern politics to think your side has the reasonable factual arguments. I wish a politician would just be honest and say, "There are wackos on both sides of any issue. Perhaps we can work together and find a solution that benefits the majority of the people."

Joseph Biden

Speaking about Senator Obama, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." - Joseph Biden

Nice job Senator, perhaps you have heard, we even let minorities vote now. I am continually convinced that Democrats are more racist than Republicans. If I am right it will be very difficult for Senator Obama to get the nomination, much less win the Presidency. I hope we have advanced as a society behind those types of considerations.

Well, it certainly looks like it has been a bloodletting for the Republicans this time around. I have mixed feelings about the results of this election. As someone who is deeply conservative, both fiscally and socially, I would of preferred to see the GOP keep their majorities. As the same time since I am conservative, it pains me to see how much money the Republicans have spent over the last 6 years. I also think that the longer a party remains in power the more corrupt they become. What this says to me is that the Republican party ought to consider deeply where they screwed up, and hopefully get back to core party values.

I would like to congratulate the Democrats on their victory in these mid-term elections as well. While I may disagree with the majority of the party platform, I think they have done a great job this year in selling their message to the American people. It will be interesting to see how Nancy Pelosi does as the Speaker of the House, assuming of course she gets elected to that position.

President Bush has a challenging two years ahead to put it mildly. I will find it fascinating to see how he is able to deal with an unfriendly congress, in at least one chamber and possibly both. At the end of the day I am glad that the Democrats have regained control, mostly because I feel that gridlock is a good thing to keep the politicians in Washington D.C. from interfering with me and my family. And while it may be naive I also hope that this election will force the two parties to work more closely together and raise the level of political discourse in our country, although I won't be holding my breath.

We'll also have to see what impact this election has on the 2008 presidential election. As my coworker points out in his blog this will be the first open election, where there won't be an incumbent from either party seeking the presidency in over 50 years. I have a feeling this will make for a very dirty, nasty campaign, and I wonder if we may get a viable third-party candidate due to the contention.