McCain Makes History!!!

Just a week ago I was sitting in front of the TV watching an eloquent and charismatic Barack Obama speak in front of 85,000 people... A lot went through my mind during that speech... but what I thought of most was my wish that John McCain could deliver a speech as powerful and awe inspiring as Obama's... Not for one second did I MYSELF doubt McCain's sincerity in bringing change to Washington... but I know how difficult it can be to sell the idea that he and Obama share a vision for a better future in this country... Throughout the week I got a lot of jokes from people about the statements I made claiming McCain to also be a candidate for change... After last nights speech... for anyone who witnessed it... I hope I do not have to do any more convincing...

For a long time I have had strong and unique feelings about politics... a sometimes blind hope that things could change... When people asked me how they possibly could I always pointed to one solution... ... ... ATTITUDE ... ... ... Politicians are so often afraid to say things that are unpopular... so afraid to go against their party... so afraid to stand up for what they believe in ... because they know that on any given issue... if they become unpopular enough... they will lose the office that they have come to love...

Last night... as I listened to McCain's speech I could not help but be inspired by his words... Although Obama was inspiring, he attacked McCain every chance he could. He attacked his judgment... he said that he didn't get the issues... he compared him to George Bush... The Democrats like to say that McCain will be more of the same? ? ? ? ? I didn't know George Bush was a POW for over 5 years... I thought he was the guy that dodged his duty because his father was the head of the CIA... I didn't know George Bush was an independent man... working together with Democrats and Independents to get legislation passed... I thought he was the guy who only had his party's interests at heart... I didn't know George Bush was respectful to his opponents during elections... I thought he was the same guy who beat John McCain during the 2000 primary because he put out a campaign attack ad that suggested McCain had an illegitimate black daughter... George Bush and John McCain are not best friends... they do not share the same HISTORY... and they DO NOT share the same JUDGEMENT!!! George Bush has been given everything his whole life... John McCain has been the one doing the giving... the sacrificing... and he still is...

McCain's WORDS

"The American people put their trust in Republicans hands in 2000 and we failed them! We were supposed to change Washington and instead we let it change us!"

"I hate war! It's terrible beyond imagination! ... I will use all the tools at my disposal to help build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace!"

"EDUCATION IS THE CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE OF THIS CENTURY!!!!!!!!!!"

"Instead of fighting over who gets the credit... LETS SHARE IT! .. I will ask Democrats, Independents, and Republicans to serve with me in my administration!"

"My country saved me and I can't ever forget that! I will fight for her as long as I draw breath so help me God!"

What other candidate would admit that HE and his own party had failed? What other candidate has made a statement that profound about education? What other candidate has the history and experience to make the statement, "I HATE WAR", in a way that can make it credible? What other candidate has brought up this issue of taking credit... and the idea of SHARING IT? What other candidate has sacrificed this much for our country... and has the scars to prove it?!?!?!

However... to me the most important quote from John McCain's speech dealt with Barack Obama... He talked about how we will fight with each other for the next two months since that is the nature of things... but ... he made sure every Republican in the room acknowledged Obama's campaign and all of their accomplishments... Then he strongly stated, "THERE IS MORE THAT UNITES US THEN DIVIDES US" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!! THERE IS MORE THAT UNITES US THEN DIVIDES US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I stopped writing after I heard those words... I needed my hands... not to type... but to wipe the tears that were trickling down my cheek... If I have said anything in my life about politics... it has been that simple statement... McCain truly displayed... THE POLITICS OF HOPE last night. I remember commenting on Barack Obama's speech last week saying that for the briefest of moments... he spoke for me... ... ... well ... ... ... Last night John McCain spoke for me for the better part of an hour...

WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! ... I must not forget something very important... It would be wrong for me to go on and on about McCain's night without mentioning this... Last night something else happened... before McCain's big speech. At around 8:45 pm Barack Obama went on the O'Reilly factor. Bill O'Reilly questioned... or shall I say interrogated him on issues dealing with foreign policy, war, and terrorism... Some people reading this may not understand how brave this can be as a Democrat... but believe me it is the political equivalent to being a prisoner of war in Vietnam! Obama answered all of the questions well... he was strong... he did not falter... and although he was wrong on an issue and did not admit it... WHO WOULD... as a candidate running for president... But my opinion is not whats important... I always tend to find the positive in everything. It was when O'Reilly had a conservative pundit on afterward analyzing the interview with Obama... The pundit attacked Obama's stances viciously... ... when all of a sudden... ... Bill O'Reilly stopped him in mid-sentence and said, " OH NO NO NO! Stop it right there! Barack Obama is no wimp! He stared me straight in the eye and answered all of my questions with strength and conviction!" and O'Reilly said this... with his own conviction... After that interview I was the most impressed I had ever been with Obama...

