Enough of the Same Old Tricks!!!

Plagiarism - the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.”

--Eleanor Roosevelt--
“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.”

--Nikita Khrushchev--

Here we go again. Once again the Clintons have attacked Barack Obama with nonsense. Earlier in the presidential primary race, when Hillary Clinton was the inevitable nominee, the Clinton Campaign attacked Obama by pointing out that he wrote a paper in grade school (I think he was in either kindergarten or first grade) where he proclaimed he wanted to be the President of the United States. Now the Clinton Campaign is trying to say that Barack Obama has committed plagiarism because he used a similar answer that the Governor of Massachusetts did to the same charge of being only about words instead of actions. It is the same old game. Attack politics. Win at all costs.

I do not blame the Clinton Campaign for being frustrated. I do not blame the Clinton Campaign for being anxious. I do not blame the Clinton Campaign for feeling as if they have been blindsided by the phenomena that is Barack Obama. I do, however, blame the Clinton Campaign in how they have dealt with those feelings.

First Hillary tried to counter Barack Obama’s appeal with a claim of greater experience. Hillary Clinton claims to be the candidate that is “ready to be President on the First day.” She claims to have the most experience although she has only seven years of elected experience, whereas Obama has about twelve years. That is okay, because that is just a politician giving their spin. But, there is a point when spin stops and nasty, destructive, petty political tricks begin that are not designed to advance our society’s understanding of issues that are important. They are instead designed for one purpose and that is to get a politician elected. We in this country have been down that road before and I hate to say it but we will find ourselves down that road again. I, like a lot of Americans, would like a vacation from the trampled road of cynical, bickering, partisan politics that is good for dividing the country and bad at helping the country.

The reality is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama do not have much experience in public office and neither has any executive experience. As a matter of fact, none of the likely nominees for either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party have executive experience so this election is not about experience. It is about where the candidate stands on the issues. Yet, Clinton and Obama have way more in common on the issues than they differ on the issues, therefore the Democratic Party nomination process is not as much about issues as opposed to daring to do something different. That is a huge advantage for Barack Obama and that is the reason for the silly little attacks by the Clintons. That is also one of the reasons I can not and do not support the Clintons.

The American people are tired of the same old political tricks where a few politicians get the majority of the country stirred up and angry at each other while they go about amassing fame, fortune, and power. Each and every politician is elected to do the business of the American people regardless of whether the person is a member of the United States Congress, a state assembly, a city Council, or the President of the United States. The politics of division do not bear the fruit of results to the rest of “us” folks that are not elected. That must change. That is why Barack Obama has been so well received.

In order to achieve great things you must first dream, then conceive, and finally believe that great things are possible. Challenging America to raise the level of debate from petty bickering, name calling, and divisiveness to an honest pursuit of solutions for America from differing points of view is not being naïve it is being a risk taker. Anytime a person, especially a public person, takes a step out onto a new road, he or she needs courage more than they need a map.

Change is not politics, it is policy. It is the policy of changing the way we approach the problems in this country. This election boils down to one question. Will we continue to barrel down the same old beat up and muddy road of partisan, deadlock, bitter politics or will we take a chance of raising our society above petty conflicts to new heights where more solutions can be achieved? That is the question. And whatever the answer maybe, it definitely is not the same old political tricks of making a mountain from a mole hill.