The old ways don’t work anymore’

‘The old ways don’t work anymore’

In response to Morris Amitay’s Oct. 17 op-ed regarding voting for Sen. John McCain, the first thing to realize is that McCain is running for president of the U.S., not Israel. While we all have concerns about Israel and hope for peace in that area of the world, it’s not the only issue Americans are concerned about. People are worried about the financial crisis, whether their retirement funds will be worth anything, jobs, paying bills – especially their mortgages – decaying infrastructure, poor education, the environment, and yes, Mr. Amitay, a woman’s right to choose. McCain has been all over the place on the Wall Street mess. He’s voted against equal pay for women, against raises in the minimum wage, and has a disjointed campaign run by lobbyists. I could go on.

Does Mr. Amitay actually believe that any president, Democrat or Republican, will not be tough on Muslim extremism? The difference is that McCain talks about bomb, bomb, bombing Iran, boasts about how the surge in Iraq is working when we shouldn’t have gone in there in the first place, and refuses to talk to our enemies. Just like George Bush. How’s that been working out so far? McCain’s saber-rattling only encourages our enemies to build bigger armies and develop more weapons. Iran is armed to the teeth and will have nuclear weapons in the fairly near future. Sen. Barack Obama has not taken military action off the table but would use it only as a last resort.

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Yes, McCain does have more experience than Obama particularly in foreign policy but McCain is a cold-warrior in a vastly changing world. The old ways don’t work anymore. Obama has vision, compassion, and an amazing intelligence. McCain, as is evidenced by his disorganized campaign, his selection of a hockey mom whose only foreign policy credential consists of being able to see Russia from her house, and his stuttering response to the financial crisis is not what we need right now. It’s just more of the same.