Obama and O'Biden

I feel disappointed. I didn't know Joe Biden but when he was chosen by Barack Obama as vice-presidential candidate he sounded like a good pick, with a lot of experience as a senator. Unfortunately, I am just now listening to the speech he gave at the Democratic Convention and he sounds like a very critical and even angry person. I just don't get a sense of maturity or responsibility when a person seems so critical of just about everything to do with the opposition.

I watched Senator Obama's speech. It started off very well I thought, and I think it ended fairly well. But he lost me in the middle. I just lose respect for a person when they start tearing other people apart, as he seemed to be doing to the current US administation. I was with him until that point. Why he had to degrade himself by such tactics is difficult for me to understand. I felt a lot of repressed anger coming from him. What I would like to see would be a calm confidence and a respect for the difficult job done by his predecessors, a job that he himself would have to do if he were elected president. His performance however in my opinion did not demonstrate the level of maturity needed for that position.

It is my hope that Senator McCain will be able to do a better job. I appreciated McCain's ad that was run after Obama's speech congratulating Obama on a job well done. However from what I saw, the job was not good enough.

It must be difficult, in the heat of a presidential race, to be able to maintain one's composure and refrain from needless criticism of others. If a person is able to do that I think he or she can demonstate a higher level of capability, something along the lines of Jesus who was able to forgive and understand his persecutors.

Running for president is certainly a challenging experience for the candidates and an opportunity for their rapid learning and growth. I look forward to a good president with a host of worthy advisors and cabinet members.

National Days of Prayer--Sept 5-7

President Bush has proclaimed Friday, September 5, through Sunday, September 7, 2008, as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance:

I ask that the people of the United States and their places of worship mark these National Days of Prayer and Remembrance with memorial services, the ringing of bells, and evening candlelight remembrance vigils. I also invite all people across the world to share in these Days of Prayer and Remembrance.

"...thank you for serving our country."

[Excerpt from President Bush's talk to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Orlando, Florida on August 20, 2008]

You know, through the years I've received a lot of heartfelt letters from our military families. One of them was from a woman in Texas named Sue Stoner. Sue's husband is a decorated Air Force veteran of Vietnam and the Gulf War. Last year during a trip to Fort Hood, the couple witnessed their six-year-old granddaughter Mikayla do something that every American should do, as well. The little girl bounded over to a wounded stranger in Army fatigues, and said, "I just wanted to say thank you for serving our country." As Mikayla's proud grandmother tells it, the soldier leaned forward on his walker, and said, "Sweetheart, I did it for you."

Criticizing a President

It is popular to criticize a sitting president. Perhaps it has always been this way. To me it seems a shameful thing to be critical of a president who is involved in wars to protect the country as well as many other countries. It is so easy to criticize and it is useful to point out ways to improve situations and make better decisions. But wholesale criticism seems to me to be childish or immature. It is much more difficult and much more constructive to suggest alternate ways of proceeding--concentrating on those rather than on criticizing, whose main motive would appear to be to somehow make one seem superior. To me such outright criticism always seems suspect and tends to disqualify the rest of the message.

Where to Get a Job

Does anbody know were to go to get a job? I think that I need one. It's a long walk to the White House to ask the president, and I'm not quite sure what road to take. Could he help me get a job?

There must be a few other people needing jobs too. Who has the jobs anyway? Where do we get them? If you have a job then you can get money to pay your bills. That is a good thing.

Plus, having a job is good for your self-respect. It helps you to feel that you are doing something useful. Not only that, but you probably ARE doing something useful.

That's if it's a reasonably good job of course. Some jobs may actually be counter-productive you know, or harmful. But there must be a lot of good jobs out there. And all I need are one or two of them.

What can I do, you ask. Well, most anything, I reply. I don't know. I did a lot of things in the past. Just give me something to do and I reckon I can do it.