(I wrote this Tuesday morning long before the debate.)
On this one, I have to give the tip of the hat to Rush Limbaugh. It took me 20 seconds of listening to him to realize he was dead right. I will now speak as John McCain.
My friends, I will explain to you quite clearly how I see my opponent and why...
Barack Obama will have you believe in hope and in the future. There is a long tradition of people who see the future clearly, but I do not believe Obama to be a visionary. Rather, he would have you look at the future because that's where all of his accomplishments are.
Obama has tried in every way to associate me with the Bush Administration. It is a clever tactic. Obama would have you believe that I was in the White House all the time planning and scheming with George Bush and Dick Cheney. He's got a vivid imagination. In fact I was on the Senate floor voting important legislation in the interests of the American people. If he had been there as often, he would have seen me. Anybody and everybody has criticisms of Bush including me. But criticism is not leadership. Leadership requires that you have a plan and that you can succussfully implement that plan.
If Barack Obama were responsible, then he would have had a plan that puts the interests of the country first. Not a plan that responds to the changing dynamics of a long campaign season, but one that will stand the test of time and be judged by history. Except Barack Obama refuses to be judged by his history. He triangulates.
Obama would have you believe that if we had listened to him, that an Obama plan would have settled the war in Iraq by now. That what America has done was wrong, but what Obama wanted all along was right. That more soldiers would have been home by now and the Iraqi Army would have handled their civil war just fine. That we had no business putting together a coalition - a coalition he'd break up as soon as possible.
Obama would have you believe that if we had listened to him, that an Obama plan would have settled the war in Afghanistan by now.
Barack Obama would have you believe that if we had listened to him, that an Obama plan would have kept homeowners out of foreclosure. That what America has done was wrong, but what Obama wanted all along was right. And so he asks you to give him the keys to the future.
Barack Obama would have you believe that if we had listened to him, that an Obama plan would have given health insurance to everyone who is uninsured. That if you are crippled now, you might have been walking. That if you are blinded now, you might see. He says we were all deaf and couldn't hear him. And so what America has done was wrong, but what Obama wanted all along was right.
How can we trust the keys to our future to someone who keeps avoiding his past?
When we wanted to look at the way he came to power in Chicago machine politics. He said, don't go there. It's not fair. When we wanted to examine his connection to radical leftist education policies. He said, don't go there. It's not fair. When we wanted to examine the connection between his positions on Iraq war funding and the business interests of a certain Mr. Rezko, He said. don't go there. It's not fair. When we wanted to examine his relationship to his faith and his church. He said don't go there. It isn't fair. His educational transcripts, his voting records, his political philosophy. These things wouldn't be a mystery to us from a man unafraid to be judged by history. But he deems us all incompetent to judge him. And so he doesn't stand on his record, instead he tells us to hope for change in the future. In fact, he is bold enough to say that an Obama plan is Change you can Believe in. Why? Because he knows how America has done wrong, when what he wanted all along was right.
IIt's not hard to understand why a man as brilliant as Barack Obama would forgo a lucrative career in Law or Wall Street. He's got all the educational credentials. Clearly he didn't have the motivation. Instead he wanted to be a community organizer. That is a noble ambition. Altruism can be admirable. But it can also be self-serving. I don't think Barack Obama has a holier than thou attitude. I believe that he genuinely wants to do right by the people. There are many great Americans who have taken this path, and we look to their successes for inspiration.
But it is hard for me to understand why a man as brilliant as Barack Obama has not presented us with the evidence of his good deeds. How exactly has he done right by the people?
Obama Biden wants to increase Federal government spending by 30%. But I'm not going to do a typical Republican complaint about taxes. The American people already know where they stand and where I stand on taxation. But I want to talk about that 1 Trillion dollars in new programs. Surely, Barack Obama can point to where his success in the past earns him the right to spend hundreds of billions in the future. Or should we just hold our breath and hope?
We've just had the longest and most expensive presidential campaign in American history. My opponent has one of the thinnest records. He was President of the Harvard Law Review, but never wrote an article. He was a Senate Committee member for Afghanistan but never travelled there. He had over 200 opportunities to vote on legislation for the benefit of the American people, but Barack Obama is the Great Abstainer.
Barack Obama is a very very ambitious man. A young man who has dared to wrest control of his party from his better-known and more experience compatriots. Is the Democratic Party better? A man who is convinced that he is the one to lead America. He is an upstart. A challenger. Would America be better under his leadership. That is a chance, a risk that some of you are willing to take. But we are now just beginning to pay for taking too much risk. This is not the time for risk. This is the time for calm and experience. This is not the time to respond to his ambition, but to my experience and service.
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