As Barack Obama rolled through Afghanistan and Iraq, John McCain was left alone in the U.S. to display any new plans or ideas he has for the future of the country if he should be elected the next President of the United States.  Although many of the major network anchors are shadowing Obama’s trip either on the press bus following him or through long distance communications, McCain has been left behind with enough of the top news broadcasters and journalists to have captured some of spotlight, without Obama’s presence to reply immediately.

Obama has undoubtedly been treated with political flare while on the trip, although he is traveling as a senator, not a Presidential candidate.  But, it is hard to separate the two.  For all the reporters trailing Obama on this trip, remarkably little of substance has been reported on the journey.  The trip has been under wraps as far as itinerary for the most part.  Perhaps, once out of the war zones, we will see more on the ground coverage.

One would have thought that John McCain would have used the absence of Obama from American soil to get his campaign rolling, trying to pick up some steam for the straight talk express.  Instead, McCain seems to have fallen off the map this week.  I’m sure he is making some local news somewhere, but he has received no more ground coverage than Obama.

We could accept the idea that the press has ignored the McCain campaign, but I am more inclined to believe that McCain has offered nothing new that deserves coverage.  How many times can we listen to the same old rhetoric?

McCain offered a response to Obama’s Op-Ed piece in the New York Times.  It was rejected by the paper, although we may yet see it if McCain can come up with something to say.  According to CNN

The New York Times has rejected an essay that Sen. John McCain wrote defending his Iraq war policy.

The piece was in response to an op-ed from Sen. Barack Obama that was published in the paper last week.

In an e-mail to the McCain campaign, Opinion Page Editor David Shipley said he could not accept the piece as written, but would be “pleased, though, to look at another draft.”

“Let me suggest an approach,” he wrote Friday. “The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans. It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece.”

McCain’s campaign is claiming bias.  That may be true… or not.  But, none of us want to read the same old same old from the candidate and apparently the New York Times is in the business of news, not history. 

For those who are interested in reading McCain’s essay, click HERE for the full essay.  Having read it, I am only reminded of Phil Gramm’s statement about “whiners.”  But, that is my opinion.

Let’s dismiss the essay for a the time.  What has McCain been doing since Obama left the country?

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” on Monday when he apparently meant “Afghanistan”, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition. 

Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken “Somalia” for ”Sudan,” and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs.

The Huffington Post claimed that the first foreign policy gaffe of Barack Obama’s tour abroad came from John McCain.  That had to be a major disappointment for the McCain camp.  But, I suppose you have to work with what you have.

More and more questions are arising about McCain’s gaffes.  Whether there is any truth to the notion that McCain is too old to become President, or whether he just confuses names while in the midst of a speech, we need to consider the consequences of electing a President who has mixed up the names of just about everything that relates to foreign policy.

A few months ago, while McCain, Lieberman, and Graham were traveling through the mid-East, the press made little of the fact that John McCain confused the Iranian extremists with Al Qaeda, or the Sunni’s with the Shi’as.  In fact the incident was not reported in major press stories until the videos surfaced all across the Internet.  There was no way to avoid it after that.  Yet, little was made of it.

However, as McCain continues, and seemingly with increasing frequency, to confuse names and places, the press has no choice but to take note.  Both candidates have misspoken at one point in time or another.  We have all said one word while thinking another and meaning to say another.  But it seems more and more that McCain is skewing the chart.

According to reports, Obama should be returning to the U.S. in a week or so.  Perhaps, McCain can then regain his focus.  It is just a shame that John McCain and his campaign have not been able to capitalize on Obama’s absence… with the exception of a single negative ad.  Tsk!  Tsk!  Tsk!

Reverend, practice what you preach!  That’s our advice to the Reverend Jesse Jackson, following the FOX disclosure that during the castration comment Jackson made about Barack Obama he used the “N-word.”  It seems that Jackson, having been removed from the spotlight some years ago, has turned to shock tactics to get his name back in the news, all perhaps subconsciously.  However, Jackson who has held himself out as a representative of black Americans for years has demonstrated that it is his own language and representation of his ethnicity that condemns the people he claims to represent.

