The challanges which lie ahead...

I will come out and say first and foremost that I did vote for Mr. Obama for President. And it wasn't because I had chosen him outright, but what I did know was the Mr. McCain was not getting my vote under almost any circumstances. However what was a deciding factor for me was that I felt Mr. Obama displayed and convinced me that he has the kind of leadership skills and the type of overall mindset that will ultimately make our nation a progressive one and not one which wishes to regress or appeal to a single ideology only.

It is my sincerest belief at this stage that Mr. Obama can (and in a way already has) improve our standing internationally and regain the trust, belief and support of many nations that lost that in the previous administration. It is evident the global community has once again regained some semblance of confidence in this nation and it is my personal hope that President-Elect Obama takes this opportunity to have a direct hand in rebuilding those burned bridges. HOWEVER, it is also my belief that he simply cannot do so in such a way in which we are basically BUYING back our trust and respect via the plethora of requests of aid that nations around the world seemingly expect from us.

A matter of future consideration is one thing, but as a whole right now our own nation needs more help than anyone could possibly provide from them on so many levels that the focus must be and remain at the core of America and its future. As it stands we have not fully seen the effects of the financial markets instability and shortcomings nor have we been able to see what, if any, impact the sickening bail out will have. Frankly as a completely UN-educated guess, I think matters will only get worse before they get better and by worse I don't mean a week or two of instability as mass sell-offs and erratic up and down swings.

Right now we're looking at the expected spike in unemployment across the nation, we're looking at the height of consumerism of the year in the holidays which has already, in recent years, fallen well short of expectations and you can only expect it to worsen this year. Once we reach the first half of the new year and quarterly profits and projections of plummeting from presumable poor sales, we're almost inevitably going to see a much greater impact on the market, one which may take months or even years to overcome.

Mr. Obama has the potential ability to right the ship here, I truly believe that...starting with strengthening the markets as well as the all-important Iraqi Security Agreement which has been at a complete stalemate for quite a while now. We need to establish a transition of power in the country and slowly start to have the Iraqi people take over their own country once again. We simply cannot stand around with our thumbs injected in our shit holes and pretend that somehow staying is going to make the region a better place: it's not. If there is a looming civil war within the nation, it is one which is necessary to establish a prevailing leadership. We have given the Iraqi people, as a whole, the freedom from the tyrant who controlled with brutality and intimidation. We have removed the regime of oppression and dictatorial control, we cannot expect to put them back together ourselves.

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink..."

We must now approach this situation with that mentality at the forefront of our concerns. We have lead them to the water, we have given them the sips of a republic, but we must now say that we have done the most that we can do. We have liberated the masses, regardless of their allegiance, we have moved forward with establishing some vague semblance of a governing body, we must now let the people of Iraq control their own destiny - because in the sake of a free system, of the freedom to choose, we cannot choose which system suits them best, but only show them the fruits of ours. From here it is their choice, their fight and we cannot ignore the reality that stability in this region has never been long-lasting. Peace, in a region with such divisive religious issues and principles, is simply unrealistic. In the end Iraq may cease to exist as a whole nation, but that may be more beneficial than forcing these staunch oppositions to somehow accept their millennium-old differences and somehow get along.

There are the obvious flaws to this, especially with Iran's vested interest in Iraq and their apparent desires to have influence if not sovereign control over the nation. This is one of the biggest concerns moving forward and with the deterioration of nearby Pakistan in its early stages and looming on the horizon we may see even greater conflict in the region than we have in a long time. However this is the course of nature, this is human nature and the cyclical history of this region taking place.

We must realize at the executive level(s) that we will not dictate history, we will only delay the inevitable whilst sacrificing the lives of our own citizens. No matter how you approach this situation, whether we stay, or weather we go, terrorism in the future will become a more common reality. While I have criticized Mr. Bush on his mentality of fighting them there so we do not have to here, I admit that I was in part wrong in my perception. The truth is, by being there we have ultimately diverted their attention to ensuring their region is guarded, that they are there to fight the good fight and to inflict damage to America and its interests.

When we leave the threat of this can and will rise in America and essentially anywhere that these extremists view as objectionable, loathsome and at least in their manipulations - in need of destruction for the betterment of the world in the eyes of God or whatever.

