Those of us who have been attached to the military for a lengthy period of time are well acquainted with the age-old saying that opinions are very much like a certain anatomical orifice. We all have one and it, well, just plain stinks.
I’ve always hoped that my opinions didn’t stink.
Sam, a good friend of mine who lives in northern Minnesota, a Navy veteran and committed Democrat - also an Arab-American by descent - hoped the same about his own.
While debating the upcoming presidential election over the phone the last few weeks, we’ve managed to raise a major stink between us. So much so, we can’t discuss the election without one or both of us getting so angry that we come mighty close to hanging up.
Sam, a representative for the Teamsters Union, Local 320 in Minnesota, flew on September 11 to Washington, DC, to attend a two-day seminar on Political Activist Training sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters before the last presidential election.
“As a political advocate for the Teamsters, my job is to visit worksites to make sure everybody is registered to vote,” he told me. “Teamsters are, for the most part, endorsing Obama.”
Sam was quick to add that the Teamsters as a whole had been “cleaned up” during the Clinton years and are now a very respected and honorable organization. Their goal is to endorse political figures supporting labor in this country. They feel Barack Obama is the right man for the job.
Personally, the seminar he attended back then sounds like a serious propaganda-fest to me. Even he can’t adequately answer my questions about Teamster dedication to the Democratic side of the presidential ticket.
But he did say, “This current upcoming presidential election will decide the future of this country, if not for the world.”
I wholeheartedly agree.
As we move toward the election of either a Democrat or Republican president, I find myself focusing on only this: If I had a son or daughter who has been faithfully serving in uniform in the Middle East, I would want a president in office for the next four years who is 100-percent committed to seeing our efforts through to bring democracy and freedom to this part of the world.
Even more so, had I lost that son or daughter to the war in Afghanistan or Iraq.
I would want a president with courage. A president supported by a strong, committed political party that completely understands terrorism and is fully prepared to deal with it on a daily basis. A president who will stand tall and does the job history has called on him to do.
History he has had no choice but to throw down the gauntlet and rise up to meet.
Anything less would mean that the precious lives American mothers and fathers of thousands of dead soldiers, sailors and Marines across our country they grieve over now were essentially lives lost in vain.
I look at my own sons and can’t imagine such tragedy. Right now, I have a son headed for the Persian Gulf in the Navy, a son who won’t be home until three months after his his wife gives birth to their first baby.
Vote for McCain in the upcoming election? You bet I will. I want a president who operates from a position of strength and conviction, one who has been in the military himself and even endured 5 1/2 years as a POW. A president with guts. A president who will let the world know that we, as Americans, walk tall and carry a big stick.
A president who, bottom line, understands that if we bring the troops home too soon, we only invite more terrorism to occur right here at home.
I wouldn’t want anything less in the way of strong, meaningful leadership for this country now and in the future…would you?
March 15th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Very well put. Good luck to your son and his deployment.