According to FOX news, Jackson used the “N-word” during his comments about cutting Barack Obama’s nuts out because he talks down to black people.   Jackson is totally irrelevant in today’s racial conversation.  It is not that we have forgotten the injustices in our American history.  We have not forgotten our mistakes.  There is still much dialogue left on that subject.  But, Jackson is among those who wants to not only keep the debate alive, but wants to keep the divide deep and wide.  It’s too late for that.  Just as with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jackson is stuck in the 1960’s, unwilling to acknowledge that change has taken place.  The world isn’t perfect.  African Americans are still feeling the discrimination.  We have still have a long road to travel.  But, look around.  We have made some progress.

Times have changed.  No one has forgotten the fight or the discrimination.  But, the dialogue has changed.  It’s a shame that Jesse Jackson is fighting the progress we have made as a nation.  Instead, we find that it is Jackson, not Obama, who talks down about his community.  And, that makes Jackson irrelevant in today’s discussions.

The government is racing to prop up our financial system, unveiling a new plan to keep Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae afloat… at taxpayer’s expense.

The plan, unveiled Sunday, is intended to signal the government is prepared to take all necessary steps to prevent the credit market troubles that erupted last year with losses from subprime mortgages from engulfing financial markets.

The Fed said it granted the Federal Reserve Bank of New York authority to lend to the two companies “should such lending prove necessary.” They would pay 2.25 percent for any borrowed funds — the same rate given to commercial banks and big Wall Street firms.

So far we have heard about commercial banks, Wall Street, now included among those institutions will be Freddie and Fannie.  Supposedly, the intervention will help those of us on Main Street.

That package includes a foreclosure rescue to help strapped homeowners get new, more affordable government-backed mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration, and creates a new regulator and tighter controls for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Senator Chris Dodd appeared on television this morning to “calm the waters.”  After the run last week on IndyMac, the 3rd largest bank failure in our national history, people are getting skittish. 

“There’s a big difference between IndyMac and Fannie and Freddie,” Dodd said. “IndyMac engaged in very bad mortgages, luring people into deals they could never afford. That’s not the case with Fannie and Freddie.” Dodd said that while there may be more bank failures, “I’m more optimistic about Fannie and Freddie than I am about these banks.”

As much as I am a Chris Dodd fan, I must say that I am not optimistic about much these days.  Not that I want to preach gloom and doom, but in today’s world the $100,000 of FDIC guaranteed coverage for Main Street depositors in case of a bank failure doesn’t seem like much.  I do realize that to many of us $100,000 seems like a fortune.  But, for those people who have worked and saved, and paid taxes on the interest they have earned over the years, $100,000 isn’t that much.  In fact, if you listen to anyone who talks retirement plans, $100,000 would barely leave you above poverty during your retirement years.

From the two presidential candidates we have heard…

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said the government’s main concern should be “to make sure that home ownership remains attainable and affordable for American families. Second, any measures should protect taxpayers and not bailout the shareholders and management of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

And from McCain…

Republican rival John McCain believes the measures announced Sunday “are consistent with the goal of providing support for a path through the current duress toward steps that include regulatory reform, market discipline and mission focus,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior policy adviser.

Of note, McCain’s comments came via a “senior policy adviser” and so we really don’t know what McCain thinks.  As he said last week of Phil Gramm’s comments as he tried to distance himself, McCain speaks for himself.  So, speak up!

Talk about a week of ups and downs.  We’ve had another one.  So, what happened this week?

The FDA has warned us about eating certain types of tomatoes.  And, we took heed.  The tomato farmers have plowed under fields of tomatoes, acre after acre.  Now the FDA isn’t sure that the salmonella poisoning is a result of eating tomatoes.  This week they added a few other items to beware of.  So far, over 1000 people have become sick from eating something and the truth of the matter is that no one knows exactly what.

Again, the FDA has not been up to the job.  Oh, for sure, the FDA can’t catch everything, but it does seem as if they could catch something.  The first cases of salmonella appeared in April and here it is mid-July.  We are no closer to having a clue today than we were in April.  But, if there is one thing for certain, the FDA’s inefficiency has cost farmers millions and millions of dollars… this season.  If as with the spinach scare a few years ago, the tomato farmers can look forward to a few more bad years, as people will probably continue to be reluctant to purchase tomatoes in years to come.  The spinach farmers have not fully recovered.  That’s an indication that it will be more than a season before the tomato farmers see the usual profits again.

While claiming they don’t have the resources to follow the salmonella trail, it would have been more cost effective to have thrown more dollars to them than to watch our farmers plow under millions and millions of dollars of tomato worth, knowing that next year’s crop will also take a hit. 

And, we still don’t know the cause of the problem.

