The Vice-Presidential choice for Illinois Junior Senator and Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama is like waiting to open a Christmas package after the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve. The much anticipated event will be sent as a text message on cell phones throughout the world on Saturday, August 23, 2008, and as with anything of this magnitude it is bound to overwhelm the capabilities of the telecommunication service providers. Besides all that, the choice of Vice-President, though intriguing as the first step in signaling the direction and tone an Obama Administration might go, it is not necessarily the most crucial. The Secretary of State is the representative of American Foreign policy on the International stage and it is very important that Barack gets this selection right. On the domestic front the Attorney General is crucial as this individual will head up the Justice Department and will be in a position to represent the Executive branch of the government before the United States Supreme Court. Since September 11, 2001, American citizens have experienced an erosion of their right to privacy due to anti-terrorism as well as Civil Rights, and therefore whoever will ultimately fill this position is important also.
Unlike the 1970’s Pop/Folk Music singer Carly Simon’s song, “Anticipation,” most Americans are not holding their collect breath to find out who Barack Obama will choose as his running mate. In fact, a new MSNBC poll taken recently shows that only 4 out of 10 people are even interested in this outcome; probably because most of them are watching the Beijing Olympics. Many of the political pundits, major network news commentators, and syndicated newspaper columnists seem to have narrowed the field of choices down to a narrow list to include Joseph Biden, Tim Kaine, Phil Breseden, and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel. If its one thing that this political season and pollsters have shown and that is, the ‘experts’ have blown it almost every time. Supposedly, Barack’s choice is going to be a surprise, so maybe Colin Powell or even Ralph Nader might just fit rather nicely in the ‘shock and awe’ of presidential politics.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
August 22, 2008
pbks@hotmail.com
