Best of Luck to Barack!
Even though we weren’t able to get tickets to see the first presidential candidate to campaign in Grand Junction, Colorado in some 40 years, we’re planning to show up at Cross Orchards today regardless. Actually, I’ve read that Bob Dole stopped in at our airport during his campaign in 1996, though he didn’t schedule an event like Obama’s and rumor is that he only stopped here because his father-in-law was born here.
Having grown up on the Western Slope I was worried that the valley was too conservative to provide a good turnout for Senator Obama—boy, oh boy, was I ever wrong! The line for tickets stretched around the block from the Obama headquarters at 844 Grand Avenue. It looked almost like the lines for the release of the latest Star Wars movies looked, replete with camping chairs and coolers full of refreshments, except that the patrons that were waiting for their tickets here weren’t dressed up like aliens or Jedi Knights.
Though I knew right away that I had arrived too late even to hope for a ticket, I was overtaken by a sort of giddiness to see so many supporters for the Democratic nominee right here in traditionally conservative GJ. My wife suggested that I stop the car and at least ask about tickets, even though it looked less than likely that any would be available. Sure enough they were all out, in fact they were out of yard signs and bumper stickers as well.
Luckily for me (and for the fellow manning the table) there was an independent entrepreneur selling pins, shirts, and stickers next door to the Obama headquarters building. I bought a bumper sticker for my vehicle so that I could proudly display both my U.S. Navy decal and my Obama sticker. I am so sick of people assuming that just because I was in the military I am supposed to be a staunch and die-hard Republican voter. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As a Navy veteran I am here to tell you that the concept of a “weak” Democrat is not only a misconception, but a childish one at that. As a military man and a Democrat alike, I would proudly serve again under Obama and Biden, in fact I would be much happier to serve again for them than I ever would under a McCain Palin ticket. Franky, Palin scares me with her lack of working knowledge regarding foreign policy, and McCain seems only interested in staying the course.
The trouble is, even with the current deployment posture of our military, if something major were to happen like a conflict with Russia over the Georgia dilemma and/or the ensuing chaos (like two Russian, long-range bombers landing in Venezuela), we simply would not have the manpower or the resources to defend ourselves because most of our military presently sits in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, and Germany. Under McCain’s leadership we would be further stretched to include occupation of Iran, North Korea, and Syria at the very least. If you can do simple math, you can see that this would leave very little here at home. Without instituting a draft, such a posture simply could not safely be maintained.
How are we supposed to be “strong at home” if we have nothing left here with which to defend ourselves? Is it “weak” to want to maintain the ability to defend our homeland rather than hemorrhage Trillions of dollars on the largest welfare program since the rebuilding of Germany after WWII—i.e. Iraq? The popular phraseology of the Republican party is, “fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here.” Except that if we continue to spread our forces around the globe, we’ll wind up fighting them here and there, which means that we will be able to do neither effectively.
Anyway, long story short: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
JMK
Buy me coffee! Sphere: Related Content
