Barack Obama Steals Hearts

Since Mitt Romney graciously stepped away from the 2008 political fray, I'm a political hack without a candidate. My fall-back conservatives (Thompson and Giuliani) are gone, and I just can't stand my fellow military veteran, John McCain. For one thing, he's exceptionally weak on the War on Terror; however, my biggest complaint is less definitive. The guy gives me the willies. When I watch him speak, I just don't see any presidential strength. He looks like he'd bolt in terror at the first opportunity. Sorry, John.

Interestingly, two women I admire very much have jumped on the Barack Obama band-wagon. I'd like to (mostly) gloss over Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's endorsement as something that's been covered ad nauseum. Caroline's a scant 9 months my elder, and I've ALWAYS admired her poise and understated drive to be a good woman. So we'll leave it at that. But there's another woman in our same general age group who wrote a ringing testimonial for Obama on a website where I administrate--Jan Keyser. I'd like to share her observations, interlaced with some of my own. Jan actually was able to personally attend an Obama rally on January 30th, way down in her neck of the woods (Phoenix, Arizona.) Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg was featured there, too. Jan walked away with an excitement over this relative newcomer with aspirations toward the White House and gave me permission to share her words here.

First off, I'd like to take a step back and tell you a bit about Jan. Both of us share a military background, dating back to the mid 1970's. Our assignment dates differ by a decade, but we both enjoyed a tour at the small NATO base, San Vito dei Normanni Air Station, which was located in southern Italy, near the port city of Brindisi in the province of Puglia. Our mutual website, San Vito Amato, joins all the various service members, Italian workers, family members, and civilians who worked on that all but defunct little base. Jan was one of the first women working in the Signals Intelligence career field, and as it happens, we both were assigned to Baker Flight. I've always admired Jan's writings, beautiful photos, and her passion for the opportunities we had living in a foreign country. I'm absolutely envious of her achievements in sports. While I was mostly an observer, she attended a myriad of ball games and played well for many of the womens teams. Our site membership benefited from the many images and memories she captured on the sport fields, immortalizing youthful memories and achievements. In a nutshell, I value her opinion.

Normally, I wouldn't even look at the Democratic Party in a presidential election. Unusual circumstances require innovative thinking, I guess. I'm not the only person getting antsy over the narrowing field of candidates. As a conservative, I'm absolutely dismayed over what's emerged for my choices. So let's take a deeper look at this Barack Obama fellow, through the eyes of my friend, Jan Keyser. I'll treat this as an interview, interjecting some questions to break things up.

KH: Jan, tell our readers a bit about your experiences at the rally in Phoenix about 2 weeks ago.

JK: "I finally had an opportunity to see Senator Obama at a rally on Wednesday along with the governor, Janet Napolitano, and last but not least; Caroline Kennedy here in Phoenix, Arizona. Have any of you out there been to one of these things? Boy, what a production! Whew! It kind of reminded me of a rock concert. One Big Waiting Game. I arrived about 2 hours early and waited in line and talked to some nice people. One of the Obama workers/volunteers; (who looked to be not a day over 25!), told me that my camera would probably not be allowed inside. I told him that I had called the Secret Service the day before and asked them myself. They had told me "that as long as it is a camera, you can bring it." I think it put the guy off a bit, but I got in ok. In fact, the security was quite lax. No one searched anybody! I guess when the "one" candidate actually becomes the President, the real security comes to play. But I was pretty shocked to see the stuff people took into the building!"

KH: I'm surprised by this, especially after when happened to Bobby Kennedy back in 1968. We'll have to hope Barack Obama stays safe during these primaries! I don't care what your political beliefs are, I expect candidates to be able to run for election without threat to their person. Anyhow, did you get a sense of his personality?

JK: "My observations of Obama were that he comes across very inspiring and very down-to-earth; even with some 13,000 people surrounding him. His staff are not entirely all young but I was struck with the youth there out in force for him. He has a pretty good sense of humor too, when he kidded about the Cheney connection. I laughed when he said "Why couldn't I have been related to Caroline or Willie Mays!?" I believe he spoke for just over a half an hour and finished off at around 6:40pm. On the way out I happened to be walking to meet my husband Ed as they passed in touring buses on their way to Los Angeles. Inside you could see the tiny televisions on (with no doubt) CNN and the rest of the cable networks. But then again, maybe that is the last thing they want to see..... The one thing that I felt extremely disappointed in was the flash unit on my camera."

KH: What was the deal with your camera?

JK: "The batteries were "dead on arrival" and failed to work. So much for my shots! Big Darn It! I took some but I doubt they will come out. I guess in my excitement about getting to my destination, I forgot to check before I left the house. My husband Ed said, "just enjoy the moment". You know, he was right. It was an experience I will have locked away in my memory for a long time. (Just like the ones I have of Italy and many other places!)"

KH: Well, I guess we'll just have to find some public photos for this story. At least I have some of you, so people get a look at their reporter for this event. Do you have any other comments to share with us?

JK: "In closing, as an Independent, I have been trying to decide who I like. Senator Obama is a strong candidate who will give Hillary some competition in the days to come. There are at least 10 months left until the election and alot can happen between then. I will say that I like Obama better than Hillary. Time will tell and that is the final say; I suppose."

I definitely agree with Jan on her closing comments!

Here in Michigan, Barack Obama (and John Edwards) removed their names from the ballot, since Michigan had accelerated their primaries in order to have more "influence" in the primary process. Neither candidate made any effort, and didn't even apply as write-ins. For Democrats in Michigan, it was Hillary or some of the more obscure choices. There was speculation that many of them (Democrats) jumped over to cast votes for McCain, in order to waylay our "hometown boy" Mitt Romney. A scant month later, the field seems to have cleared for John McCain on the Republican side. The only question is who will he select for his vice? My husband maintains that if Huckabee can hold in there, we may end up with a brokered convention. (Huckabee did not fare well last night, though. McCain may be a done deal. DANG IT!!)

The Democrats, on the other hand, still have the Clinton and Obama split, with the latter gaining momentum. Early on, I received a ton of stuff via email that was "dissing" Barack Obama. Most prevalent is the criticism of his middle name. Well, I'm not going to blame him for that! First off, he had no choice in his own naming and secondly, the mention of the name "Hussein" did not mean then what it does today. At least he is not a coward. He never tried to change it. Another criticism focused on the fact that his dad was Kenyan and he attended school in Indonesia. Once again, we're hammering things where he had no control. Might he have a stronger global perspective or world view? He went on to Colombia University and Harvard--two demanding centers of higher education. I wonder if you stacked his college papers against Hillary Clinton's, who would come out on top? Who's engineering the critiques, anyhow?

My husband maintains that Rodham-Clinton would be easier to beat, at least right now. She has a (voting) record and everyone can check on it. Obama doesn't. Warren just called out, "Like Jimmy Carter. Elected by people not wanting (Gerald) Ford."

I'd like to thank my dear friend Jan for consenting to having her comments included for my article. She certainly seemed to capture the spirit of the event. Check out my links for some further information on Barack Obama and the specifics on a brokered convention. Rest assured, I have no idea for whom I'm voting in November. It's the first time since 1976 I've even considered jumping off the conservative band-wagon. My biggest reservations with Barack Obama center around his positioning related to The War on Terror. But so far, I'm impressed with how he's fared battling the Clintons.

Please try to keep any comments upbeat and fact-based. I don't mind criticism, but I'm hesitant to write political columns because of the negative feelings and words in political discussions. I hope we can all agree that everyone in the field has strengths and weaknesses, and we all need to study up on the various contenders.