BELIEVE YOUR OWN EYES (Part II)

With John McCain enjoying a nice post-election "bounce," in order to lock-in those gains in the public opinion, we must close the sale. The Gallup daily tracking poll has McCain leading Obama 49-44; McCain has made a 10 point come-back in the CBS News poll to now lead 46-44; McCain also has made an 5-point bounce in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll; and he leads Obama 47-45 in CNN's National Poll of Polls. Perhaps the best news in the last couple of days' polls is the fact that independent voters and women have moved decisively into the McCain camp. According to Gallup, McCain's recent rise in the polls "is largely explained by political independents shifting to him in fairly big numbers, from 40% pre-convention to 52% post-convention." And according to the Washington Post/ABC News survey, "most of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention was due to a big shift in support among white women voters." These two groups of voters are independent segments of the demographic, and therefore good indicators that there is the objective case to be made for McCain is already working.

The case for McCain is selling because voters can see for themselves the relative merits and demerits of the two candidates. It is not necessary to go back to decades old legislative records or to speculate and try to predict what these candidates would do two years from now if they were in the Oval Office: instead, we can examine their behavior TODAY and make our judgments based on those first-hand observations. Not media filters, not spin from the pundits, not recitations of the campaign talking points: in the course of this election, we can see and judge for ourselves which candidate is better. This is what women and independents have done, and it is working in the favor of John McCain. This is what we must urge all our friends to do, and it will only result in the recent gains in the polls to be taken into the ballot boxes come November. Let's review what we are seeing.

Barack Obama told us his campaign would bring about "CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN." Without having to wait until Inauguration Day, we can examine Obama's conduct during the campaign and determine whether or not he stands for change, and whether or not we can believe in the change (if any) that he would bring about if elected. The most important decision a candidate for presidency makes is the selection of his vice-president. Barack Obama chose Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, who was sworn in as a U.S. senator when Obama barely 11 years-old. Biden has been in the senate through seven administrations, including three 2-term presidents: Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan (two terms), Bush I, Clinton (two terms) and Bush II (another 2 terms). Does Joe Biden, with his 35 years in the senate, represent change anyone can believe in?

By contrast, John McCain selected as his running mate, the most exciting vice presidential choice of the modern era. First, not someone from the Washington establishment and, for godssakes, not another senator! Second, not another man. In the year in which Hillary Clinton excited voters about the possibility of knocking down the biggest glass ceiling, John McCain chose a woman to be the person who would be "a heartbeat away from the presidency." Third, McCain did not choose someone whose job for 35 years has been to be part of the establishment. Instead, McCain chose a woman whose claim to fame has been, in large part, to rattle the establishment. In so many ways, McCain's choice was so much more inspired and more presidential than Obama's. Can you wait until President McCain appoints his Secretary of State or his first Supreme Court Justice! This is a choice that was made in real time, before our eyes, and all the voters can assess whether or not Obama lives up to his lofty promise.

The second part of Obama's slogan asks to "BELIEVE IN" the change that he has promised. Here, the voters can also assess for themselves, based on real time conduct, whether Obama's promises are worthy to be believed. Obama promised that he would run "a new kind of campaign," and his followers went as far as to suggest that Obama would nobly hover above the fray of the politics of us mere mortals, and be "post-partisan" or even "post-racial" (whatever that means). So far, we have seen Obama get traction by distorting the truth, like saying John McCain wanted the Iraq war to last 100 years when, in fact, he said, it would be OK if we maintained a presence in Iraq for 100 years under peaceful conditions). And while Obama has spent most of the campaign raising untold millions from wealthy patrons and European elites whom he seduces by bad-mouthing the working class, saying that they cling to their guns and religion, John McCain spent part of the campaign doing town hall meetings with regular Americans, including his tour of "forgotten America" that included a visit to Appalachia and the sites of the Civil Rights struggle. All these things happened this year, so we have seen them play out before our eyes: it is not speculation or dusting off ancient archives.

But, let's get specific. Obama took a pledge that he would accept public funding for his campaign. Then, lured by his adoring crowds, mega donors, and the promise of a historic influx of dollars, he broke his promise, even before the election was had. John McCain took the same pledge, but he actually kept it and so it is that this week is the last week that John McCain can dedicate himself to fund-raising. Barack Obama agreed to engage with McCain in several joint town hall meetings. This was part of the whole "new kind of campaign" song-and-dance, back when Obama needed votes and wanted to distinguish himself from Hillary Clinton. But, lured perhaps by "Obama Girl" he decided to shun the cheap seats and go for the gusto with online fundraising and sexy new methods of communication.

Over and over, we have seen the contrast between John McCain and Barack Obama. When the crisis in Georgia came to a head, John McCain was timely and forceful in his response. Obama stayed in his private beach in Hawaii. When Hurricane Gustav threatened Louisiana, McCain cancelled part of the GOP convention and went into the affected areas. Obama stayed out and continued to plan political strategy. Again and again, we see it for ourselves. We see it live. We see the choices before us, not in mere words and in empty promises, but in their deeds and actions.