Colin Powell made a strong endorsement for Barack Obama for President. Powell made the endorsement during an appearance on Meet The Press. Colin Powell the son of Jamaican imigrants has served a distinquished career with the military and the U.S. government. The endorsement is huge win for the Obama campaign, because Colin Powell is widely respected within the military, by our government officials and the general public.

General Powell meticulously explained his reasons for making an endorsement for Obama at this time. First, he said that he doesn’t think is Palin is ready or capable to be the President of the United State. CannonSpeak arrived at this same conclusion on August 29th and wrote that McCain showed poor judgement when he selected Palin as his vice predidential candidate.

The number one reason that Powell decided to vote for Obama and what drove him to make a public endorsement for Obama is the McCain campaign’s twisted terrorist propaganda. The Republican National Committee and the McCain has engaged in behavior that is essentially wrong. There is a thin line between negative campaigning and where the RNC and the McCain campaign are with the terrorist twist. It’s downright un-American. Cannonspeak to this position about the McCain campaign twisting the facts about the William Ayres situtation.

The issue is that McCain and Palin have gone too far with the negative ads. You have crossed the line when you call a United States Senator a “pal of terrorists”, because he knows a respected scholar who was a Vietnam protester. Powell had indicated back in April 2008 that he was not going to endorse either candidate. It’s clear that McCain and Palin’s constant and long term “terrorist” campaign tactics drove Powell to make an endorsement for Obama.

Popularity: 22% [?]

The McCain campaign constantly comparing Obama to being friends with a terrorist is a twisted and perverted attack. It’s so twisted that Twister Sister might be running the McCain campaign. Is Twisted Sister running the McCain campaign? This is such a twisted campaign tactic that it should cause sane conservatives to run from McCain.

The story behind William Ayres and the problem with the McCain’s scare tactics. First, the word “terrorist” conjures up images of Middle East terrorists that hate the United States. William Ayres was a 1960’s hippie. He was then and is now an American. Second, this was almost 40 years ago. William Ayres was a wild, hippie American kid around 20 years old.

When Obama met William Ayres, he was a 50 something, respectable, educated college professor. Does that mean Obama was “palling around with terrorist”? Come on! Give me a break!

The McCain staff cannot defend this as just running a negative ad campaign. This is much worse than just running negative campaign. McCain and Palin are calling a United States Senator and candidate for the Presidency of the United States a terrorist! That is way over the line and is something much worse than a negative ad campaign.

Ask yourself? Can I vote for a man that will so willingly twist the truth? Can we trust this person to speak truthfully to the American public?

Popularity: 27% [?]

Obama recently announced that he is not going to use the Publice Funding funding available for Presidential candidates. 

Public Funding was created after Richard Nixon’s campaign when he far outspent his opponent in the election.  At the time, the public opinion was that he had a big advantage, because of donations from wealthy individuals and corporations.  There was genuine concern that it may become impossible for a minority candidate to win a campaign against a candidate supported by a well funded political machine.  The Public Funding money comes from U.S. taxpayers that check the box on the their IRS tax return (Form 1040) that they donate $3 to the Presidential campaigns.  Most Americans check the box and the Public Fund can make avaiable approximately $85 million for each candidate.

The Public Funding program is good, but it has flaws.  One glaring flaw is that all of the candidates do not have to use it.  For example, if Obama and McCain had both agreed to use it.  Independent candidates can still use their own money, and some have quite a bit, to smear the national party candidates and create a nuisance effect for the national candidates in the campaign.  Obama’s decision has highlighted this weakness in the public funding program.

Still, it is dismaying that a candidate that is running a campaign based on reform would decide to use private funding instead of public funding.  Obama’s team has pointed to several reasons why they chose to forego Public Funding, but they have not conceded to the real and underlying reason.

The underlying reason that Obama chose to use private funding is that during the primaries it became clear that he can raise much more money than McCain.  However, this is the reason that the Public Funding program was created and it’s the reason that every candidate since Nixon has used it.  This will be seen as many as a step back.  It will be seen by just as many as doing what is necessary to win the election. 

The issue is clear.  What comes first reform or winning the Presidential election.  Should the Public Funding program be strengthened to eliminate the current weaknesses and require all Presidential candidates to use Public Funding?

Popularity: 23% [?]

McCain’s healthcare plan isn’t perfect, but it’s got a good solid design. We should look at the good parts and not find fault with the weaker parts. The democratic process of negotiating a final plan insures that the weak parts never make it to the final legislation anyway.

The best part of his plan is it creates a fundamental shift away from a healthcare plan that is subsidized by employers. It does this by providing a cash benefit of $5,000 annually for families to purchase health insurance or $2,500 for an single person to purchase healthcare insurance.

This means that people will no longer be tied to an employer for healthcare. Despite the improvements in portability, I know of someone at my company that cannot change change jobs, because they have a preconceived condition.

It also means that the vast majority of Americans will be able to get health insurance regardless of their job or the company they work for. Probably every person in the United States has a family member that doesn’t have healthcare. My self employed brother embodies the American entrepreneurial spirit and sadly he doesn’t have healthcare. McCain’s healthcare plan will change this inequity.

Popularity: 21% [?]

The Republicans believe that Democrats are talking about McCain’s age in a move to get votes. I have heard that some think this is not fair play. McCain’s age is a serious topic for debate and consideration for the Presidential campaign.

How many people have 72 year old men working at their office? Have you ever worked with someone that was in his/her 60’s and noticed times when they were not particularly sharp? This is a fact of life!

This issue is not about fair play. It’s about selecting a strong, capable candidate to be the next President of the United States. This is a not a one year job either. It’s a four year assignment by the American people. It’s also a demanding job, with long hours and immense pressure. Everyone must decide for themselves when they vote in November if age is a factor. But, age is certainly a factor that should be considered during the campaign process by each voter.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Obama is feeling stronger everyday as he gets closer to securing the Democratic Presidential nomination. As a result, he is concentrating more on campaigning against McCain and less against Clinton. He has criticized McCain’s international diplomacy as “naive” and is firing back at McCain. McCain made a negative implication about Obama’s statement that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran. Obama fired back saying that John F. Kennedy met with Kruschev during the Cold War period.

Overall Obama is beginning to act like the winner of the Democratic Presidential nomination. Actually he doesn’t have the nomination sewn up yet. The super delegates are very close . . . and, while some of the super delegates have declared who they will vote for, some have remained silent about how they intend to vote and so its difficult to predict how every single super delegate will vote. Stay tuned for more.

Popularity: 20% [?]