Last of Our Kind

Alaska’s largest newspaper, The Anchorage Daily News, just endorsed Senator Barrack Obama for President. Not only did the newspaper say Barack Obama is the better choice, but it actually said Sarah Palin was “too risky” to be VP, and therefore one heartbeat away from the Presidency.

I know Barack Obama will not win the state of Alaska and its 3 electoral votes. However, to the Republican Party this has to come as a shock and definitely has to be seen as a slap in the face to Sarah Palin. Not to mention this is yet another blow to an already shaky (and some would say finished) campaign.

We are in the final week of this election and the candidates can not afford any negative press, or any mistakes. And yet here John McCain has ANOTHER one.

It seems like from day one (at least day one from picking Governor Palin) he can not get a break. Now, as a supporter of Obama I think this is good news, but it almost makes me feel sorry for the guy. He truly loves this country, I don’t doubt that, but his party is so far to the right that he never could run the campaign or make the decisions that he actually wanted to. The Daily News clearly chose not to endorse McCain because of his VP choice, a choice that many think (especially as the two running mates begin to tear each other down) was not his first pick.

Conventional wisdom says John McCain really wanted to pick Joe Lieberman as his VP. That choice would have shaken things up for the Republicans. The problem is that they as a party are so conservative that McCain would have been skewered had he had made such a controversial decision and asked a “liberal” to join him.

I also believe that John McCain could (and should) have picked Mitt Romney as his VP. Looking at how horribly McCain handled the economic mess we are in, Romney certainly would have helped. However, he is a Mormon, and would that have really appeased the Christian Right? I don’t think so. Had they been able to accept his religion would they get over the fact that he once supported abortion and that he is from the “Elitist Territory,” Massachusetts? This man says no.

So how does this fit in with the endorsement for Barack Obama? As I said before I think it’s great for the Democratic Party, and great for the nation that a progressive man with good ideas will finally be able to lead. It is important however, to say that we are also at a moment of great division. If we don’t learn to come together and support our new President, we are doomed to fail as a nation. We will be destined to take huge steps back in everything that we have fought for. And that is what we must realize going forward.

We have come to a place now, where our division is no longer helpful. It does not allow for discussion and debate, but only gridlock and fighting. We have to stop arguing about the legality of abortion and focus on prevention, education, and the safety of Women. We have to stop arguing about Gay marriage and focus on equal rights for everyone (which is what this nation truly stands for).

America, it is time we turn the page past partisanship. We have to, or else we will never move forward again.