Signed, Sealed and Delivered

One day before Obama's acceptance speech I got off the fence and decided that, although I still had doubts, I would vote for him. Hearing him speak in Denver's Mile High Stadium strengthened my conviction, as he seemed to have his priorities right and looked and sounded Presidential. I still thought I should listen carefully to the debates but, after McCain announced that he had chosen as his running mate Sarah Palin my vote for Obama was signed, sealed and delivered and I feel, somehow, that most independents like me will come to the same conclusion. I have heard Republicans gush that she is highly qualified because she was a basketball standout nicknamed Sarah Barracuda, because she was a hockey mom and president of the PTA and because she was the mayor of a hole-in-the-wall town of 9,000 inhabitants and two years ago was elected - it beats me why - Governor of that very populous state: Alaska. I am certain that Vladimir Putin, Ahmedinejad, Bin Ladin and Hu Jintao are duly impressed and worried and I am so glad and reassured at the thought that, should anything happen to 72-year old McCane, she will be there to represent the U.S.A. What were McCain and his advisers thinking? I thing that rather than be guided by reason they were guided by desperation. Probably, they hope that by being an extreme right winger she will bring out the vote of all the Republican crazies who view McCain as too moderate and by being a woman she will attract the vote of those Hillary supporters who are still upset by her defeat. They may be right in the first instance but I doubt that Democratic, pro-choice women will chose to vote, as a protest, for a pro-life, right wing ticket. As I have already mentioned, it seems certain to me that McCain has chosen to forfeit the independent vote in the hope that die-hard Republicans will bring him to victory. In view of the hundreds of thousands of Democrats newly registered to vote and of the fact that this Republican ticket will be viewd by Democrats as a red cloth by a bull, I think he has taken a huge gamble that may well cost him the election; I sure hope so.