I'm not an ideologue. I have no dog in this presidential race. I can honestly claim to respect equally both candidates and their respective running mates. And I feel who ever wins will do the best he can to his ability to ensure the safety and prosperity of our nation.
Mr Obama and I were on the same page regarding Iraq. I, too, believed it was a mistake and that we should have concentrated our efforts in Afghanistan. I believe Mr Obama is a good man with integrity as demonstrated by his remonstrances about leaving families and especially children alone regarding the attacks on Palin and her daughter.
AND, credit must be given a person who came out of nowhere and annihilated the Clinton machine.
However, despite this man's good judgement on Iraq and his undeniable good character, I feel his poor judgement with whom he associates, his fanatical left wing supporters and the obvious preferential treatment he has been accorded by interviewers and the press could loose Mr Obama the election:
Comedians like David Letterman and Bill Maher were so desperate to defend Obama from the new kid in town, Mrs Palin, they made extremely distasteful jokes about Mrs Palin's 17 year old daughter.
The press was so transparent in its preference for Mr Obama over Mrs Clinton even Saturday Night Live noticed. The press eviscerated Hillary. And, Democrat politicians abandoned Hillary leaving her to dangle in the wind.
MSNBC openly campaigned for Mr Obama and is tanking in the ratings. NBC's corruption has ended up in the dismissal of its anchors while persons like Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Penn.), an outspoken Hillary Clinton supporter, said "... during this entire campaign coverage starting in Iowa and up to the present, Fox News has done the fairest job, has remained the most objective of all the cable networks..." Because of liberal media bias, Americans not only distrust TV news, they distrust the press so much that even the liberal leaning New York Times' shares have fallen 20 per cent this year.
Mr Obama's attendance at the Daily Kos Convention was ill advised - The Daily Kos is the most hateful internet site on the web. Mr Obama's support from moveon.org ("don't betray us Petraeus") didn't help Mr Obama or any other Democrat, either.
Hollywood stars have hurt, not helped Mr Obama. For example, Madonna who put a picture of Mr McCain next to Hitler and Mr Obama's next to Ghandi on a large screen at her concert is typical of how mean spirited Mr Obama's Hollywood supporters can be and to what lengths they will go (I don't think Elton John helped Mrs Clinton's chances by calling all Americans "misogynists", either).
Some of the violent protesters at the Republican National Convention were carrying Molotov cocktails - one was quoted as stating ".. its worth it if an officer gets burned or maimed." He is a member of an ad hoc anarchist group that calls itself the RNC Welcoming Committee (RNCWC). Their demonstrations in St. Paul were smaller than those in Seattle in 1999 or in New York at the 2004 RNC, however. In fact, the NYPD arrested more than 1,800 protesters in connection with that event, compared to just over 800 arrests in St. Paul this year. Obama never decried this group of anarchists and their nation wide training camps. Maybe he didn't know who they are, which begs the question why not?
Mr Obama's erstwhile pastor, the Reverend Wright, said the government invented AIDs to kill blacks. Even though he was hurting Mr Obama, he loved the limelight so much he kept up his unsympathetic vitriol till Obama had no choice but to part company he'd held for 20 years from the man who married him and Michelle Obama and baptised their children. Oprah Winfrey judiciously left Trinity Church in 1986 because of the tone of Wright's more incendiary sermons, which she knew had the power to damage her standing as America's favourite daytime talk-show host. How Mr Obama who says he attended Trinity twice a month missed those particular sermons over 20 years (the sermons are available on CD in the church lobby) is difficult to understand.
Mr Obama's working alongside a man like William Ayers who participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972 was naive at worst, but doesn't help. Ayers still remains unrepentant.
Mr Obama' dealings with Tony Rezko, political fundraiser and real estate developer in Chicago, who has been convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery in 2008 is another one of Mr Obama's regrets. Rezko helped Mr Obama extend his Chicago property which is now worth about $2 million.
I believe Obama is an honourable man with some dishonourable associates and supporters who could ruin his chances of being the first black president of the United States. May the best man win.