The Perils of Passion

I hear talk of Obama supporters being passionate and i love it. i must be looking in the wrong place though. When i turn on the tv i find lots of people pushing slogans and smiling but i don't see passion for what is really at stake. i am going to have to wake up to find out what so many of my fellow Americans see in this Senator. It is exciting to be subject to change assumptions and beliefs. i must say i have not heard the kind of straight forward plan of attack that i heard from Senator Clinton at her town hall meeting the other day. Talk about being open minded, focused, straight and gutsy - what a woman!!! i never realized how complex, incredibly passionate and wonderful the senator from NY really is. Reading her bio makes me so proud and that is why i am so proud of her and passionate for her and for what she can do for America. i will keep my eyes open to what is inspiring all of this Senator Obama hope and hope i find substance and not high pie in the sky wanna be notions that we hope precipitate to rain on us but no forecaster can tell for sure how much and in what way. I remember when President Bush was running and my christian conservative peers told me how he was a good man and loved God and how he was going to bring morality to Washington, stuff that made me say cool dude to play golf with and party but maybe not what we should be looking for in a HEAD OF STATE. Well i will not comment on the current state of affairs but do see some parallels between those notions and the ones that Obama supporters are holding on to. May the BEST man/woman win!!

Oh I get SO tired of having to make the edits, but may as well press on: we are not the "anti-immigrant right wing...." We are the anti-ILLEGAL-immigrant whatever wing you want to assign us. I'm still not sure which it is when the columnists endlessly accuse me of being anti-immigrant. Are they really that clueless? Are they really that dense, that they have not understood the uprising last summer? Or is it just another use of the big lie~~hoping that if they keep saying it, it will some become true. Whatever. I am opposed to ILLEGAL immigration. (In case that still is not understand, I basically mean when people break the law to come into the United States and stay here illegally. I think that the law should be enforced. Sorry if that is perceived as being extreme.)

I think attacking Hillary for hervote on the war is like disqualifying Obama because his health care plan is poorly thought through --and, in recent times, sold slightly shabbily with those misleading "Harry and Louise" mailers.

However, despite voting for Hillary on Super Tuesday, because she simply knws a lot more than he does, I havereluctantly come to the view that Obama is the best candidate. The math is simple. McCain will be a disaster for this country. Hillary as a very high floor (maybe 46%) and a very low ceiling (maybe 50%?) in a general election.

I do not believe that the country can afford another Clinton oncrementalist win, and its associated agendas. It always sets up the criminal elemts of the opposition to transfer some more money from the poor to the rich, while abetting corporate corruption and running up huge defecits for our children to pay off.

Consequently, I have concluded that it is better for the Democrats to win big --so they can get something done --or not at all. If the Republicans win, McCain will be a disaster, and people will be even sicker of the whole thing 2012.

Of course, many many lives will be ruined by these wolves in Christians clothing, so it would be better for Obama to win big. he has the potential to get anywhere from 35% to 60% of the popular vote. The risk to my children's futures is not appealing to me,but life is like that.

Sometimes there are no guarantees.

The Perils of Passion have other angles as well, beyond the scope of prognosticators that is not better that a crystal ball anatomy of stable or shifting political winds. Therefore, I am inclined to
bring up the Perils of Passion of John McCain's mentality. I remember well McCain speaking at
a public forum, and a spectactor asked McCain the question: "If you were president now, would you bomb Iran?" McCain grinned, but he didn't answer the question. Instead, he started dancing around, and holding the mictophone in his mouth he started singing: "Bomb; bomb, bomb Iran; Bomb; bomb, bomb Iran" etc. while moving around the stage like Sammy Davis.

McCain is heralded as a hero because he was shot down while bombing North Vietnam, and spent
some POW time in Hanoi. But his mentality has never been freed of his Passion to bomb those
who do not bow to the U.S. hegemonial attitude. And this is a Peril of Passion that needs more
focus -instead of the focus on the fluidity of political forecasting.

I have my own not so perilous Passion too. I want to have a chance to vote for someone like Jack
Kennedy , rather than someone like Barry Golwater. And being of the wise age, Oh, Socrates, thank you, I would rather choose to disect the real perils of this presidential election -rather than the
perils of shifting political opinions. Nikos Retsos, retired academic.