Sadly, due to the hubbub at work and home, I cannot remember where I found this "Open Letter to Obama's Supporters", but it does sum up the case against Barack Oblahma pretty nicely:

Regrettably, we have met. Your barely contained enthusiasm for THE ONE™ is as undeniable as it is unexplainable. Emotion and a belief in vague and hollow promises for things like CHANGE! and HOPE! have propelled a man who believes that he is a messianic figure to the top of the Democratic Party's ticket and reveal just how much you failed to learn in your civics/government classes in high school. Most of you have been sold a bill of goods, and cannot or will not see the mistake you have made. I fear that revelation will not come until you have gotten us all into a fine mess.

I know. You have your reasons, all of which are important to you and motivated you to cast your support to a man who wants to radically alter this country into a nation that our founding fathers would be incapable of recognizing. You see him as the fulcrum to affect those things which have elicited your pledge. You might be right, but if he's elected, you might get what you hoped for, and that will bring results that you neither want nor expect.

For some of you, the war is your issue, and THE ONE™'s statements assure you that the "unwinnable" war will be brought to a close. If you are easily offended, stop reading now, because I'm going to tell you things you are not going to like reading.

To the aging hippies seeking that one last "Hurrah!": You didn't change the world. You wrapped yourself in cowardice, and pushed for a change in policy to prevent you from paying for the liberty that kept you safe and brought you through your adolescence. Your actions brought the change that got numerous people on the other side of the world killed because they took us at our word and trusted us, but you couldn't see past the ends of your own noses long enough to understand that the world isn't about you, and that being right, and standing up for what is good and right requires real sacrifice. You reveled in your "accomplishments" and spit on those who answered when their country called, denying them the honor they earned and so richly deserved. You aren't heroes and the blood of too many people who sought their freedom with our assistance stains your hands. Sleep well. I have it on good authority that cowards serve an eternal watch without respite in the outlands of Hell.

To the dreamers who believe that violence never solves anything: You get to cling to this childish belief because of violent men doing violence to protect this country and its people from those who want us dead simply because of who we are. Your beliefs are yours to hold because of the freedom that these brave realists shed their blood to preserve.

To those who believe that we have engaged in an illegal/unjust war: War is diplomacy by other means. The UN itself passed numerous resolutions in the wake of Desert Storm, all of which were ignored by Iraq, which was paying a bounty to the families of suicide bombers and providing a safe haven for some of the most villainous terrorists on the planet. You can scream about Bush! Cheney! Halliburton! all you want at the top of your lungs. When the rest of the world talks about doing something, it falls on us to actually DO something. The UN was never actually going to authorize real action. The kleptocrats of that august body were making too much money from the Oil for Food scam to actually stop Saddam's gravy train. The fact is, we have done yeoman's work in Iraq, the country enjoys a level of freedom today that it has never enjoyed before, and their people are willing to do their own fighting to keep it that way. Another inconvenient fact is that by fighting terrorists there, we have not had to fight them here. Whine all you want. There has not been another attack since 9/11, and taking the fight to the terrorists has had EVERYTHING to do with that.

To those who want to adorn themselves in sackcloth and ashes because of Bush and the war: Get over it, and get over yourselves. Fighting terrorists is not like fighting a conventional army, because although they may receive support from states, they are essentially stateless. Such a battle takes a long time, even under confined conditions. Your childish whining and stomping your feet over the actions of a man who has labored to keep this nation, and you, safe, doesn't make you brave or intelligent. It merely makes you appear to be the worst kind of ingrate, and it makes me embarrassed to call you my fellow countrymen. If you cannot bring yourselves to say the appropriate thank-yous, then at least do the rest of us the courtesy of shutting up, because we're tired of the childish derangement you continually exhibit.

For some of you, race is the issue. While I do not agree, I can at least understand. However, voting for race in this campaign may set race relations back a great deal, rather than achieving a pinnacle in the Black Experience in America. For white people who have this feeling that they are somehow responsible for slavery and subsequent injustices, I assure you, you are not. The last 40 years brought an end to Jim Crow, segregation, and inequality of opportunity. Good people, black and white, sacrificed, and in some cases, died to bring these promises to fruition. Not only was opportunity opened to all, remediation was imposed in education, admission to colleges and universities, and the job market in the form of lowered standards, quotas, and affirmative action, and today's trendy belief, diversity. Add these to the blood shed in the Civil War, and the debt is paid. Guilt is not a good reason to make a decision, because you end up making the decision for the sole reason to assuage that guilt, oblivious to other facts or information that would inform you that choosing that person would be a bad choice. If your guilt prevents you from being honest with yourself when you ask "If everything about him was the same except he was white, would I still vote for him?", then you are not thinking clearly.

