Four days ago Barack Obama said that any of the presidential candidates:
him, Clinton or McCain, would be a much better president than
George W. Bush:
"You have a real choice in this election.
You know, either Democrat would be better than John McCain, but,
and all three of us would be better than George Bush.
What you have to ask yourself is who has the chance to actually really
change things in a fundamental way? So that 10 years from now or
20 years from now you can look back say,
'Boy, we really moved in a new direction and we've put the country
on a better path.'"
Shortly after that, Hillary Clinton criticized Obama,
that McCain would not be a better president:
"Sen. Obama said today that John McCain would be better for the
country than George Bush. Now Sen. McCain is a real American
patriot who has served our country with distinction.
Sen. McCain would follow the same fatal policies that have been
so wrong for our country the last seven years. Sen. McCain
thinks its OK to keep our troops in Iraq for the next 100 years.
Is that better than George Bush? Sen. McCain will continue
the failed economic policies of George Bush that have brought
us deficit and increasing debt. Is that better than George Bush?
Sen. McCain does not have a health care plan that will cover
every American. In fact, we will have more and more
uninsured Americans. Is that better than George Bush?
Sen. McCain has no plans to end the housing foreclosure crisis
or cut the cost of gas at the pump. Is that better than George Bush?
We need a nominee who will take on John McCain, not cheer on
John McCain, and I will be that nominee,"
Now, the sad thing is that Obama gave in to Clinton after her attack.
He changed his mind, or at least retracted what he said earlier.
Why do I think this is sad? Because, I agree with Obama's
original statement. McCain would be a better president
than George W. Bush. I have listened to McCain on a few
occasions on the radio and he seems to actually consider opinions different than his
own, not just dismiss them using some irrelevant arguments or hearsay.
You can see a bit of John McCain in Eugune Jarecki's "Why We Fight"
documentary which is posted on YouTube.