The Senate passed the Bush FISA bill and on Thursday it was signed into law.  As one Republican senator said, “unless you have Al Qaeda on speed dial” you have nothing to worry about.  Well, that’s not the case and he should know that.  The FISA law isn’t just about Al Qaeda and those of us who were against the law know that.  So, let’s stop the mental masturbation and admit that now the government has the telecoms ready, willing and able to spy on any of us.  And, we have no recourse. 

It was said that if we are “accidentally” spied on, we can request that our names be removed from the list.  Ah, is someone going to call and say, “We are wiretapping you?”  Of course not.  The removal process will take longer than necessary and probably with little satisfaction.  The original FISA law was in place for a reason, to protect American citizens from being spied upon.  While we may want to trust our government to do the right thing, many of us remember the Nixon paranoia and more are becoming aware of the Bush paranoia.  We need protection from those whose job it is to protect us.

Dennis Kucinich presented his Articles of Impeachment.  While he had been downplayed as a bit of a kook, it seems that Nancy Pelosi may be reconsidering her position, indicating this morning that there may be hearings on the matter.  That is not the same as an impeachment proceeding, but it is something… too little, too late.

Senator Edward Kennedy, for the first time since his surgery for brain cancer, appeared in the Senate to cast his vote on healthcare.  It was a wonderful day for the Senate.

Economy has been the campaign topic of the week.  Both John McCain and Barack Obama have traveled the country offering their plans for economic stimulus.  But, the real highlights of the week as far as the election goes, has come from Phil Gramm, John McCain’s top economic adviser who said that we are in a “mental recession” and that we are a “nation of whiners.”  Of course McCain has tried to distance himself but, Gramm is still McCain’s top economic adviser.

 While Gramm and McCain “don’t want to hear it” when it comes to real economic woes, Jesse Jackson said he would like to cut Barack Obama’s nuts out and suggested that Obama talks down to black people.  I feel certain that the black voters do not share that opinion.  But, amid all the apologies I really believe that Jackson’s “hot mic” gaffe probably did more to solidify white voters behind Obama than if Jackson had remained quiet.

So, the real highlights of the week can be summed up as follows.  We are afraid to eat raw fruits and vegetables.  We are afraid to talk on the phone or send email.  We are delighted to see Senator Kennedy in the Capitol if only for a few minutes.  We are disappointed that McCain still has Phil Gramm as his economic adviser.  We are delighted that Barack Obama still has his body parts.  And, oh, yeah!  Wall Street is taking a hit so Main Street better brace for more “mental recession.”

Barack Obama stopped by the Capitol today to vote for the reconditioned FISA bill.  Regardless of his explanation and the defense he offered for his vote to give the telecoms immunity from prosecution, it was a sad day for those of us who still believe in civil liberties.

Only 28 senators voted against the FISA bill that passed the Senate today.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who was Mr. Obama’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted against the bill.

Senator Dodd fought a valiant fight right down to the end.  And, if I may interject one single thought, it is that among the Democrats in Congress Chris Dodd has been one among the few who have continually fought for citizen rights.  Senator Patrick Leahy commented that the passing of the FISA bill slammed the courthouse door on American citizens.

There were some powerful comments before the final vote, including a final attempt to urge the Democrats to stand their ground.

“I urge my colleagues to stand up for the rule of law and defeat this bill,” Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said in closing arguments.

The battle had dragged on for months and when it seemed that the Democrats had reached their stride in Congress, once again they failed us.

The arrogance of the Republicans showed in the following comment:

But Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there was nothing to fear in the bill “unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial.”

My personal opinion is that Christopher Bond made the dumbest comment of the day.  The FISA bill is not limited to Al Qaeda surveillance.  For Senator Bond to provide us with so smug a comment is ridiculous.  We all know that given an inch the White House will take a mile and more if possible.  Unfortunately, that does not only apply to the Bush White House.  We have seen it happen time and again.

While Barack Obama offered his opinion on the FISA vote to his constituents and likely voters, I am still uncomfortable that he didn’t join the 28 who stood up for the rights of the American citizens.

However, John McCain didn’t find the vote sufficiently important to return to Washington to cast his vote for it.  Perhaps, his vote was not necessary, since the overwhelming majority voted to support it.  He had said he would vote for the bill if present, but he wasn’t present.  That says something.

Perhaps we should all check our phones to make sure we don’t “have Al Qaeda on your speed dial.”  (How insane a comment!)