REAL CHANGE DOESN'T REQUIRE HOLLYWOOD PROPS
   
Contact Craig R. Smith
 

2008-09-11

The "Down with America" convention in Denver last week was much like the Olympics in Beijing. Both looked good and sounded good, but both turned out to be enhanced by the socialists who produced them. The perfect facades were nothing more than manipulations to wow the audiences.

Barack Obama, the anointed candidate from the Democratic Party, operates much like China. In fact, he is even similar to their cuisine. It tastes great, fills you up, but an hour later you find yourself hungrier than before you ate. And it is hard to remember what you had because it all tastes the same.

I thought Mr. Obama was going to bring change – change we could believe in. Is that what he and Joe will bring to D.C.? Isn't that what Joe has been pushing for the last 36 years?

By the end of the staged performances in Denver, I was left with the same impression I started with. Just one slight difference: Obama got mean. Really mean. And he was calling McCain out like a street fighter, not a political opponent.

Now while some would say that is good given Michelle and Barack say America is a "mean" country, it is not what America wants to hear from the candidate of change. Andrea Mitchell reported her room service person at her hotel for the DNC was totally turned off by the "mean" Obama. Maybe Barack should return to that compassionate neighborhood organizer who cares so much about people. If the room service employee represents the average American, "mean" clearly doesn't serve Obama well.

Now let's contrast the spectacle in Denver with the humble, "We love America" gathering we were treated to in Dayton, Ohio, the day after Obama walked on water.

There was no glitz, no glamour, no Hollywood production. No build up, other than the frenzied media types trying to read the tea leafs of McCain's choice for VP. Every plane headed to Dayton was the target of their suspicions. Unfortunately for the media, the McCain camp can keep a secret and was leak proof on this one. It was a welcome change in the leaky world in which we live.

It was just an every day event. Just like the thousands of hardworking Ohioans experience each day as they head off to work – work so they can feed their families and pay their crushing tax bill. It's nothing exciting. In fact, it's rather dull.

Then a scrappy, old war hero, talking from his heart, turned a non-produced announcement into a declaration history will record as a great moment. John McCain introduced Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate for the GOP ticket in November. The excitement was palpable for millions of conservatives watching the nexus of a winning ticket form – a ticket packed with real change. Two mavericks, each in their own right, who really will change Washington and not just give a speech about it.

Sarah Palin has the executive experience necessary to compliment the foreign policy expertise of Sen. McCain. She's a woman who, while young, lives by principles and not polls – a woman who doesn't require focus groups to tell her what position to take on issues such as when life begins, if citizens have the right to own a gun and whether higher or lower taxes are best for the economy. Palin is a woman who knows how to cut wasteful spending and hold people accountable. Apparently, that is well within the pay grade of a governor from Alaska.

But the best part of this running mate for McCain? She is not another senator from D.C. She is an outsider.

This is a candidate who truly represents change – change we can believe in and a fresh outlook on politics and the greatness of America. It's an America she will work tirelessly to make even better. The change she has brought to Alaska has made her a "rock star" with the citizens, not because a Hollywood producer packaged her, but because she earned it.

I am excited about this election cycle because I now have a meat-and-potatoes ticket to vote for, not an expensive, fancy Chinese meal that leaves me and millions of Americans hungry for more than an hour after the fireworks and fiery speeches end. This is the start of an incredible administration if McCain does not stop with Gov. Palin.

Hopefully McCain will go on to pick Rob Portman as his secretary of commerce, Mitt Romney as his secretary of the treasury, and Joe Lieberman as his secretary of defense. How about a brilliant legal mind like Orin Hatch as attorney general? The pool he has to pick from is outstanding, and that pool has water on both sides of the aisle.

Maybe McCain and Palin can start to eliminate wasteful government spending by closing the Department of Education and returning education decisions to the states, eliminating the Department of Energy and appointing a taskforce made up of leaders from private business, environmentalists and scientists to break our dependence on foreign oil. They can do this all while embracing and promoting new science and technology to address our energy needs for the next 100 years and beyond.

The list of changes, real changes, could be endless. This GOP combination will have wisdom, experience, youth and vision all working together for the future of the nation. This may be the moment the Democrats promised but could not deliver. It's real change, not fancy speeches and Hollywood props.

America wants change, and now they can get it. This year, I will be voting with great enthusiasm, knowing full well both of these GOP candidates can and will make the right decisions for our country. And while the attacks will come, both are ready to fight and lead the greatest nation on Earth. They will do it with civility and respect, not resorting to ad hominem attacks like we heard in Obama's "masterful" speech Thursday night nor the venom spewing from Jimmy Carter while attacking McCain's war record.

They won't do it with hype, but with proven conservative principles forged during difficult times. Those principles have stood up for generations and made us strong as a nation. This is a ticket that will unite the country, not pull it apart. It's a ticket with candidates who can reach and have reached across the aisle to get things done.

Character is never birthed in difficult times; it is revealed. When the going got tough on Obama, the real Obama showed up: Mean and angry, contemptuous and arrogant. Thos are traits that will be missing from the all-American GOP ticket.

I was not very interested in voting for McCain until he showed his judgment in picking Gov. Palin. I will be now. I have always kept my voting choice to myself. This year is different. Take a guess who I am voting for?

Change! Change I do believe in.

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