I'm back now that primaries are over

I was perusing my old blogs today, and realized that not much has changed in our national priorities other than things have gotten worse - way worse. The only good news is that the Democrats selected Barack Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States. He ran a brilliant campaign in overcoming a tough candidate in Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton would also have been a good choice, so the reality was it was a win-win for Democrats. I think in the final analysis Barack Obama will be better for the country if he is elected, since he can set a new course for this country and break away the Democratic positions that were a drag on the party such as support for the Iraq war, and approval of NAFTA without any provisions for a level playing field for American labor.

Now the fun begins. A maverick Republican U.S. Senator vs. an articulate black Democratic U.S. Senator. Let's hope that the mainstream media and cable networks will focus on making each candidate talk about the issues that are important to American's as we get ready to cast our votes in November. So far, the results are pretty dismal - we have a lot of cheap shots coming from candidate surrogate's that don't make either party look good. The attacks against the candidate's wife are particularly obnoxious. We aren't voting for them. Nor do I really care who the candidates hung out with, nor do I question their patriotism. I don't care whether they wear American flag lapel pins or not. I do care about their plans for ending the war in Iraq. I care about how they will help end the run-up in oil prices that are crippling our economy. I want to hear how they will address providing affordable health care in this country. I want to hear how we will reverse our trade imbalances, and ever increasing national debt which is eroding the purchasing power of the dollar. How will each candidate address fixing Social Security and Medicare which threaten to overwhelm the national budget in future years. What will be each candidates position on relations with Israel and creating a stabilized Middle East. How will each of them address our relations with Cuba. These are just some of the pressing issues facing this country. We don't need to fill the airwaves with more of the garbage issues that have been fed to us so far.

Congratulations to John McCain and Barack Obama. Nobody expected either of you to win the nomination. Now come out fighting and keep it clean.