That’s Elbert With An E

In all the discussion regarding McCain’s choice for Vice President, the names Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin come up again and again. Bobby Jindal is the current governor of Louisiana. Sarah Palin is the current governor of Alaska. Both got into office promising real reform and real change for their respective states. Both governors are conservatives. Both would be an asset to McCain, who could use all the help he can get. While it would be very cool to have either one in that position, I think it would be very bad for them.

Personally, I think both Jindal and Palin need time to make the needed changes in their own states. They need to build their resumes. It would even be good if they would encourage other like-minded candidates in other states. While the nation as a whole needs their kind in high office, we would be better served by them at a later date.

So for Vice President, I will say no to Jindal and Palin… for now (actually, doesn’t Jindal/Palin or Palin/Jindal look like a good ticket?).

On a side note, Jindal is facing some trouble with change in his own state. During his campaign, Jindal promised to veto pay increases for legislators. Now it looks like he will sign a bill allowing those raises. In this post at Hot Air, it appears that the taxpayers are revolting. So Jindal is facing the difficult choice of angering the taxpayers that voted him in or angering the legislators that will help him get his reforms through. It is one of the tests of leadership. Hopefully he will do well.

Recently publisher Steven Strang wrote about a meeting with Barack Obama he and many other Christian leaders attended by invitation. Strang expresses that he was not comfortable with the meeting but curiosity drove him to attend. The “off the record” meeting included 43 leaders covering the spectrum of theological and political backgrounds. Prominent minister T.D. Jakes noted that in this AP article. Strang says that Obama took the time to meet with each one and shake their hand. Strang said that he was “warm and personable — obviously one of the reasons why people like him.”

The questions were mostly “softball” questions in my opinion. I was concerned after three or four general questions that we wouldn’t ask the most important questions. So I raised my hand and he called on me. I said, “Senator, I want to ask a question I’m sure you are expecting regarding your position on abortion. I represent a segment of the church where nearly everyone considers the issue of supporting life to be the most important issue and where nearly everyone would be opposed to abortion. I want to ask what your stand on abortion is and if you believe what I think you believe, how you justify that with your Christian faith and why you think we should vote for you.”

Since his response was “off-the-record,” I can say that the time he took to answer was probably 15 minutes. He came across as thoughtful and much more of a “centrist” than what I would have expected. He did not appear to be the crazy leftist that is being supported by George Soros and his radical leftist friends. Sen. Obama looked me in the eye as he answered my question, almost as if it were a one-on-one interview. I had already read the chapter on “faith” in his book the “Audacity of Hope.” If you want to know how he answered the question, read that chapter. In other words, other than his demeanor and obvious attempt to win over the Christian leaders in the room, he didn’t say anything new.

If Obama seems to have an attachment to a teleprompter then his answer to the abortion question isn’t really much of a surprise. Then again, it could speak to consistency in his beliefs. I’m more suspicious myself.

It’s certainly something worth watching. Obama wishes to at least include more conservative Christians in his outreach to the church in general. McCain seems to desire to push conservative Christians aside when it’s not convenient anymore. As Strang notes in another post:

When McCain wanted and needed to win both the Texas and Ohio primaries, he was happy to get these endorsements from Hagee in Texas and Parsley in Ohio. But then when Barack Obama’s radical former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright became a controversial figure in the election, some liberals looked for controversial clergymen who backed McCain to use to blast him. They latched on to Hagee and Parsley.

Either way, if I were McCain I would be making sure that I got the Evangelical vote come November, unless he just assumes that we’ll vote for him because of our fear of the damage someone as left-leaning as Obama will inflict upon this country. Personally I wouldn’t bank on that. It’s more likely that they will stay home which to me is crazy. McCain isn’t going to make me stay home. He’s not that important. There are local issues much greater than McCain, like making sure the the Democrats don’t get more control over this state, and those will drive me to the ballot box.

Steven Strang’s blog entries are here and here.

To some friends I made this prediction about this upcoming election, and it’s worth saying here. I believe that our next president will be Jimmy Carter’s second term. For me this means whoever takes the reigns, even if it’s a minor party candidate, will royally screw up this country, guaranteeing a new president in 2012. Why is this? I look over each of the major party candidates and see many policies that are not universally popular and potentially hurtful to our economy. In addition, the two major candidates are very weak on immigration. The only candidate that is even interested in our war on terror is McCain, which might be his only strength. It would be more likely that under anyone else’s policies we would have another terrorist attack on our own soil because most act as though there is no need to fight terrorism.

I think more than likely we will be worse off in four years than we are now. One can only hope that there is a Reagan-like person somewhere out there to fix America much like in the 1980’s.

Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination. Now it is official, McCain vs. Obama. Elder Statesman vs. Political Phenom. Personally, I think McCain will win in November because he has a few hundred more elections under his belt. What I really think is that the most important leader in the world will be decided on sound bites and nonsense. Sometimes, listening to the “analysis” on some of the news networks sounds more like Entertainment Tonight. Who had the better speech, who looks more presidential. Are we picking a prom queen or a president?

Here’s what I want to know:
Are you going to defend me and my freedom at any cost?
How will you honor the Constitution and what does that mean to you?
Where do you stand on the key issues?
Can I trust you with my country?

I don’t care about what you look like, sound like, or whether you always say the right things in your speeches. I know there is a science to this stuff, but I wonder if given the opportunity, would we have the wisdom to elect George Washington, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson today? Would we have the courage to elect Abraham Lincoln and stand behind him when the right thing proved so costly in today’s political atmosphere?

This is a cross-post by theconservativegeek

There are a number of issues that the new president is going to meet after they take the oath next January. The new President has to deal with economic issues. The President will need to make decisions regarding health care. The President will need to decide how they will deal with Iraq and the war on terror. We have got three speech-makers that are contending for the top job, and so America gets to see if they’ve got the fortitude to handle the leadership for which they have been chosen. Regardless of America’s choices, I believe we are looking at the new President being a one term President.

I think the Long War, the war on terror, will be a stumbling block for all three. The democrats say they will pull our military out of Iraq immediately. Once they get into office and reality hits them, they will disappoint their base by leaving those troops in there. Actually, their base will develop another strain of Bush Derangement Syndrome and rage against their own candidate. McCain will probably stay in the and get the job done. Where McCain will stumble along with the democrats is our border security. Truth be told, none of them care about it. And yes, border security is part of the war.

The economic difficulties we face didn’t come overnight and won’t be corrected overnight. Difficulties with our fuel supply will mostly be corrected by the market. What would make an improvement is relieving the burden of ethanol on the gas supply. It has proven to hurt our food supply, doesn’t reduce “greenhouse gases”, and takes more energy to make than refined gasoline. Second, reduce or remove the gas tax. Third, open up ANWR and other areas to drilling. Unfortunately none of the candidates will do anything but offer some government program or more regulation or something other than getting government out of the way.

Health care, well what do I say? All the democrats have to offer are the same failed programs from Canada and the UK. McCain could and ought to do something about it other than just putting off socialized medicine, but he won’t.

I think that Americans will be just as unhappy with their leaders four years from now as they are now. The President’s approvals will be low. Congress will remain right where it is now, low. The only thing that might reduce the misery will be a revolution in 2010 like there was in 1994. More than likely there will be primaries in both parties in 2012. If the sitting President isn’t taken out in the primary, he or she will go down in the general election.

Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain (RINO - AZ) proposes a holiday on gas taxes:

“I propose that the federal government suspend all taxes on gasoline now paid by the American people — from Memorial Day to Labor Day of this year. The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus — taking a few dollars off the price of a tank of gas every time a family, a farmer, or trucker stops to fill up. Over the same period, our government should suspend the purchase of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has also contributed to the rising price of oil. This measure, combined with the summer-long “gas-tax holiday,” will bring a timely reduction in the price of gasoline. And because the cost of gas affects the price of food, packaging, and just about everything else, these immediate steps will help to spread relief across the American economy.” (story here)

If this is something they want to try, then getting the states to jump on board would make this “holiday” have the greatest impact. It won’t happen in Delaware because the budget can’t handle it this year. Maryland won’t do it either. If there was a state that would take the “holiday”, more than likely they would draw many drivers in from neighboring states, giving a boost to that state’s economy. We live 7-8 miles from Maryland. If gas was 20-some cents cheaper than Delaware, it might pay to drive down there just for gas.

I talked about pausing the tax here.

To title this post “around the horn” just sounds so much like… everybody else, so why not tell you what kind of horn?

Delaware Liberal waxes juvenile with Top “Mike Castle and John McCain are so old…” Jokes (To Date).

Howard at Delmar Dustpan has a post about Joshua Hopkins Marvil, former governor of Delaware who passed away on April 8, 1895, one of several governors from Laurel.

Michael at Monoblogue is being stalked by another local blogger but he seems to be handling it well. Oh, and if you are reading this Michael, I will respond to this post as soon as possible. I’m still thinking.

Jeff The Baptist has found out you can get real classic Coke in the US. I haven’t had the chance to look yet, but I will!

Hube points out a publicly-funded religious school in Minnesota, and oh yeah, it’s not a Christian school either.

Brian at PonderMints has just been having a crappy week month. Between his health and driving problems, he has been stressed. Let’s offer up a prayer for him. He could use some relief.

Mike Mahaffie found an odd word in Outlook’s dictionary.

Uh… that’s all I’ve got.