Afraid? Seriously?

[KilgoreTrout]

Not sure if this forum is the right place for this, or if politics are permitted to be discussed here at all, but I gotta rant so I will, Don can pull this if he likes...

Ok, so for some weeks now the McCain campaign has been seeding doubts in the american public about the reliability of Obama's allegiance because of his 'association' with Bill Aires (formerly of the 'Weather Underground', a radical element of the 'New Left' of the late 1960's/early 1970's). It is implied that somehow his distant association with an aging activist (you can call him a terrorist, but by the same standards you could call the Chicago police of the same era terrorists, or the Johnson OR Nixon administrations terrorists, or any passionate advocate and/or police/military group that fights for principles terrorists) translates into him being anti-american or 'dangerous' for america. It is suggested that his Kenyan roots and multinational youth make him unreliable, link him to Islam and somehow disqualify him from being a 'true' american (as if there's such a thing). They insinuate that because he is intelligent, pragmatic, and harks from a cosmopolitan city (rather than some bumpkin town in the middle of nowhere?) means that he does not represent true 'american values' (as if all americans have the same values, hell, most americans I know have few values in the first place). So, is anybody really scared of someone leading this country who has 1) An idea of what it's like to live amongst different cultures in different parts of the world 2) a good and well rounded EDUCATION 3) genetic roots to africa of a second generational type, a tragically neglected area of the world where america COULD make a HUGE difference but has not done so because it has no strategic value for profit in any way to us 4) an open stance on talking with the world community instead of punishing them for not being just like us? Should we be more scared of Barack Obama somehow than of an aging 'maverick' with a bad temper and a tendency to act on impulse, bad judgment when it comes to making jokes and jumping the gun regarding foreign policy, Joe 'two faced' Leiberman as a probable cabinet postee and trusted advisor, and a vice presidential nominee that has less claim of foreign policy experience than a cab driver in Manhattan? Seriously, who should we be more afraid of here? What I'M afraid of is two years of McCains detrimental and bullheaded 20th century cold waresque policy being implemented before he drops dead of old age and a half witted beauty queen from a state with ONE TWELFTH the population of New York City (and with a nearly non-existant minority population) and absolutely NO experience with foreign, domestic, or washingtonian policy takes over and destroys what is left of integrity, value, and hope in not only this country but on our entire planet.