Who to Vote For President of the USA

I guess I do not care much about the USA Presidential Election. I was reading today, and relized I have been spelling McCain wrong... just not a priority in my Global view of life.

John McCain

At least I did not Osama

Thanks for helping me save TIME, 'cause not gonna need or want to read your blog any more- again, thanks!

Too funny Anonymous, it is obvious you do not understand how to save time... hehehe

All you have to do is click away and not invest negative Karma in something you do no like. I truly do not care if a person like or dislikes my blog post. These are my real thoughts, I am not in a popularity contest and never will be, and for sure do not want to be famous.

It's a curious election to observe.

On the face of it, you have 2 of the best candidates standing in my lifetime, so either way is better than before.

If we could trust both candidates equally to do exactly what they say they will, my vote would be with Obama if I was a USA citizen. But I think McCain is better than Kerry or Bush too.

The president can have an impact on your life through taxes. Obama would raise the highest tax bracket from 35% to 39%. I have no idea if you make $250,000 a year or more, but I think raising taxes on the rich will have major consequences over time regarding prices. Rich people are the lifeblood of the economy, and to tax them more is to decrease creativity and innovation. Obama will take us out of a capitalist society. McCain will delay our exit by lowering taxes but decreasing our debt. I support Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party nominee, who would lower taxes and decrease the size of government, helping to usher back in a capitalist society.

If USA becomes socialistic, I'm out of here. I want to be able to keep the fruits of my labor without being held up at the point of a gun.

HI Mr. Andy,
hehe...You particularly like grabbing tigers by the tail??
A very nicely written opnion piece and stingingly true. No big surprise the opinions of Europeans about Obama. Afterall, we are talking about socialists and others accustomed to group think, rather than individualism.
I can even give an example of a test to prove the point. Ask a minority, specifically a black American if its posible for them to be prejudiced, bigoted, racist...whatever buzzword you want to choose. Ill be willing to bet, this person will say no..because blacks are not in power. They will automatically think of themselves in terms of a group rather than as individuals.
Ive asked it often, and rarely get a different response. Ive asked orientals, whites also, but they give a more rational response describing themselves alone, not a portion of the species.
Im not sure exactly what to expect from Europeans. Your blog here will go a long way toward me making my decision of destinations. Especially the initial step off. Ive talked to maybe two Americanized Europeans and I am very curious about them. Not easy to really chat with them about anything remotely close to politics or religion. Very strange attitude and whole demeanor change with huge leaps in logic. Evidently, youve walked away scratching your head a few times also...or maybe muttering the words familiar to Yosemite Sam fans...Racken Frackit!.

It will be a sad time in Thailand for sure when the King dies. Certainly would not get into any argument with a Thai during this time. But I think the Election riots in the USA will be more Kaos and killings than when the King dies. Imagine a tight race like Gore and Bush in 04 where to happen again with Obama and McCain. Holy hell It would be an apoplectic situation for Blacks and I think they would not handle there anger well. I also feel the would not handle their celebrations well If Obama wins using it as an excuse too riot either way I would rather take my chances as a Farang in Thailand than a Cornbread boy in any major inner city.

Good article. Personally, I'd like to see the US elect an american version of Putin. Somebody strong and competent. McCain is strong but not very competent. Obama is competent but not very strong. So yeah, heads or tails. Blacks will be upset either way. Obama won't be nearly black enough to suit the older generation of blacks. But they'll get over it in time. Finally McCain announces his VP tomorrow, but I bet it won't be Powell. Powell's too upset with the Republican elite re: how he was used in the run up to the Iraq war to be McCain's sidekick.

I could not disagree more that the President doesn't matter. is decisions influence a tremendous amount. Tell the 80,000 to 200,000 Iraqis who have lost family and friends that the choice of US Presidents didn't matter. Tell the brothers, sisters spouses and parents of the 4000+ US soldiers who have died or the 50000 maimed that the choice of US Presidents didn't matter. In about 10 years, tell those under 40 who will be trying to pay down the extraordinary deficit we have run up that the choice of US Presidents in 2000 and 2004 didn't matter.

