Nostalgia and Hope

The McCain/Palin ticket is leading in the opinion polls. Groans from me.

John McCain is a man of the 20th Century. He seems not to understand the 21st Century situation, in which the United States is no longer the dominant power.

Sarah Palin is a sharp and shrewd candidate. Despite her retrograde and antediluvian views she appeals to the 50 million or more American Christian fundamentalists.

Her selection as Republican candidate for VEEP has energized the “Christian Right”.

The great and wise Roman Catholic Nun, Sister Joan Chittester lays out the issues in her recent posting.

See http://ncrcafe.org/node/2085

Sarah Palin has a murky record. She is not all “sweetness and light”. See for instance (from the Democratic Party)

http://mudflats.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/palin-2006-vetting.pdf

But demonising Sarah will simply not cut it. It might make Liberals such as I feel “good and righteous”, but such demonising will also energise the Radical Right.

Senator Obama has his work cut out. He must lay out a vision of a new kind of America in the 21st Century, without alienating the un-decided middle voters.

I desperately want him to be elected. He is a man who understands the future, unlike Senator McCain, who lives in the past.

Perhaps the election will be decided on nostalgia or hope.

In those realms, nostalgia usually wins.

That’s “tough titties” for Christian radicals such as I, whose entire worldview is built on hope.

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