Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11™

Has 9/11 turned into a cynical, political trademark?
On this 7th anniversary of a dramatic event that rallied the world behind America -- before everything went AWOL -- one cannot help but feeling fatigue with the Giuliani-esque post-9/11 harangues. There comes a point where you have to stop seeing the world through the 9/11 lens -- or the Hanoi Hilton one for some -- and take a fresh, no-nonsense look at world politics and challenges.

In this defining presidential election year, the choice is simple: on the one hand, we have an obviously aged candidate whose sole platform seems to be the fact that he was a POW 35 years ago. Does that qualify him to be Commander in Chief? Absolutely not: 1) he's not the only GI or POW, get over it; 2) far from being one of the best, he only benefited from family connections, even if it cruelly backfired on him in VC jails; 3) the fact that it is his only credible platform, and that he obviously obsesses about it and never recovered from it after so many years, should raise concerns about his mental fitness to be CiC; 4) do we want to elect a president who sees the world, and seeks to solves its problems, through the prism of his personal trauma and sole military action? 5) he is old: if he drops dead, do we really want a fundanut, neo-Phyllis Schlafly reactionary veep to be the next CiC, at a time when America badly needs to invest into its future, survival, and relevance in the new world order?

On the other hand, we have a candidate who supposedly "lacks experience" (meaning in this country that he is not white/old enough) but who has an articulated and well-thought program on how to put this country back on its feet economically, socially, politically, and internationally. Yet whose party lacks the balls and vulgarity to play dirty politics the way its opponents are accustomed to -- proving once again that smear is more effective than substance.

The bottom line is a choice between social liberalism and financial responsibility, or social conservatism/bigotry and financial/worldwide clusterfuck. One only needs to look back a few years to see how things could get much worse under that pseudo-Maverick team the GOP is selling us. It is time for change, sanity and sobriety. For the sake of America -- and the world.

Enough with the lipstick wars and other media fluff. Let's get this country back to fundamentals. To real debate, politics, and policy. It is not about party affiliation anymore. This election is about more than that. It is about common sense. And true, real patriotism.
photo Gary Hershorn/Reuters