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Introduction -- nothingnews first edition

Hello:

This is my first-ever blog comment, using my first-ever computer. This, my introductory commentary, is probably, well, nothing new, if only because I didn't get my computer (a laptop) until after the primary season, and politics -- the recent primary, and a little bit on recent campaign events -- is where I want to start. I figured the political would be a good introduction to me and my thinking, and a good way for me to get acquainted with myself, and build from there. Anyhow, I'm mad at Obama. He's all we have and I was just getting enthusiastic about him, and he is sounding increasingly not just like Hillary, but like McCain. I was skeptical at first about Obama's claim of being different (and still am not sure different is all that desireable). He looked different and acted different, and his campaign seemed different and to really be establishing a different -- a nicer-- approach to politics. Still, he wavered during the primary, so I felt uneasy.   There was a hypocritical tone to his debate responses and other public statements, but as the primary progressed, he seemed okay, his campaign managed to stay reasonably true to its original approach, and I felt reassured and ready for a tee-shirt. Well, I didn't get a tee-shirt yet, and now I'm mad.  I'm mad, for instance, that he publicly revised his war withdrawal timetable. I'm mad because he should have been more careful during the primary, and not so desperate for a following that he forced himself to back away from his original troop withdrawal "estimate." His "estimate" should have been a real one, not a political one. He should have practiced the same brand of honesty that he advocated on the campaign trail. Ironically, had he been more honest and less old-time shrewd during the primary,Obama may have kept from sounding so hypocritical now. Of course, it didn't help that he was so insistent on his troop withdrawal timetable, repeating it so often and so confidently, during the primary campaign. Had his presentation during the primary at least been a little more modest , a little more open to future alteration, changing his mind now may not have seemed so arduous, so suspiciously to have come from the kind of politician he had been railing against. Obama's challenge is to sound "experienced," while protecting his Change Agent personna from too much compromise, back tracking,and dishonesty.

More outrageous than his timetable blunder by far, however, is his latest political compromise. A faith-based initiative -- what could he and his campaign have been thinking about? Winning? No way! If he keeps this up, Obama's only supporters will be those who like him because of his wife! Or because of Oprah! Really, Obama needs the trailer park McCain set, and they'll only flow over to him if he maintains his rebel integrity. To attract trailer park McCain-leaning Democrats, Obama has to stick with "I'm different!" and back it up with consistent behavior on the campaign trail: advocate different, be different, and be about changing the political scene. So, what's this Bushism we just heard from him?   I'm feeling a familiar vibe, and it isn't pleasant. This is not the kind of "shaking the walls" I had come to expect, not this big-footed,awkward Return of the Ole Pol rumbling. Obama: stop that! You're sounding just like Them. Sure, stealing from Bush may have seemed like a good campaign strategy; after all, it worked with Hillary and health care. But this isn't health care. This is Church and State, the freedom to believe something -- this is one of the Big Ones. You can't fool with those. That isn't smart campaigning, and the intellectual argument doesn't work either. Look, State and Religion don't mix well, if at all -- the stirring is unsafe. Mixing threatens both. We cannot ask religion to be supervised or be accountable this way. We mustn't ask State to supervise or monitor the home of our private beliefs. We cannot, we must not, ask religion to get mixed up in the governing of us. I'm very mad at Obama. I hope he gets back on track. I hope he stops trying to win, and just does it. I hope he goes back to being different again.  I was almost ready for a tee-shirt. But now -- well, not yet.

Afterword:

Wow, I got so wrapped up in my Obama tirade, I didn't get into my Hillary campaign review. Maybe next time. Maybe not. Too old.   Maybe something else (but probably not something new!) next time. Maybe not campaign assessments. Maybe not political. Maybe just something I see around me. Anyhow, thanks.   That's all for now.

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