... I must say ... I have never been more proud to be an American then right this second!



FAITH ALWAYS

- B Maher

Obama Makes History!!!

Sleep is not an option... I just witnessed what may come to be known as the most important, powerful, and well delivered speech this country has seen since the days of JFK and Ronald Reagen... The days when we believed that our President would fight for us and protect us not because of our political beliefs... but because we believed it in their eyes and in their words... I got goosebumps when I saw the crowd of over 85,000 people await Barack Obama's speech... and when he finally arrived on stage my heart dropped... I immediately discarded my political views and just took in the history of the moment... 45 years ago on this day Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial... He spoke with passion...with sincerity.... and with every ounce of his heart and soul... You can always see his emotion pouring out when they show highlights of that famous speech... "WE SHALL OVERCOME!!!!!" ... 45 years later African Americans... Women... all people... have overcome their own struggles and their own inner demons... to elect a Black man to be their nominee for President of the Democratic Party...

Of course throughout the speech I made my notes on policy issues that I disagreed with... and on simple statements that were either taken out of context or completely wrong... but ... at times during that speech I stopped my entire critique and just listened... I listened to his words that seemed as if they came straight from my tongue and straight from my heart... In fact, there was one line that I used myself verbatim not too long ago... It dealt with the American Spirit and the American Promise... Obama said, " It is up to us as INDIVIDUALS... it is the people that stand up and demand change" ... For the briefest of moments... Barack Obama... spoke for me...

As the speech ended I caught myself wiping a tear from my eye... and it didn't take me long to figure out where that tear had come from... We as human beings need leadership... we need to be inspired... we become so thirsty for it that we will look in the darkest of places... and in the deepest corners of the Earth... but ... at some point we need to ask ourselves what it is that we are searching for?!?!?!? WHAT CONSTITUTES REAL POLITICAL CHANGE?!?!?!?

I will do my best not to bore you with too many policy issues... but there are a few things in Obama's BEAUTIFUL speech that must be addressed...

Obama tries his best to compare John McCain with George W. Bush... He says that since McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time that they must have similar judgment and similar views on most of the issues... This could not be further from the truth... First, let us realize just how many votes there are in all of Congress... "well over 300"... A healthy amount of those votes are non-binding resolutions with no consequence at all that each Senator votes for with their party to remain in good standing... Another healthy amount of those votes are the unanimous ones that both Republicans and Democrats vote together on in which they are congratulating some professional sports team for winning their respective championship... ... ... But let us talk about that 10% in which McCain sided against Bush and WITH OBAMA...

He voted against the Bush tax cuts not once but TWICE... on the principle that they were a little too generous to the top 1% of the income bracket and mostly because Senator McCain believes that you can't have TRUE tax cuts without controlling spending...Spending that Obama and most Democrats will allow to go through the roof if they take over the White House and Congress and the Senate... Then McCain went against his own party again and again... in an effort to inflict CHANGE... to address the issues of climate change, campaign finance reform, and....... let us not forget that he almost sacrificed his entire Presidential Campaign last summer when he decided to work with Ted Kennedy (the most liberal Democrat in the Senate) on an Immigration Bill that allowed Illegal Immigrants a path towards citizenship... and rightfully so... As a side note I happen to have been in DC when that happened... and they lost count of how many death threats he got during that time period...

His Presidential campaign staff told him to stop fighting that battle... that he didn't stand a chance to become the Republican Nominee unless he voted every time with the Party... His response to this was simple... He FIRED his entire campaign staff and started from scratch... He says from time to time, "I'd much rather lose a political campaign than a war" ... any type of war... Does this sound like anyone remotely close to George Bush?!?!? This brings me back to the definition of REAL POLITICAL CHANGE! Real Political Change is not voting with your party 100% of the time like Obama has done in his few years as a Junior Senator... and it is not being voted the most Liberal Democrat in the Senate... It's having the ability to tell your party at any given time that they are wrong... and working with the other side to get things done...

