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LETTER FRdM AMERICA

And John McCain is an honourable man!

Fakhruddin Ahmed
***Politics is a contact sport. If you are not hitting, you are getting hit. Obama supporters are worried that he is taking too many punches from McCain and is not punching back hard enough. Given the garbage McCain is heaping on Obama, it is doubtful that Mark Antony would have characterised McCain as an honourable man. That being the case, Obama should have no qualms taking off his gloves. Obama should remember that in America, nice guys finish last.***
AFTER Senator John McCain clinched the Republican primary victory in March, he received a congratulatory phone call from Senator Barack Obama. McCain thanked Obama and told him that he was determined to run the most civil and honourable presidential campaign. Something happened to the Straight Talk Express. It must have run into a mud ditch, because all McCain has been doing lately is throwing mud at Obama.
John McCain is either angry at Obama for his popularity or is
jealous of his stardom. McCain mocks everything Obama says, as though the only way to the White House is through ridiculing one's opponent. Mr. McCain dismisses the fact that respect is due to a US senator who is also the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.
George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in US history, at home and abroad. Yet, when candidate Obama was greeted by 200,000 adoring Germans in Berlin, McCain chastised him for his popularity. Wouldn't it be nice to have a US president the world admires? No, according to the honourable
man, John McCain.
America has the most inarticulate president in its history in George W. Bush. Late night comedian David Letterman has a segment, "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches," where he ridicules Bush's bumbling delivery with the famous speeches of Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedyand Ronald Reagan.
Yet, McCain derides Obama's gift of oratory as though it was a grievous fault, and grievously he must answer for it through McCain scorn. Wouldn't it be nice to have a US president who is articulate? No, according to the honourable man, John McCain!
This week, Obama unveiled his comprehensive plan for America's energy independence. When someone in the audience asked what he could do to help, Obama answered that he could keep his car tires inflated at the proper pressure. McCain jumped all over Obama for this suggestion, and began handing out pressure gauges to supporters and selling them on the Internet with the statement "Obama's Energy Plan" emblazoned on them!
This encapsulates McCain tactics. Whatever lofty vision Obama may articulate, the McCain campaign looks for the silliest angle. By the way, it is well known that motorists can save between 3 to 4% gas if their tires are properly inflated.
The Department of Transportation recommends it. Even the American Automobile Association (AAA) recommends it, and McCain supporters, the NASCAR drivers and fans, know it and follow the recommendation to the letter. McCain ferociously attacks Obama even when
Obama speaks helpful truths. And McCain is an honourable man.
The New York Times columnist Bob Herbert pointed out that in the Paris Hilton-Britney Spears ad that McCain aired last week to mock Obama's celebrity, there were subliminal sexual messages.
Stuck between the images of two promiscuous white women and a black man, Barack Obama, were three phallic symbols in the form of towers! This is to elicit the worst fear of the white males -- a black man attacking their women.
Since Barack Obama has never met Ms. Hilton or Ms. Spears, linking them together had to be with devious intent. One could have forgiven McCain if this ad was run by independent 527 groups, who ran the infamous Swiftboat ads against John Kerry in 2004. But this ad ends with: "I am John McCain and I approved this message!" Later, McCain said that he was proud of the ad! And John McCain is an honourable man.
Paris Hilton, socialite and hotel
heiress, got even with McCain by spoofing his ad with an ad of her own. Reclining on a sun lounger in a skimpy leopard-print swimsuit, the 27-year-old says: "Hey America, I'm Paris Hilton and I'm a celebrity too. Only I'm not from the olden days and I'm not promising change like the other guy. I'm just hot! But then that wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which means I'm running for president. So thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude, and I want America to know I'm, like, totally ready to lead.'
Referring to McCain, the ad says: "He's the oldest celebrity in the world. Like, super-old. Old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket. But is he ready to lead?"
Ms. Hilton then lays out an impressive plan to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, combining elements of the strategies outlined by Obama and McCain. "Energy crisis solved," Ms. Hilton declares. "I'll see you at the debates, bitches." She then goes off to pick a vice-president and promises to paint
the White House pink! Since McCain's aim is to reduce Obama to a juvenile, it touched a chord with a real juvenile, who took the honourable McCain to task!
Every McCain surrogate is on message berating Obama's "lack of experience." Their talking points insinuate that Obama is unpatriotic; has a funny (un-American) name, and a heritage that is not fully American; is not one of us; and by the way did you notice he is also black. (McCain's first ad declared: “McCain, the American president Americans have been waiting for!") They probably wish that they could just come out and say: vote for one of us, the white guy! And McCain is an honourable man.
The McCain campaign uses Obama's intellect against him. His demenour and tastes are too sophisticated; he is too smart for the working class guys, they say. For eight long years, America has languished under an incurious president average working class guys in 2000 said they would "love to have beer with." Isn't it time they elected a smart guy who
can tackle the nation's enormous problems and who is not a former alcoholic?
McCain, unfortunately, is not that smart guy. He got into the US Naval Academy not on merit but on legacy; his father was an admiral. McCain graduated near tht> bottom of the class and developed a disdain for the smart guys. Barack Obama did not even tell Harvard that he was black. And he went on to become the first black president of Harvard Law Review.
Politics is a contact sport. If you are not hitting, you are getting hit. Obama supporters are worried that he is taking too many punches from McCain and is not punching back hard enough Given the garbage McCain is heaping on Obama, it is doubtful that Mark Antony would have characterised McCain as an honourable man. That being the case, Obama should have no qualms taking off his gloves. Obama should remember that in America, nice guys finish last.
Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed is a Rhodes Scholar and a Daily Star columnist