Soapbox Derby: Who Gets the Vote?

Sean Faircloth

Sure, he served only eight years in the Illinois Legislature. Yep, he served only two years in Washington before his lust for power drove this beanpole to run for president. I still say that Lincoln guy is all right.

Sure, Lincoln didn’t have as good a record in Illinois as, say, Barack Obama (Obama pushed through low-income tax credits and childcare subsidies), but Lincoln’s talk of “hope” and “change” makes me feel warm inside, so even if candidate Lincoln was not as accomplished as Obama, I like old Abe.

And the slogans rock!

“Lincoln: Beanpole idealist!”

“Peacenik Lincoln: Bring ’em home—from the Mexican-American War.”

The inexperience of our greatest Republican president points to the reality that experience is but one factor to consider in selecting a president.

Experience is very valuable. Our best president, FDR, was an extremely accomplished governor. Rhetorical skill is also important. JFK, Lincoln, and FDR were better speakers when they ran for president than Obama, but Obama is better than McCain.

But experience (as important as it is) is not as important as good judgment.

Obama took the lead on child care, demonstrating skill—and vision. The nation that builds the best brains wins. Obama (like Bill Gates) understands the key to economic success is building top-notch brains when brains are built—in early childhood.

Also, unlike McCain, Obama in 2002 joined Republican Senator Chafee in publicly saying the Iraq War was a terrible idea. McCain? Horrible judgment on Iraq. Obama’s wisdom would have saved thousands of American soldiers—and hundreds of thousands of lives. Not so McCain.

There’s more.

Obama sponsored a provision granting one year of job protection to family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. McCain opposed this. Obama voted with veterans. McCain did not.

McCain called Social Security a disgrace. The 180,000 Mainers using Social Security don’t think it’s a disgrace. In 1935 when FDR proposed Social Security, most old Americans died horribly poor. FDR changed that, and Social Security remains one of America’s best policies. McCain wants to privatize it, harming the system, risking the retirement of 180,000 Mainers, while simultaneously giving away almost $1 trillion to the richest 1%. That’s bad judgment.

Maine has some of the highest percentages of veterans and seniors in the entire nation. Repeatedly Obama has voted to promote and protect funding for veterans’ health care. McCain has taken the opposition position.

President Bush recently said he was planning “human missions to Mars and worlds beyond.” My 3-year-old knows “worlds beyond” Mars are gas planets. No solid surface! Say again, W? We need a president with good judgment. President Bush has proven to be a president with incredibly bad judgment. And McCain consistently agrees with Bush!

If a record of good judgment is the test, Obama wins. If Americans focus on who supports veterans, seniors, and those of us who have inherited nothing (and work for a living), Americans will vote Obama.

Sean Faircloth, a lawyer, graduated from the University of Notre Dame, and the University of California Hastings College of Law. Currently the House Majority Whip, Faircloth did the welcome speech for Barack Obama at the Bangor Auditorium in February 2008.

Scott K Fish

I’m writing this 82 days before Election Day 2008 when Maine voters elect or reelect one U.S. senator, two U.S. representatives, and a new U.S. president. If nothing changes in the next 82 days—and in politics 82 days is forever, anything can happen—the next president will be either John McCain or Barack Obama.

This presidential election feels like I’m wearing the sport coat I wore leaving my 1983 wedding reception. It doesn’t fit just right, so it doesn’t feel right. Yes, I’m voting November 4, but I'm uneasy about both Obama and McCain. My focus is on what to do after Election Day. If the nation is comfortable with these two men as the best presidential candidates America has to offer, the nation's in trouble.

The Great American Spirit is choking, the result of a relentless drive by too many Americans for government bureaucrats. Yet, one presidential candidate is promising to choke us harder. The other candidate promises to choke us harder only in certain areas, i.e., amnesty for illegal immigrants. What law do you and I get to break where the president will give us a reward as valuable as U.S. citizenship?

I'm meeting voters who believe it makes good sense to treat the 2008 elections as Amateur Hour. These voters say, "We are frustrated with the ineptness and corruption of professional politicians. So the best way to purge professional political bad guys is to elect as U.S. president, as members of Congress, candidates with no political experience."

Do they also believe the cure for high medical costs is untrained medical doctors and nurses performing surgery?

Our republican form of government, we are told by America's Founding Fathers, survives only when we, the people, understand a) how government works and b) our role in making government work. Election 2008, then, to paraphrase songwriter David Byrnes, ain't no party, ain't no disco.

Maybe MTV's music video influence is more widespread than I imagined. How many American generations' taste in pop music is driven by looks, not sounds? Think American Idol's Sanjaya. Well, Sanjaya politics is the accepted norm, with politicians performing to Americans knowing nothing about politics, caring less, unequipped to analyze how electing certain candidates will affect their lives or the health of the nation.

After I vote 11/4, I will keep encouraging Mainers to get in, or back in, the political fight! Freedom lovers sitting out this battle will pay an awful price. There are no great nations of morons. If America thinks it can be the first, forget it! We must understand where American freedoms come from, keep them alive as active citizens, and pass that knowledge/spirit on to Americans born into a world of our making.

We need citizens with political street smarts, an innate ability to spot and reject political charlatans who sell cheap their American birthright and ours. Say no to Sanjaya politics. I want Freedom singing in politics—loud and clear.

Scott K Fish is . . . (same as usual)