Sunday, July 27, 2008

Reeling towards disaster?

As the summer of 2008 neared an end, the United States seemed reeling towards potential disaster from a variety of dangers. Barack Obama seemed to be the ultimate "empty suit", but was picking out the new wallpaper patterns and curtains for the Whitehouse. The world had a near encounter with $150 a barrel or higher oil. The stock market seemed on the verge of collapse as was the banking system. Pessimists had decided that Barack Obama and Democratic control of all aspects of the government was just something that people needed to experience and that all that could be done was to grit their teeth and bear it. In excess of 90% of the people only noticed things that directly impacted their lives, such as the price of gasoline. The question was: "how will it play out?".

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Two bad candidates

The 2008 American presidential election had taken a strange turn. Both presumed candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain were looking progressively worse to their partisan supporters. Barack Obama was alienating his progressive base by shifting his positions towards the center. John McCain had previously alienated conservative Republicans by his shenanigans with campaign finance reform and other deals with the Democrats. By July 2008, McCain's campaign was perceived as being totally inept. What was a country to do with such choices?

Sunday, July 06, 2008

America seemed to be heading for big trouble

By July 4th, 2008, America seemed to have big problems. The price for a gallon of gas was heading higher. How soon would a gallon cost $10? A liberal from southwestern Michigan boldly asserted that when gas reached $10 a gallon that people would "riot in the streets". The Democrats were set on stopping all new oil drilling in coastal regions and Alaska. They seemed to be on the wrong side of the issue, but would they pay a political price? The Democratic plan seemed to be to nationalize the oil industry after Barack Obama was elected and to blame the oil companies for the oil and gasoline prices. By the Fourth of July, the price of gasoline had become the top issue, overtaking the issues that the Democrats were using to win the 2008 election. Again, they seemed to be on the losing side of the gas price.

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