Perceptions On the 2008 Race (a couple months old so disregard Hillary) -

To me, Hillary is the worst of the three choices, however, all three candidates would be better presidents than we have today. Hillary would govern in the center like her husband, but she would also think like a politician and mostly muddle through. John McCain would do a consistent and steady job, but would not be visionary. He too would muddle through pretty much in the center. To me Obama is the only candidate with the intellect, the youth and apolitical posture to truly seek creative solutions on the scale we need today. My experience has always been that truly intelligent people are not threatened by different points of view from others. In fact they solicit such points of view and enjoy the discourse. Truly intelligent people also realize how much they don’t know. It is less intelligent people that batten down the hatches and limit input and decision making to a cloistered group such as we have experienced with the current administration.

I have never lost my respect for McCain. He is the only politician I have ever actual worked for (1999-2000). However, I feel at this time the nation needs a leader with the freshness to get us out of the international perception hole we are in, without the binds that limit long term pols. We need truly creative solutions from someone with the intellectual credibility and self confidence to attract the brightest global minds available to assist on various panels to deal with the challenges we face with regard to security, the environment, energy, the economy, education, medical care and our influence globally. Tall order. I also think Obama is the most likely one to be able to make the argument to, and gain the support of, our fellow citizens to tighten their belts to get our house back in order across several fronts. I just don't think McCain or Hillary are unconstrained enough politically and have the creativity, to handle a challenge of that magnitude.

Bill Clinton could also have done a lot of that. He was bright enough. But he was too in need of that daily dose of love from the public to focus on more important issues and, because of that wasted talent, committed a greater disservice than Bush. To Bill, it was just about making the sale. Hopefully, the selection of Bush - electing the guy we would like to have on the next bar stool - has been a lesson to the masses that won't be repeated for a century or so.

CyberBiker... in a nutshell you said,
"But he was too in need of that daily dose of love from the public to focus on more important issues."

This is what I 100 percent respect about George W. Bush and Tony Blair, they did what they thought was best, and are hated men today, not the way a normal politician thinks or acts.

The cost of Sadaam to the Iraqi people was maybe a lot of deaths, I do blame the President for bombing a person that committed genocide on his own people. Sadaam will enter the history books with Pol Pot, and Hitler and all the other true idiots.

I saw the mass grave of 2700 Iraqi people that Sadaam killed, and dumped. I know the price the Iraqi people paid they do not regret, except for all the rich who lost their hold on the country.

The middle east will have a nuclear bomb dropped, probably by Israel to protect itself from Iran, but the USA stopped the first one from dropping.

Andy, I'm a great fan of yours. I love reading your blog for the last couple of years already and usually agree with you on observations of daily lives in the Western World, 3rd World countries and other topics.

But reading this article, it seems to me you either had a bad day or simply wanted to provoke your readers.

Since when is the world opinion of the US of no value for the US? I mean you traveled the world a couple of times over:

Don't you think the current hatred and dubious discussions for Americans you see everywhere, come from nothing? Wouldn't it make things easier economy-wise, reputation-wise and for spreading democracy, if the outside view would be the opposite than what is now? Is that the fault of Europeans or other nations? No, the reputation is foremost a fault of the US and its president itself.

And what is wrong with being gay-friendly? That is the same racist argument that a lot of other commentators used when talking about blacks. Black, yellow, white, gay, straight or bi, American, European, white-collar, blue-collar - I'm sick of all those differentiations for a fight's sake.

Aren't you traveling the world every day seeing what those racisms do? They are mainly there to cement the status quo, poor and rich or old and new world. They prevent positive development. To hinder the rest to catch up.

And do you really think the grumpy, old, senile man can do better than an energetic young man with a vision?

Why didn't you work you ass off until you died in the same Rat Race? Because you've been that energetic young man before and had a vision for yourself. You wanted what's best for you. So let old McSame get back to his resting place and die in peace, if that's even possible for him; but let the youth take their future in their own hands. After all they have to pay for it.

