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Originally posted by Greg:
All,

The whole world awaits the outcome of the American presidential election if only for the sheer novelty of there being a candidate of African descent. The so-called "rock star" status of Barack Obama in his bid for president of the most powerful country in the world cannot be denied, but there are other aspects of this unique historical moment that cause me a consternation of monumental proportions. Although inexperience in foreign policy has been cited as a crucial Obama weakness, it is not foreign policy that worries me...and regardless of whether a President Obama sucessfully ends the war in Iraq, it will in no way reduce my concern about near future events that will rapidly overtake our attention. The events of which I write have not been caused by Obama but have for some time been in motion, and are ready to burst forth upon an unperceptive, unprepared and rather complacent public. I speak of the American economy, and therefore the world economy.

For the last two quarters there has been a decline in America's gross domestic productivity(GDP). Officially, this is the definition of a recession. With the sharp rise in the price of crude oil, the cost of production of all goods and services has experienced a comensurate increase with no sign of any reversal. Unemployment rates from state to state are such that the national government has seen the need to grant extended benefits nationwide for an additional 12 weeks. In addition, the pump-priming tactic of the recent tax relief payments betray a certain panic on the part of the government as it regards the potentially disastrous results of record bankruptcy filings by banks, businesses and individuals. Foreclosures of homes and businesses are also rapidly approaching record levels without intermission. One does not have to be an economist to recognize the signs of these times.

Whether or not Obama is elected the above-mentioned economic pressures will cause a run on banks in this country, that is, persons and corporations removing their assets from banking institutions, especially if those institutions hold lots of short-term debt, which is being defaulted on in alarming numbers. If your money is in one of these institutions that declares bankruptcy, you may lose big time. Most, however, of the "movers and the shakers" in the economy will move quickly to protect their assets by alternatively investing in precious metals, leaving the general public to pay the bills of the risky debt they have taken on paper. I predict that if Obama wins, these same will overreact and stay out of the market altogether and be unwilling to risk their capital in an economy presided over by a black president, and therefore make matters much worse...

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Originally posted by Greg:
Duke,

President Obama is doing a wonderful job. He has the gift of knowing what ought to be said, how it should be said, and how he should proceed with the business of doing it. This causes great alarm in the ranks of his opponents as can readily be seen.

Perhaps you're right when you say we liberals will never learn in that we have a desire for fairness and truth in government, and somehow expect that everyone can and will identify with these values. What we are not learning, it seems, is that the republican leadership doesn't care whether or not what they say is the truth but they say what they know will please their members, their rank and file.

Even the rank and file, or most of them, know already that what is being diseminated are lies and half-truths but they fall in line with the party line for the grand purpose of bringing the legitimacy and authority of this president into question. If the great image of legitimacy and confirmed leadership given to Barack Obama by millions in America and around the world(remember the Chicago acceptance speech) was not challenged(the republicans reasoned), then he, Obama, would be able to do just about anything he wanted, hence all these bogus charges and claims intended to chip away overtime at the image of his presidency and thereby reduce it(and him) to a manageable quantity.

In so doing this, the republicans counted on seemingly unbiased elements of the news media who in the guise of fairness took up their false mantras in secret efforts to help along the overarching design. Thus the tirade by the representative from South Carolina was simply the icing on the cake in trying to bring Obama down in the eyes of the world. Imagine for a moment if there was a sitting judge, and the accused was able to make him shed his robes for bluejeans, make him sit in a regular chair instead of his elevated place in the courtroom, and take away the lighting effects above the bench, and then present him to the rest of the people in the court as not being qualified. This is basically what the republicans are attempting to do with Obama. Granted, even with all this, such an attempt would fail among fair and upright persons, but the republican base wants this sort of thing to occur with Obama so fairness and truth for them are expendable until they get their desire. Afterwards they will import the words 'fairness and truth' into their activities, just as hypocrits always do.

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Originally posted by Chijioke Obiefuna:
Greg, you still live on this block? Wow! You must be a tough kid. What happened to everybody?

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