I wasn't going to comment on the politics of the day.  I've been observing though, as the tone becomes increasingly vituperative on both sides, and supporters of both parties stray farther afield from the facts and issues to descend into ad hominem and straw man attacks.  The word "rhetoric" has been thrown around quite a bit, as has "logic" - and one is forced to wonder if anyone really knows what those words mean - or if they have meaning any longer.  Dialectics, logic, forensics - things that we (or at least I) was taught were essental parts of the political dialogue - are nowhere to be found in this scorched-earth campaign.  And it is not Senators McCain nor Obama who are doing this - it is the American people themselves.

If one reads the scurrilous broadsides of the Lincoln-Douglas campaign, it is no more vicious, hateful, harmful, or untruthful that what is being spewed forth in breakrooms, dorm rooms, classrooms, Internet message boards, and yes, even here.  We are in the middle of a history-making Presidential campaign.  No matter which candidate is elected, our children can look to 2008 and see proof that anyone - ANYONE can be elected to high office in America.

And I have to believe that both men are running for love of country, out of patriotism, conviction, and an honest belief that they can bring about the betterment of the American people.  No person gets to this stage of American politics who hates his country, or the system that gets him here - it doesn't happen that way.  The political system captures those who work within it - as surely as Egypt's did, as surely as ancient Babylon's did.  That isn't always a bad thing - it prevents some wild element from coming into play and toppling the whole thing over.

Does that mean that neither man believes in changing the system?  Of course they do.  They both do.  Senator McCain, for all that the opposition wants to paint him as Bush III - has more often than not reached across the political aisles to work with members of the Democratic party.  He has hewn to his convictions even when it cost him supporters among the Republican party.  Is he, as he claims, the original "maverick?"  I do not know.  But he has a considerable track record of being willing to work with people regardless of partisanship to get a job done that will benefit the country - and that cannot be said nearly as much for the current Administration. 

Senator Obama has worked to bring the conditions of his constituents to the forefront of the political consciousness for ten years, first as a state legislator, then as the junior US Senator from Illinois.  He spent his law career in practice working in civil rights and neighborhood economic issues, then taught Constitutional law.  The much-disparaged work as a "community organizer" was actually executive director of a faith-based education, job training, and neighborhood advocacy program in the disadvantaged South Side of Chicago.  He also has a track record of bipartisan legislation in the Illinois Senate, sponsoring and advocating bills to curtail racial profiling and requiring the videotaping of homicide interrogations.

Both men have respectable track records, clear position statements, and verifiable resumes.  Both candidates are relatively clear as to where they stand on the issues.

Most of the viciousness has come from neither McCain nor Obama, but from the parties, and from average Americans.  While I am not so naive as to believe that Senator Obama does not know about the messages George Soros' PAC MoveOn,org is spewing, any more than I believe that Senator McCain is unaware of the Rovian slander belching forth from Murdoch and his thinly disguised mouthpieces - both candidates have tried, with a few noteworthy exceptions, to stay above the mire and on message. 

What a shame that we supposedly professional, educated Americans - nurses - are unable to do so.

Thanks.

And all for nothing as the nastiness escalates.

*sigh*

Maybe I'll just log off until after November.

Well, I was offline for several hours due to a family crisis and come back online to read what was going on since I had left.  I'm not going to say one negative thing.  I am just not going to go into any political discussion, other than ones dedicated to Obama.  If I am again attacked there, I will stay out of all political discussions.