Time for Another Huge Address

There are have been a couple of times in this campaign when Barack Obama has felt it vital to hold large press conferences to crystallize certain ideas and clarify an issue or group of issues that needed to be focused on and drive home his perspective and position. One was on religion and the Reverend Wright issue, and the other was about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how he would pursue them as president and bring the occupation of Iraq to an end.

Well, I think it’s time for another one. Barack has been under attack for the past few weeks, having his record and position twisted like a pretzel and misrepresented or even lied about. He is still thought to be a Muslim by up to twenty percent of this country and certain networks still put forth this idea that his relationships with Tony Rezko and William Ayers have yet to be investigated. His activities in the US Senate have been characterized as zero, that he refuses to reach across the aisle to work with members of the other party. He has been accused of being soft on terrorists, plans to meet with world leaders without conditions, pulling out of Iraq without giving thought to victory, an unwillingness to acknowledge the success of the surge, and essentially making speeches that are full of promises that he has no intention of following through on. And lastly, McCain keeps repeating the mantra that Obama will raise taxes and just wants to grow government with no accountability.

Obama has tended to draw every network and create huge buzz when he announces one of these speeches and press conferences, and I believe these recent lies and distortions justify another one. There are certain issues that I don’t think merit any reference or could be left to surrogates to address, but his tax plan and that he will not raise taxes, his accomplishments in the Senate, his plans for Iraq and that he acknowledges the surge but that it doesn’t override McCain’s lack of plans to get us out of Iraq need to be brought out and the truth clarified. He also needs to state unequivocally that he has had enough of the mean-spirited lies that have been directed at him and his record, and he needs to use that word, “lie.” When one has evidence that his opponent has deliberately and knowingly stated things they know to be false, it is okay to call them out on it.

I have been recognizing within myself that I have been feeling very satisfied to be on the right side of history, to be supporting a candidate that I know will change this country drastically for the better, but I also have to admit that I also want my candidate to stand up strongly to defend himself and his record, to feel confident to say and do what’s right and to call your opponents who publicly and rudely distort or misrepresent your record and your positions what they are, liars.