[BretLudwig]

((I bet McCain gets one-third to one-half of one percent of the Black vote,
with Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr getting a few more. Bret.))


Ego and Mouth
By Thomas Sowell

"After the big gamble on subprime mortgages that led to the current
financial crisis, is there going to be an even bigger gamble, by putting
the fate of a nation in the hands of a man whose only qualifications are
ego and mouth?

Barack Obama has the kind of cocksure confidence that can only be achieved
by not achieving anything else.

Anyone who has actually had to take responsibility for consequences by
running any kind of enterprise-- whether economic or academic, or even
just managing a sports team-- is likely at some point to be chastened by
either the setbacks brought on by his own mistakes or by seeing his
successes followed by negative consequences that he never anticipated.

The kind of self-righteous self-confidence that has become Obama's
trademark is usually found in sophomores in Ivy League colleges-- very
bright and articulate students, utterly untempered by experience in real
world.

The signs of Barack Obama's self-centered immaturity are painfully
obvious, though ignored by true believers who have poured their hopes into
him, and by the media who just want the symbolism and the ideology that
Obama represents.

The triumphal tour of world capitals and photo-op meetings with world
leaders by someone who, after all, was still merely a candidate, is just
one sign of this self-centered immaturity.

"This is our time!" he proclaimed. And "I will change the world." But
ultimately this election is not about him, but about the fate of this
nation, at a time of both domestic and international peril, with a major
financial crisis still unresolved and a nuclear Iran looming on the
horizon.

For someone who has actually accomplished nothing to blithely talk about
taking away what has been earned by those who have accomplished something,
and give it to whomever he chooses in the name of "spreading the wealth,"
is the kind of casual arrogance that has led to many economic catastrophes
in many countries.

The equally casual ease with which Barack Obama has talked about
appointing judges on the basis of their empathies with various segments of
the population makes a mockery of the very concept of law.

After this man has wrecked the economy and destroyed constitutional law
with his judicial appointments, what can he do for an encore? He can
cripple the military and gamble America's future on his ability to sit
down with enemy nations and talk them out of causing trouble.

Senator Obama's running mate, Senator Joe Biden, has for years shown the
same easy-way-out mindset. Senator Biden has for decades opposed
strengthening our military forces. In 1991, Biden urged relying on
sanctions to get Saddam Hussein's troops out of Kuwait, instead of
military force, despite the demonstrated futility of sanctions as a means
of undoing an invasion.

People who think Governor Sarah Palin didn't handle some "gotcha"
questions well in a couple of interviews show no interest in how she
compares to the Democrats' Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Biden.

Joe Biden is much more of the kind of politician the mainstream media
like. Not only is he a liberal's liberal, he answers questions far more
glibly than Governor Palin-- grossly inaccurately in many cases, but
glibly.

Moreover, this is a long-standing pattern with Biden. When he was running
for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination back in 1987, someone
in the audience asked him what law school he attended and how well he
did.

Flashing his special phony smile, Biden said, "I think I have a much
higher IQ than you do." He added, "I went to law school on a full academic
scholarship" and "ended up in the top half" of the class.

But Biden did not have a full academic scholarship. Newsweek reported: "He
went on a half scholarship based on need. He didn't finish in the 'top
half' of his class. He was 76th out of 85."

Add to Obama and Biden House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, and you have all the ingredients for a historic
meltdown."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...and_mouth.html

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