Posted by
Ron Maestri on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:26:01 AM
Remember the cola wars, when Coke was clearly the favorite, best selling cola over Pepsi? But then something very strange happened. Coca-Cola got too big for their britches, or, put another way, their egos got the best of them, and they decided to change their formula. A huge disaster, it became Pepsi's best case scenerio. This, along with their brilliant ad campaign "The Pepsi Challenge", became the catalyst for Pepsi to take over as the favorite, best selling soft drink in the world, surpassing Coke. They described it later as the day "Coke Blinked."
I feel the exact same way about Barack Obama. All criticism aside, this guy is to be commended for being such a renegade. With all odds against him, he rose to the top becoming Coca-Cola to John McCain's Pepsi. Martin Luther King would be proud. But then Obama let his ego get the best of him, which he proved with his choice of VP in Senator Joe Biden. Don't get me wrong. An attack dog and a leader with strong foreign policy credentials is mandatory. I DON'T TRUST IRAN. However, to presume his own strengths could warrant bipassing the most obvious choice for VP, Hillary Clinton, speaks a lot more to Mr. Obama's character than his choice instead of Joe Biden.
It has been reported that his wife Michelle played a huge role in the selection of Mr. Biden with her husband while on vacation in Hawaii recently. BINGO. This tells me who wears the pants in that family. Women always seem to have more problems with other women and there was never a doubt in my mind Michelle did not like Hillary Clinton. Period. Is this who we want for president, someone who let's his wife get the best of him on such an important issue as Vice-President of the United States? Of course not. Certainly I'm not suggesting she should be seen and not heard, but this one came from her, not him, and therein lies the problem.
There is absolutely no argument that Hillary Clinton would not have been better. She would've assured 18,000,000 voters (including her own home states of New York and Arkansas) with no need for placating angry voters who still feel slighted by the whole primary process, and the ticket would've sailed through this election far surpassing any Republican candidacy, a fact which I'm convinced would have been clearly demonstrated in the polls with a much greater margin over what we're seeing right now. The writing is on the walls and in the polls. Results from Mrs. Obama's speech last bnight are mixed. People can see right through her, no matter what color dress she's wearing or how big her pearls are.
Why didn't Barack just bite the bullet and go with Hillary? He obviously doesn't like her, because even though he told us she was on his short list, she clearly wasn't. JFK didn't like Lyndon Johnson either, but we all know how that turned out. I'd be very surprised if his own daughter Caroline wasn't also pushing for Hillary for the exact same reason.
I was a registered Republican, recently switching to Independent. So my leanings were always more toward John McCain than Barack Obama. But when Hillary Clinton showed her strength by going for the gold and fighting 'til the very end, I loved her for it. I was sold. Had Barack Obama chosen Hillary Clinton as VP, I'd have voted for them, no questions asked. I like John McCain, but this ticket would have been the deal closer for me. Now, not so.
Without question, I'm for John McCain. I need a leader, not Michelle Obama's husband. Iran and North Korea won't be pretty in the coming years and I don't want a whimp or bad decision maker who takes his own ego into consideration first, over what is best for the American people.
I guess history just repeated itself, and "Coke Blinked".
Ron Maestri