That's what we did in East Germany to bring the wall down, even though the 'old' people never thought it's possible after 40 years if communism.

So after having seen a glimpse of the future already, I just hope that the politics of discrediting and fear don't work anymore. The same things were told about Kennedy or Clinton and yet most Americans think back with pride about those years, especially the ones I meet on the road.

And there are plenty of examples around the world (I mean just look at your African friends in Zimbabwe or SA). Let the old rest and bring out the new and the road ahead looks bright.

Can we not? ;-)

Cheers from Bali,

Chris
http://www.nomad4ever.com
Life is what you make it!

I do not care about the reputation of the USA and the rest of the world. I am not sure I care what the public, the rabble, the masses in the USA think of the President. I only care he or she does what is best for the USA, not for Europe, or any other planet.

I am old enough to know that young energy is an extremely dangerous thing in the hand of a person without wisdome. I see zero wisdom in Obama, however if you read the post, I said to vote for Obama, it will make the country stronger.

The USA will not be harmed, I did not say flip a coin, I was tellin my mother to flip a coin so she makes up her mind in mid air flipping.

I do agree with Chuck now, I do realize the inner city is going to be an extremely dangerous place if Obama gets elected.

What you see when I am talking about gay friendly, or liberal, or all the other words is a person that is FREE, I am Free to think and say what I think, I do not care a hoot about political correctness.

To me the big racism perpetrated by the world is the goal of shutting up the freedom of speech. A person like me says what they are thinking, and people want us to stop talking. I knew very well, when I wrote this to my mother, she knows I want equality and justice for all, there is no need to be quiet with here, I need to be blunt, she knows me, she knows I treat people equally.

Therefore, I say what I say with no qualms.

HI Mr. Andy,
I guess you know better than most, the internet is full of novices in life. They still havent shaken the rhetoric from their brains via actually doing and experiencing as you have in your years on God's green earth. When reading nonsense like "a man of vision" any sensible person is standing by for a qualifier for such a statement. Problem being, none ever comes. Just constant assertions with no ability to justify determinations or why such confidence. Its disheartening to see how much thinking is done for them with nothing to distinquish any cognitive reasoning. As an example, if I were to ask which US President, suspended Habeas Corpus, held thousands of political prisoners, shut down hundreds of newspapers that criticized his actions? I suspect a huge number would guess Bush as a result of our education system or the media. If I were to add, that his assasin yelled out "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (thus Always to Tyrants). A few might guess correctly A. Lincoln, but would fume at such irreverence to their man-god. They would then spew goofy grade school nonsense about slavery. Its like a trigger for some reason. Its funny no matter how much things change, they stay the same when it comes to inventing heroes and marketing them. Take care farmboy.

McCain Vice Presidential choice Palin just had a baby born with DOWNS Syndrome and she knew before hand this was going to be the case. She decided to have her baby. This must really piss off the Democrats who want to rid the world of people who believe all babies are precious. In a strange way the Democrats kill there own voters. I guess they want there votes but NOT TOO MANY ?

Do you know what the leading cause of death in the African American Community since 1973 is? Think about it for a minute. Is it heart disease-2,266,789 deaths since 1973, cancer-1,638,350, or accidents-370,723? Is it AIDS-203,695, or violent crimes-306, 313? There is one possibility that is often overlooked. It happens 1452 times a day in our community. It has taken over 13 million Black lives within the last 30 years. It has taken 1/3 of our present population. What is it? ABORTION!

google it up if you don't believe it

Abortion leading cause of Death in Blacks ? They where NOT BORN ! So how can they DIE ! You Republicans always twist the FACTS around !!

Sharona so wrong it makes me weep. The hearts where beating the legs kicking but because they did not breath the precious air of the USA the are not alive ?

Sorry. My lovely 6 month 3 moths premature old refused to die and I refused to kill her even though I hated the father and she had probable retardation being born so young....

I allowed some off topic comments for fun to allow people to see what happens if everyone has a voice. People naturally just fight.