Strengthening our security, without imposition on constitutionality, should be an utmost concern because it is still, without a doubt, flawed enough to make us susceptible to extreme dangers. We must have strategic regulation(s) and implementations at our weakest of areas- Airports, Ports, Bridges, Tunnels, Subway systems, Power Plants, Food Supplies, etc. We must accept that we will never be invulnerable in some ways and that the possibility will always linger that someone or someones can and will attack us somehow. But at this juncture the best we can do is to approach the situation in such a way that it will be least effective or successful. September 11th was a reassurance to the extremist world that America is destructive on a mass scale, it is vulnerable and it can be accomplished.

We are naive and plain stupid to believe that the lingering impacts of 9/11 have nothing to do with our current situation - Bush's re-election probably had a lot to do with the existing war (not to mention Kerry's ineptitudes), Mr. Bush has spent so much money in so many ways as a result that we have yet to even begin to see the full impact of that, even just 7 years ago. The economic pitfall post-9/11 started this downward spiral into where we are now and the lack of clear-cut and ethical policies of financial practices was finally exposed now, but this is just one facet of a massively broken system. They not only succeeded in killing, they successfully sent cracks through our economic infrastructure and allowed the greed and flaws to expose themselves as everything vastly changed over the course of time. They did win, they did succeed, and unless and until we fix what has been broken for far too long and we inhibit the abilities to have such success we will remain a target.


Mr. Obama must begin his rule with a vicious determination and certainty that will reverberate around the world. We must strengthen the middle-classes and impoverished and establish a system which, at the very least, keeps us afloat during what ultimately will be a lengthy transition back to some kind of true stability. He must extend his hand with a strength that assures us domestically and those abroad that we will be strong when we are weak, we will accept where we are flawed and we as a nation will overcome the adversities and stand against any ill-will or any threats to our security whether by force or by strong and assertive diplomacy; We will not sit idly by and allow all that we work for and have worked for to be destroyed and we will not tolerate the likes of tyrants who wish to meddle in our affairs or bring instability to the world as a whole.

But even with all the strong words and beliefs, a large part of this nation needs to overcome these ridiculous perceptions of Obama being a socialist and the fact that he isn't white. It's frivolous nonsensical ignorance which does nothing for this nation but make it worse off and intolerable. First off, when some of these people inevitably lose their jobs in the coming months and years are they going to avoid the unemployment line(s) in their respective regions because it's too-socialistic? When they have no income, no health-care for their children and the end of instability is not in the near future are they going to turn away the help from the funds in which they contributed to?

Many people are too foolish to realize that unemployment IS socialism, it is giving you the partial ability to sustain your life when times are tough, when things have taken a turn, if not for systems like that we would see impoverishment skyrocket to levels which we might not ever be able to overcome, a rise in crime and the degradation and degeneration of middle-class communities both as a whole and on an individual level. So if you wanna chastise socialistic programs then don't use them and let your life turn to shit, but don't ignorantly stand around and bitch because you have the unrealistic and uneducated perspective that somehow your problems are supposed to be fixed over night.

It is going to be a long road and whether you like it or not it's probably (as Mr. Obama admitted) not going to take 4 years but longer, because things have gone on this way for too long, we have spent and borrowed far beyond our means and ultimately have let things get to a point where the problem is far too big.

Regardless of the ideology of which you most ascribe, the reality here is that the middle-class is really what makes this country function and without them everything would come to a screeching halt. So while the wealthy and upper-classes make sour faces at the prospects of new taxes, they're also failing to realize that in most cases, without these peoples abilities to work and do the things they do, they wouldn't even have the opportunity to be rich and in the upper-echelons of the classes. If we cannot reform our system and allow those that will not be truly worse off to take the brunt of the mistakes of which their equals have largely created then our system cannot be fixed and cannot improve, it can only continue down the path to devastation and collapse that it currently faces.

To oppose is to only omit the foundation of "United We Stand" and further the growing reality that "Divided we stand with our backs turned to the needs of anyone but ourselves and our immediate loved ones."

If Mr. Obama cannot predominantly unite this nation to the fight ahead and if we oppose his efforts, we are destined to fail in unanimity anyway, so one way or another we will be together - whether in prevalence or in destitute - it's inevitable.