An Interesting Mental Exercise--try it out!

The rule is, however, you must actually TRY to think the thoughts suggested below. TRY to believe they are true for that person, and then THINK about how you would see or think about the person in each case. O.K. ?

Here goes. I recently received the following thought-provoking email.

What if the presidential candidates lives were reversed? What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

(REMEMBER: We are just reversing the data on each person and asking you to TRY to re-think based on that information.)

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards, and married the wealthy heiress of a beer distributorship?




What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?




What if Obama were a member of the infamous Keating Five? What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?




If the above questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.


Another way to look at this issue:



Assume you are The Boss. which team would you hire? With America facing historic debt, two wars, stumbling health care, a crumbling economy, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.


Educational background of the two teams:


Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden: University of Delaware - B.A in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)


versus:


McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester, North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study, University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism, Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester, University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism.

Now, which team are you going to hire?

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter...


My Comments:

I think any fair-minded person would concede that if these facts were reversed, most people would think VERY differently about the two candidates. Don't we need to try to consider the two candidates from a rational and reasoned basis, rather than from an emotional, or even worse, ideological, basis? Who is best suited to lead this nation for the next four to eight years? That is the bottom-line question.



To assist that decision of which of these two men can best lead us, one would think the two candidates and their campaigns would be offering their thoughts and plans for how to deal with the great issues our nation faces so that we could make a sound rational decision. Instead, we are being bombarded, especially in the contested states, by charges that Obama is a Muslim, a friend of terrorists, and many other scurrilous charges, especially over the internet. These wild charges at campaign rallies have led some in the audiences to respond with violent reactions and language.

McCain, to his credit, seems to have tried to correct some of those things said back directly to him. For example, when one woman referred to Obama as a Muslim, McCain corrected her and said Obama was not a Muslim and was a fine person who just had different views on how to run our country.

However, Palin's speeches have been filled with these charges and she has apparently not corrected anyone in her audiences. I fear the wild charges against Obama will lead someone or some group to decide to act violently toward Obama. That possibility certainly exists. We can only hope cooler heads will prevail, and that the McCain campaign will tamp down that type of rhetoric. The McCain campaign has said publicly that if they keep talking about the economy, they will lose. It appears they feel that going more and more negative is their only hope. One can only hope the American people will reject that thinking, and will not respond violently to the wild charges against Obama.