Obama Looks to Create a New World

Today was a lovely day. My wife and I took a drive down the coast south of San Francisco. Our destination was the Swanton Ranch where we spent a part of the early afternoon picking berries. On our way back toward home, we stopped in San Gregorio at the general store that is filled with fabulous knickknacks, odds and ends and terrific memorabilia, books, clothing and yes, postcards. I found a postcard that I bought for my 11-year-old grandson, but it also made me think of Barack.

On the postcard is an old black and white photo and the saying “Those who have been required to memorize the world as it is will never create the world as it might be.” I stood there in the middle of the store and smiled. I think of my grandson, Jesse quite a bit, and today was no different. I always wonder what this world will be like for him as he enters his teens, attends high school, and I am praying that he has the opportunity to enter adulthood without this country being in a needless war and occupation of Iraq or any other country for that matter.

Today Barack Obama is in Afghanistan and Iraq meeting with leaders, both military and governmental, and speaking with troops serving in both countries. He is doing the legwork and building the foundation to become our commander-in-chief. He is also fortifying his foreign policy credentials that will be tested during his years as president, and he is establishing himself as a candidate that will place himself on an equal footing with his opponent, John McCain, when it comes to visibly and publicly visiting the regions of conflict.

Obama needed to take this trip. His lack of travel to the region has been the subject of ridicule by John McCain in recent weeks, and ironically McCain had been goading Obama to go. That same man, McCain, is now criticizing him for making a trip that is only done for political purposes, kind of a publicity stunt. The criticism is not only unfounded, but in the end, it will backfire on McCain, mainly because McCain’s accusations are baseless, but even more importantly, Obama is accomplishing exactly the opposite of what McCain is saying he is, and the vast majority of this country knows it.

Barring any miscues that I don’t anticipate, Barack will have laid the groundwork and started the dialogue that will continue into his first term as president. Contrary to McCain’s specious criticism, Obama will come home confirming what he has already surmised, which is that our country’s main front on fighting terrorism is in Afghanistan, not Iraq, and that although our servicemen and women perform heroically on our behalf, their efforts could be utilized much more effectively in perhaps a different territory and with reoriented objectives.

John McCain is yesterday’s news. Despite a very loud and dramatic commitment to keep things positive and run a campaign without negative attacks on his opponent, he has seemed to make attacking his opponent the cornerstone of his campaign. This weekend was the debut of his first attack ad on TV, and he tends to spend the vast majority of his canned stump speech with a daily dumping on Barack Obama. These unfair and unfounded diatribes, however, have tended to fall on deaf ears, except for the relatively small crowds he draws to his mostly staged and theatrical events around the country.

The ultimate irony is that McCain, who claims that foreign policy and military strategy are his strong suit, has proven once again to be just the opposite. He has repeatedly confused tribal factions in Iraq, incorrectly identified which warring groups are training and where, and he had his own Hillary moment when he severely exaggerated the safety and stability of Baghdad, claiming that he could walk freely and relatively carefree through an open market. His only problem is that pictures from the event showed he was in a bullet-proof flack jacket, dozens of highly armed soldiers were surrounding him on all sides, and many helicopters hovered overhead to protect him from any harm.

When we returned home late this afternoon with our berries, I cleaned them while my wife threw together the crust that the berries would be baked in. For dessert tonight, we had one of the best olallieberry pies I’ve ever had, and to think that we picked the fruit with our own hands. As I reflect on a perfect day with my beautiful wife, I feel pretty good about this country of ours. It is worth protecting and fighting for, and I know that Barack is the person that I want calling the shots in January ’09. I am very happy that he is on the other side of the world right at this moment getting ready to make sure that I can have many more days like today, and hopefully my grandson will, as well.