To be fair... Obama very well may have it in him to say no to his party and work with the other side to get things done... but... he has not yet... Aside from his attacks on McCain and his laundry list of democrat ideals that will surely increase Government spending, raise taxes on EVERYONE, and weaken our Military Defense... I thought his words were extremely inspirational and something to build on... I must say after hearing his speech that I do have a renewed faith in Barack Obama... and if he is elected President I will support him 1000%... and I will pray each day that he has the strength to do what is in the best interest of this country... and protect my family, my constitution, and those I love...

However... what people must understand is that McCain has an answer to every issue Obama brought up... and on many of the issues they indeed feel the same way. In a campaign as nasty as this one is turning out to be it would make it impossible for anyone to notice that fact... but ... IT IS THE TRUTH... They agree on Immigration, on campaign finance reform, and to a degree on energy and education... and those same words that were spoken that brought a tear to my eye I have heard come directly out of John McCain's mouth... The only difference is he was not reading it charismatically off of a teleprompter in front of 85,000 people... he was at a town hall meeting staring each individual square in the face...


FAITH ALWAYS

B. Maher

An interpretation of the American Dream - Part 1

As a child when I heard the words “American Dream” spoken, my heart was always filled with pride. I remember having an American flag posted on my porch waving in a perfect rhythm created by the gusts from the lamenting wind. To me the “American Dream” was defined as being able to do anything you wanted to do in this world as long as you set your heart and mind to it and worked hard enough for it. I remember being filled with so much happiness knowing that I honestly could do anything I wanted to do... That no one could tell me otherwise... and that thought alone was the greatest freedom this country could ever give me.

In college things often become different. Sometimes our dreams and everything we worked our entire lives for come crashing down all at once. Our faith is tested... and can often be lost for months and years at a time. In college and in life it is taught that our definition of the “American Dream” is incomplete... We are taught that it was not as simple as it had been in our heads all that time. College professors and other experts throw all kinds of statistics at you. They tell you about the percentage of people that are set up to fail in our capitalistic world. They tell you this and on many occasions it makes you feel sad and guilty.

They say that we are sold the idea of the “American Dream” and we work our entire lives to attain it... while at the same time keeping the wheel of the world turning as it always has... They say we are sucked into these ideas and become powerless when it comes to controlling our own destiny. I remember believing these things for the longest time. I remember believing for the briefest of moments that Republicans were bad and Democrats were good. I remember believing that there was actually a difference between the two. I remember believing for a second that there was something wrong with being a Catholic.

The things that we experience in our lives... the things we are taught by individuals with life experience... these things do not define us... and... the fact that some people spend their entire lives chasing after their idea of the “American Dream” and never attain it does not define the “American Dream” in its entirety. What should always be stated, and taught, and remembered is that WE ARE FREE TO CHASE IT... We are free to win, to lose, to cry, to laugh, to work hard, to believe, and to conquer anything we wish. Every single person cannot be successful at everything they work hard to do. If this was possible than there would be no such word as DREAM...

While most focus on the scandals and conspiracy theories what they should be looking at is what life has taught them. There are undisputable facts all around us just waiting to be discovered... I could go on for days and cite examples of why I feel the way I do on this issue... but my life experience is not what is most important. What is most important are these simple facts...

1. The “American Dream” is what we make it to be. It is not what a professor tells us, or what a newspaper tells us, or what someone running for President tells us.

2. We cannot look for change from an individual who makes sure his advisor's remember to write in his speech the word CHANGE 117 times in ten minutes. It cannot be said and it cannot be promised. It can only be done... and... it is done SIMPLY and by SELF MOTIVATED INDIVIDUALS... by doing something in a different way... by evaluating your life and realizing that sometimes it is alright to admit you are wrong and truly change the way you live each day... It is never too late...

3. Following your heart is never wrong... Embrace any fear of failure as a part of life... and take advantage of the freedom you have been given to pursue your “American Dream”.

Life can be hard quite often... it can make you believe that there is no hope, that it is pointless to have faith in things, and that our society sets us up to fail. It is easy to think this way... It is much harder to have faith... to realize that we put those negative thoughts in our head and that we can free ourselves from them at any time. Find out what your American Dream is... and do not ever stop trying to attain it... because even if you think you failed you have not... It is an impossibility to fail at life... when you live a life that is free...