To those who would vote for him because they too, are black:
Time for some hard truths here. The years since the Civil Rights Movement have not seen all the promise that everyone might have hoped. The good news is that this can be fixed. The bad news is that you have to decide to step up and claim your birthright as an AMERICAN, and reject your victim rights as African-Americans. The doors were opened to you, but by and large, you decided to continue to select leaders who put their best interests first, and their lip service to your needs as the bones they will toss to you. Many of you chose the slavery of the attitude that the government owes this or that, and when members of your own community step outside of that mindset and build success, and then tell you that you can do the same, you berate them and belittle them as sellouts, or call them "Uncle Tom's". The real pioneers of the civil rights movement, the ones who shed blood to give you the chance would be horrified at how you rejected the hand up for the hand out, and chose on your own to re-segregate yourselves at various levels of society. Voting for him because primarily he is one of you spits in the eye of Dr. King's dream of men being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.

Why do I attack his character? Because he has demonstrated time and again that he does not have any. He has friends of dubious character. Because he has a preacher who has preached racial hatred for more than 20 years. Because he has been the candidate talking about race, and using it to make himself out as the victim in this campaign. Do you want a leader, someone who represents you, to be someone who claims to be a victim, or someone who decided to overcome history and succeed in spite of it? What does that choice say about you? If doing it because he is black is your standard, then you validate the racist aspect of the nation's past, and it will never be washed from Liberty's Garments. You will have failed those who fought for the promises of this nation to be extended for all citizens, and more importantly, and sadly, you will have failed yourselves. History has been made by this election, and I have every confidence that we will someday elect an African-American President. I think we all deserve to have one that we can all be proud of and look to as a great leader. This first-term Senator who's greatest accomplishments are writing two memoirs is not that man.

To the ones who believe that Obama and a Democratic Congress will fix the economy:
The evidence is there for the finding. You just have to look carefully. Fannie Mae? Freddie Mac? These two entities mushroomed because the Democrats under Clinton thought that it would be a wonderful thing if people who could not afford homes got to buy them anyway, because Fannie and Freddie would be there to back the loans. Only thing is, WE THE PEOPLE backed Fannie and Freddie. While companies like Countrywide got to originate these loans and pocket the exorbitant fees that went with them, the taxpayers were left holding the bag when the music stopped. For the last eight years, Bush and McCain both made multiple attempts to call this impending disaster to the attention of Congress so that the bomb could be defused before it went off.

Democrats, like Senator Obama, blocked any attempts at reform. Why? Because there was still money to be made. The former head of one of those agencies, Franklin Raines, walked away with tens of millions of dollars...for sticking US with the bill. This same man is one of Obama's campaign advisers.

Other prominent Democrats also bailed out of these entities before the crash, but not before they received compensation packages in the Millions of dollars. And the Senator himself? He was the second largest beneficiary of Fannie/Freddie campaign dollars in the Senate...in his first term. This man has proposed a ruinous tax plan that will punish success, discourage small businesses from hiring more employees, and will cost this country jobs and opportunities. He has proposed that by mandating certain technologies, he will create jobs, but this is an unsuccessful strategy whenever it has been tried. He proposes measures that will strengthen unions and impose tariffs. These measures succeed in stripping working Americans of more of their pay and opportunities, while robbing workers and businesses of the incentives to be innovative and productive. He has advocated for redistribution of wealth, under the guise of social and economic justice. This will simply remove any incentive for producers to produce if they cannot be the beneficiaries of their labor. Equality as enforced by the state kills merit and ambition, and robs us all of the benefits that they bring.

To those of you who are seeking something to believe in, or a government to give you things:
Grow up. Really. I mean that. If your life is so empty that you need to have a politician to believe in, then you need to work on yourself, because something is sorely lacking in you. Politicians, and especially Obama are not to be trusted. They will whisper pretty words in your ear, and tell you all the things they will do for you, in order to get your vote. They will make you slaves for that all-important vote. If you think that the government's purpose is to provide you with things, then you too, have a problem, because you get what you pay for.

You want guaranteed employment? Move to Europe. See how that works for them. You want government health care? Be ready for rationing and poor quality of care. Don't listen to what the man with the teleprompter tells you. It will be rationed. It will have to be, because if a cost benefit analysis is not applied, then there simply will not be enough to go around.

What it comes down to is this. Obama believes that you can't. You can't be successful without his help. You can't overcome bad things in your life without his help. You can't provide for your families without his help. You can't be trusted to make your own decisions without his help. This is not what America is about. If everything is handed to you, then you value nothing, and only want more to be given to you. America is about the freedom to decide what you will do, about how you will do it, about who you choose to help out with your money and your time, about how you will live. America is about choosing how to live your life without state interference. Obama believes you can't be trusted to make your own choices, and that government can spend your money better than you can.

Stand up next Tuesday and cast a vote for your own choices. You can choose to continue to choose, or you can choose to surrender all rights and responsibilities and settle for what the government chooses to give to you. It really shouldn't be a difficult decision.

Shamefully for the Republicans, most of the same can be said for their fool of a candidate.

KEYES/ROHRBOUGH '08

RWR