After Sunday’s talk shows (10-26), listening to Obama’s infomercial, and what all he and McCain have said through the 29th, my colleagues and I had discussions on what this campaign should mean to the American voter. Unless catastrophe strikes, we feel that not only will Obama win, but he should do so mightily. Of course, "it ain’t over until it is over", to quote the ‘famous’ Yogi Berra of New York Yankees fame. So this means that every American HAS to come out and either vote early by now, or vote on November 4. Nothing certainly can be taken for granted! For Obama to win would be quite an achievement in and of itself, but to do so with, let’s say, over 295 electoral votes would be a mandate, boldly declaring that the American public is mad as hell and will not stand for another four years of what it has had to endure for the last eight — akin to that famous line bellowed out by actor Peter Finch in the 1976 movie, "Network", lamenting over loss of jobs, the environment, a failed economy and . . . banks going bust. Sound strangely familiar today even if said 32 years ago?

With the anticipation that both chambers of Congress will become even more Democratic than presently, if Obama is elected, then for the first time in well over 20 years will there be one party in control of the Congress and the White House. Perhaps then will Congress be able enact real reforms for America, starting with energy, health care and education – - – what Obama has declared to be his three top priorities on the stump. We are tired of partisan politics, bickering and stonewalling across party aisles that have given Americans nothing but ‘zilch’.

How would an Obama victory be a McCain legacy, you might now ask – - – as reflected in the title of this post? Obama and his staff have not deviated from their message or approach to succeeding in this campaign since starting out on the state house steps in Springfield, Illinois 21 months. His campaign has been an incredibly well-oiled machine, as if he were the CEO of America’s best run and most successful private enterprise. I have seen a bit of this, by being a poll observer in the primaries and now being called upon to do the same on November 4.

McCain’s campaign, however, has been a meandering river with many twists and turns and never staying on course, nee message. McCain isn’t the maverick he claims to be; he has been led by his Republican campaign handlers and morphed into something he is not. For example, during a campaign stop when a woman approached McCain and said Obama must be a Muslim/Arab due to his middle name being, "Hussein", he (McCain) swiftly grabbed the microphone from this person and said Obama is a very decent and honorable person. If only we saw more of this type John McCain perhaps his poll numbers would be higher going into next Tuesday’s election. But, he has exercised poor judgment many times over, with his pick of Palin topping the list. Enough has been said about her in the media to last a lifetime, so this post will not "dump" on her any further. But I suspect she was never his top pick; perhaps it was someone else who he was told he could not select lest he offend his base. McCain also said he suspended his campaign for the bailout mess in D.C., but he didn’t; he wants to maintain the private sector without government infusion, yet he votes for $700 billion in relief for the banks; and declares in a published article in Contingencies, a publication of the American Actuary Assoc., that health care can be fixed just like the banking system has done for the financial markets over the last ten years. He wants deregulation but wants government handouts. He speaks of Obama’s association with a domestic terrorist – - – of 40 years ago when Obama was eight years old! Enough is enough! And, though spouses have an important role to play, what is this about his wife being a couple of paces away from him every time he speaks—all the while still being in the same media photo that contains her husband – - – are we electing two McCains?

Other lessons to be learned from this campaign is that to succeed, don’t be dishonest, deceitful, tell half-truths or create and forge misstatements. While media folks are loathe to say the "L" word, we don’t want candidates to lie either. We have seen enough of that, though I suppose the game of politics is just that, a game but without clearly defined rules and regulations. Our group noticed much more of the "L" word coming out of the McCain folks than from the Obama’s forces. Most clear was when Palin said she was vindicated of any charges of unethical behavior in the "Troopergate" affair, yet the official state report said she clearly violated state ethics laws. Or that McCain telling Tom Brokaw on "Meet the Press" recently (10-26) that we should look to the government for relief, yet allowed his running mate to preach that Obama is some sort of socialist. How crass. Is this what our children will learn from elected officials: it is ok to lie and deceive so long as one does not get caught doing it, or, perhaps it is that it really does not matter what is said because persons for whom a message is intended don’t know any better? We think most certainly not! What Americans want is to be told the truth, i.e., told what the facts are as they exist in reality; we also want communications based on trustworthiness and integrity without deceit and deception embedded within them. After all, don’t politicians know that without credibility they become as bad as U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska.), recently convicted on all seven fraud counts for lying on official government disclosure forms about $250,000 he received but did not report?

In the end, Obama is right for the times, and the times certainly demand what he has to offer. Concomitantly, though, he most certainly practices the adage, "to thine own self be true" much more so than his opponent, when asking us to allow him to take the reigns in leading America out of the doldrums and malaise in which it currently finds itself.

end.