November 6th, 2008
I am sure that these will be my final comments as the site will be disbanded shortly. With the election of President-elect Barack Obama, my participation in the election and campaign process has come full circle. I began my political work with one amazing and visionary candidate, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and end with another, President-elect Senator Barack Obama.Â
The journey has been wonderful, enriching,enlightening and educational. I am blessed to have met so many wonderful people and helped in some small way to shape the elections of many candidates, be they local, state or national. I began in an era of ignorance and intolerance and end in an era of enlightenment, hope and a vision for our future which is including all persons being measured by the content of their character not other factors such as ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds. We live in the greatest nation on Earth and I am blessed to have been born in the United States. I am appreciative of the journey for it has enriched and blessed me beyond measure. I urge Americans regardless of ideology, party affiliation, gender, ethnicity,socio-enconomic status to unite with our President-Elect to regain the stature and restore principles on which our nation was founded, with liberty and justice for all. There is not a challenge before us that we united as one nation can not conquer.
I now enter another phase of the election process for I haven chosen to begin my candidacy and seek elected office. Pray for me as I pray for you, our President and the nation.
Sincerely,
Â
Dyanna Chandler
October 29th, 2008
I watched the Barack Obama infomercial earlier this evening, and I must say that he stated his case well. He laid out his vision of the next four years and what he plans to do. Hardly any time was spent talking about how we got into this mess, rather he took the stance that we’re here now and what are we going to do about it.
Much of what he talked about he said could be accomplished without too much additional spending. I’ll have to reserve judgment on that. The current economic situation will certainly temper any major spending program. With the economy in the doldrums as it is, whoever wins on Tuesday will have to initiate some spending to help get things back on track. As Sen. Obama got into some of the other initiatives he proposes, like health care, things got a little fuzzier from the spending standpoint.
Sen. Obama certainly is a convincing speaker. I can only hope and pray that, if elected, he can take charge and stand up to those in his own party – like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid – whose interests are not as straightforward as his. The President is, to a great extent, a figurehead of sorts, because Congress makes the laws, not him. Certainly, he can guide them toward his goals, but at some point he will have to “lay down the law” and keep them in line. His promise at the end of the program to keep people informed and let them know what he is thinking on issues was good. We need more transparency on some of these issues.
Will tonight’s program help Sen. Obama? I believe that it will, in some circles. It may change the mind of an undecided voter because the message was big on hope and the idea that if we all pull together toward a common goal, things will get better. People like that. But for those who have already decided that Sen. Obama is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I doubt that it will have an impact.
It’s too bad we can’t see the same type of presentation from Senator McCain. I’m not sure what he might say in this forum, but I have to believe at least some of the presentation would be similar. This is the kind of discussion many of us had been hoping for in the debates, but didn’t get.
I look forward to Tuesday night (in more ways than one!). Please, take the time to exercise your right to vote.
Â
Gary Tiffany
October 26th, 2008
At last week’s Voter’s Panel meeting, I surprised a fellow member. At the end of every meeting, we take a straw poll as to who each of the members will probably vote for in the coming election. People’s choices have changed from meeting to meeting. After indicating my choice, Dyanna Chandler expressed surprise at my choice, saying it was opposite of what she had expected.
I have struggled a great deal with my choice over these many weeks. I have always considered myself a moderate Republican – fiscally conservative, but somewhat liberal on certain social issues. Basically, I find myself right in the middle, along with most of the rest of the country. For the most part, I want the government to take care of certain things for the safety and betterment of all, but then leave me alone and not tell me how I should live my life.
In considering the two candidates, I do believe that either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain could be a good president. Both are very intelligent, well-read, and believe strongly in the opportunities our country offers. From what I’ve seen in the debates and watching the election coverage, Sen. Obama is thoughtful and tends to look at multiple sides of an issue. Sen. McCain seems much more likely to act first and think later. His reaction to the economic crisis, where he suspended his campaign to rush back to Washington to show he was concerned, then was back on the trail the next day, is a case in point. Sen. Obama, on the other hand, remained on the trail, but monitored what was going on and gave input when necessary.
Sen. Obama’s stand on certain issues, especially universal health care, concerns me. (Disclosure – I work for an insurance company that sells health insurance.) The government has never been particularly good at creating efficiencies, and putting it in charge of health care at a time when Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security have serious funding issues just doesn’t make sense. I have to believe that the current economic situation will seriously temper the move toward universal health care. There are a number of better options out there, but it will take serious changes in all areas – limiting punitive damages, curtailing frivolous lawsuits by moving toward a system where the loser pays court costs, setting a minimum basic coverage standard for health insurance policies that’s affordable without a lot of extra coverages that drive up costs, and instituting some form of cost/benefit analysis on extraordinary treatments for dying patients – among other things. We have to realize, too, that doctors are not infallible. Sometimes people die for no reason and there’s nothing we can do to change it. We also have to start taking responsibility for our own health by quitting smoking, eating right, wearing seat belts, etc.
Sen. McCain concerns me, too, but from a judgement standpoint. His choice of Sarah Palin as running mate floored me. I would much rather have seen Joe Leiberman as his running mate. I could support that, but Sarah Palin just doesn’t do it for me. It looks like a bald play to court the religious right, which was having trouble supporting McCain. Jonathan Alter, in the October 20 issue of Newsweek, hit the nail right on the head said that picking Palin “was a confession that McCain could not, by himself, wrest control of the Republican Party.” He had a chance to move the Party back toward the middle, but couldn’t get it done.
The other big concern I have with Sen. Obama is that he would have both houses of Congress in his party. I may be able to trust him, but I’m not so sure about them. I can only hope and pray that they would recognize that the economy trumps all and deal with that as opposed to trying to pass some of their pet programs. Things always seem to work better when differing Parties are in charge because they have to compromise to get anything done. That’s always good.
As I said earlier, I consider myself a moderate Republican. In recent years, though, I’ve found it increasingly hard to align myself with the Republicans as they trend further and further to the right on many issues. That’s just not me. I’m much more to the center, and I try to take a common sense approach with things. For instance, I can support an individual’s right to own a gun AND support a ban on individual ownership of assault weapons. Who really needs an assault weapon anyway?
So back to the issue of the election. My gut tells me that Barack Obama will be a better President than John McCain. Sen. Obama just comes across as more Presidential to me than Sen. McCain. So that’s who I’m voting for on November 4, which is why Dyanna was surprised. If I’m right, maybe he can straighten out the economy and raise our standing in the world among the other countries. If I’m wrong, well, it’s only two years until the next Congressional election and we can hope the Republicans come to their senses and get some good people running. If nothing else, it will be an interesting time!
Gary Tiffany
 
