Obama Versus McCain: Punishment Time

Barack Obama stands poised to demolish John McCain in November's general election. McCain is an old, damaged, and very weak candidate. The war in Iraq is deeply unpopular among the vast majority of the American public, the economy is in recession, and George W. Bush has recently officially become the least popular president in American polling history. In Obama's North Carolina victory speech last night, he tellingly said "We can't afford to give John McCain the chance to serve out George Bush's third term."

This author's main reason for supporting Barack Obama in November will be that the Republican party needs to be punished for giving America and more importantly the entire world George W. Bush for the last eight years. Severely punished. Punished for giving us Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle. Punished for giving us Donald Rumsfeld and John Bolton. Punished for giving us Karl Rove, Paul Bremer, John Ashcroft, and Guantanamo Bay. Punished for giving us Abu Ghraib, Haditha, rendition, and water boarding. Punished, finally, for giving us Iraq.

In an elective democracy the way for the masses to take out their frustrations and vengance on their leaders is via the ballot box, and for that Bush and the Republicans should be thankful. In prior generations or in many other countries even today, such rank incompetence and arrogance might have led them to a much worse fate than merely being swept out of power. In truth, John McCain probably wouldn't be all that bad--he'd certainly be a million times better than Bush, but that's not the point: the Republicans need to be punished, and the world needs an 'anti-Bush' to help restore American credibility. The election won't be close, as fortunes have given the American people a perfect 'anti-Bush' in Barack Obama. And then, finally, our long national nightmare will be over.