Red Room Where the Writers Are

Let me enumerate the McCain policy offerings:  Here’s the problem when you advocate less government except for defense, oil and gas exploration and to “shake things up in Washington.” 

On foreign policy McCain/Palin offers these bromides.  Continued focus on a destabilizing war with Iraq, spending 10 billion dollars every month with no end in sight.  We have seen this before, the accusations that anyone who advocates giving Iraq back to the Iraqi people are surrendering.  Really, surrendering to whom?  The insurrection that our country created by invading Iraq, the Sunni or Shiites who along with the Kurds are the constituency of the Iraqi people. Oh, I know we don’t want to let Al Qaeda claim victory.  The only problem with this analysis is that Bin Laden is running training camps for terrorists unfettered in Pakistan.  Attacks by Bin Laden are prepared years in advance, without any pressure being applied in North Waziristan where Al Qaeda and the Taliban have located,  what will be their next objective.

 We have dropped the ball in the war on terror, and to know why we must only look at the words of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, Oil!  When asked what foreign policy experience qualifies Sarah Palin to be Vice President, Sen. John McCain and Gov. Palin explained that knowledge of oil and gas is of paramount importance to our national security.  Remember that George W. Bush and the neocons asserted that Iraq threatened US national security interests.  Hmm, so we have now admitted that the war in Iraq was to protect US oil interests.  Somewhat contrary to the President Bush’s stated objective on the occasion of his second inauguration the we will promote democracy in places where the light does not shine.      

Understanding the importance of the topic of oil is all we need to know about Gov. Sarah Palin.  Aside from her “maverick” status… oil and gas is the signature credential that Gov. Palin brings to the ticket.  Of course, the McCain/ Palin ticket talks about liberating our country from foreign oil citing both an overabundance of domestic supplies and burdensome government regulations that prevent the oil from being extracted from the ground.  Gov. Palin acknowledges that it will take 10 years to get this oil to market.  

 Let’s examine this further… Americans are suffering with the cost of gasoline tripling since President Bush took office.  Not all of this gain can be blamed on the President given that China and India are increasing demand.    It should be noted however, that no leadership has been offered regarding conservation.  Vice President Cheney noted that conservation was a virtue, presumably not something that government should promote.  There was no foresight offered into the decreased supply that would invariably lead to huge price increases in gasoline and home heating oil.  McCain is not calling for conservation and is giving weak promotion to alternative energy proposals unless the private sector is willing to finance such ventures.  The mantra “Drill Baby Drill” is not an answer but a prolongation of our dependency on a 19^th century discovery…OIL!  We need leadership that will move us into the twenty-first century and beyond. 

Michelle