RWNJ Conservative Views from Cincinnati

Here’s another one where you’ve taken a fairly innocuous account and given it a darker shade of meaning. All that the article states is that this student is cold calling Americans to vote for Obama because he believes that Obama would help to bring peace to his region. It says absolutely NOTHING about this young man being part of Hamas or insinuating that Obama would be a “less staunch ally of Israel.” Purely conjecture and possibly even paranoia on your part.
Is it so hard to believe that a young man living in these conditions could really desire and hope for more peace in for his home? Anyone in his situation would hope for a leader that would push for more diplomacy and peace.
And it’s not surprising that most other leaders in the Middle East would want Obama. Who the heck wants more of the same of what Bush had to offer? McCain seems to fully support Bush’s policies of alienating the rest of the world and refusing to even talk to leaders he doesn’t like. I know it’s not nearly as simplistic as this, but can you imagine what our own lives would be like if we just refused to deal with anyone we disagreed with? How could we ever get anything done?
I think it’s time that Americans woke up to the fact that world opinions of the US are at some of the lowest levels ever. That’s not how it should be. For a country that prides itself on democracy and unity and lots of grand ideals we should have the admiration of most of the rest of the world (excluding those who support the Taliban or Islamic Fundamentalists.) Why don’t we??

I guess I jumped to conclusions in thinking that you were trying to throw “Hamas” into the conversation as another way to get people riled up about what this young man was doing. I apologize.
My only conclusion with this article is that if I were to put myself into this young man’s shoes I could understand his desire to support Obama for President of the United States. Obama has been better at coming across as being willing to use diplomacy and to listen to other viewpoints and opinions. McCain has only derided Obama for his comments on sitting down to talk to leaders, which comes across as not being willing to do the same, regardless of whether it’s in person or through an ambassador or other official. I can see where this young man could get that opinion of Obama versus McCain, even if it’s not fair or correct.
I think it’s admirable that this young man is getting an education and is showing an interest in international politics. It shows a desire on his part to better his life and I think his phone calls are just an extension of this. Whether or not Obama would actually be the better choice is a whole other debate.
I think it may be a bit naive for this man to think that any President will actually be able to improve conditions for him in his country. But it’s not naive to still hope for that. Especially when you live under the shadow of Hamas. Think about how hard it really would be to effect change in his country. Heck, think about how hard it is for one citizen to effect change in OUR country! It’s not impossible, but if it were more attainable McCain would have cleaned up the way Washington works already! And we aren’t even under the threat of “disappearing” or being killed for our efforts.
As far as McCain differing on policies… I have a huge problem with his statement that Iraq is the central front in the war against terrorists. Yes, there are terrorists in Iraq and we need to fight them. BUT I think that focusing on Iraq and leaving the Taliban and Al Qaeda to increase in power in Afghanistan is a much bigger threat. Most of the terrorists who have gone into Iraq have done so because we are there. Not because we have eradicated them from Afghanistan, not because they can’t attack us here at home, but because we have plenty of Americans on the ground as fairly easy targets. Heck, they’ve now killed over 1200 more Americans in Iraq than they did on 9/11. Mission accomplished. And we helped them by sending large numbers of troops to a place where we would be busy putting out fires instead of addressing the root cause. The war in Iraq is helping to keep America safe, but only because they can actually inflict more casualties by keeping up the war in their backyard. Our enemies may have some crazy ideas but they aren’t stupid. We should be working to eradicate Al Qeda and the Taliban at their root, in the place where they are busy training the fighters who end up in Iraq.
One of my biggest problems with McCain is his continuing support of a war that never should have been started. It’s something we have to deal with now and we certainly can’t “cut and run” but that doesn’t change the basic fact that this war was and is wrong. And it doesn’t mean that I’m unpatriotic, unAmerican or a liberal to say that. I think that because of McCain’s experiences with Vietnam he finds it distasteful to consider bringing the troops home in shame rather than in victory. In my world though, the troops are heroes for serving regardless of whether or not there’s a clear “victory” at all. There is no shame in bringing our soldiers home as soon as possible. It’s more shameful to keep risking soldier’s limbs, lives, and mental health to keep reaching for “victory” in a war that will probably never have a clear one.