Unfortunately for McCain this new change in direction by Obama will give him the money he will need to fight them. He’ll be able to blitz them in any media market they are in effectively drowning out the barrage of attacks with his own message. The smart thing he can do here is instead of drowning out their attacks with responses to attacks he should drown out their attacks with constant spots of him talking about the issues. This would put him in a positive light and show John McCain for the grasping at straws kitchen sink candidate he will become. Make no mistake about it the McCain camp was watching the Barack and Hillary show as Hillary threw the kitchen sink at Obama in the Democratic presidential nomination primaries. Their plan is highly likely to consist of more of the same because frankly they can’t come up with a better strategy of their own. Like talking about how much better McCain he is on the economy for example? Yeah, we laughed at that idea too.

Doing what they do best, a flip flopper feeding frenzy has begun as TV pundits and McCain himself scramble to be seen on-air calling Obama a flip flopper over this issue. But there’s a problem. You see in order to cast the first stone you must be without sin. McCain has flip flopped on a multitude of issues in his effort to endear himself with the far left conservative base he’ll need to stand a fighting chance in November. When asked about McCain’s most recent flip flop of his own on ANWR Alaska oil drilling McCain talking heads and surrogates are quick to define McCain’s flip flop as not a flip flop at all. But a smart decision based on the current energy crisis. He changed his mind based on the situation just like McCain changed his mind based on the current oil situation.

So when is a flip flop really a flip flop? Is it a flip flop when a candidate makes smart choices based on what he or she sees before them today and not what they said months ago? Is it a flip flop to make decisions based on solid information and rational thinking? I don’t know about you folks but I’d like to see a president in the White House who has the sensibility and the humility to acknowledge that they don’t know everything and make decisions based on facts, not ideology. The presidency is not a monarchy. The president works for we the people, and should he or she should feel free to change their position so long as it is truly in the best interests of the people and not be constrained by what they said on the campaign trail 2, 4, or 8 years ago.

All the Hillary supporters who had doubts about Obama’s toughness should be rejoicing. Many who wanted to see Hillary win the nomination wanted so because they knew she would be tough and do whatever she needed to do to win the presidency. This is Obama doing what he needs to do to win the election so that he can move this country forward after its backwards direction over the past 8 years. Conservative right neocons may not agree with me but It’s a good thing that McCain can see past their staunch horse blinders driven party line message and see that the vast majority of the American people don’t want 4 more years of Bush.

The spin, the rhetoric, the ideology, it’s all there. Looking at this election as an outsider one might even venture to assume that this presidential election season is no different than any other election in the recent past. One would be wrong. For starters the internet factor that played such a huge role in the 2000 and 2004 elections is an even greater factor today. No longer is mainstream and conservative media the dominating factor. People get their information from a variety of sources. Group think has become quite pervasive as internet activists find a virtual soapbox and megaphone to broadcast their views and recruit followers.

Make no mistake about it. This election, though not quite as divisive as the 2004 election, is definitely not about bringing the country together. It’s more about people voting against someone than voting for someone. A good deal of the former Hillary supporters really don’t want to vote for Barack Obama. And left with the only alternative being to vote for John McCain and 4 more years of Bush policies that will follow if he is elected they find the drive to vote against him even stronger. On the other hand, let’s not forget that John McCain wasn’t exactly the conservative right’s first pick for their presidential nominee. In fact the irony here is that the very qualities that John McCain possesses that give him even the very smallest of chances at winning the presidency are the very reasons most far right conservatives will cringe a little when they cast their vote for him but, more importantly, against Obama in November.

So the next time you are discussing politics don’t ask the obvious question of whom the other conversation participants are voting for, ask the more interesting question of whom they are voting against, and why.