Rhetoric vs Resume

Every four years, the American people hire someone for the most important job in the world: President of the United States. As election day approaches the media is filled with messages. The candidates work hard to define (and redefine) themselves. Barack Obama has used his great rhetorical skill to define himself as a moderate politician who can work across party lines to get things done.

In some ways I am very happy to see Barack Obama doing so well in his run for President. It’s encouraging to see a black man receive such broad support. It’s also encouraging to see our nation respond to his call for unity and bi-partisan cooperation.

I really wanted to be able to vote for the first black person to make a serious run for President. (I had hoped that Condi Rice would run.) After taking a serious look at Obama, I have reached the conclusion that there is no way I can vote for the man. In a nutshell, here’s why:

Much more important than a candidate’s rhetoric is their record – which is, effectively their resume. My problem with Senator Obama is that his resume not only reveals that he is grossly unqualified for the job – it is almost totally at odds with his rhetoric.

It is almost as if he has showed up for the interview claiming to have lots of skills and experience that simply are not supported by the facts on his resume!

In this blog, I am going to take a good long look at Senator Obama’s record and qualifications. Some of the questions I intend to explore are:

Does Obama’s record really show that he is a bi-partisan consensus builder?

Is he a moderate, or a hard left extremist?

What is Senator Obama’s view of the constitution?

Does he have sufficient executive leadership experience to prepare him to lead our nation – and the huge organization known as the executive branch?

I hope that you will take time to read these entries as they are posted – no matter where you stand politically, I think you will find them to be a huge help as you prepare to cast your ballot.