By Fariba Amini 

It's been a long and excruciating year with the democratic and Republican campaigns and nominations, the fight between Hillary and Barak and now between McCain and Obama.

The latest polls show that since McCain chose his running mate, Ms. Sarah Palin, a virtually unknown who is a good-looking woman with all the moral values Americans hold dear, the numbers began to change.  The crowds were growing and McCain was ahead by a few points, though that changed after the disaster on Wall Street unraveled before our eyes.

I, like many living in this country, have been watching the news and reading the newspapers. Sometimes I am disturbed, sometimes I am frustrated, but mostly I am disgusted.  It's nauseating.  I can't wait for this election to be over with.  I guess next we all have to deal with the biggest economic crisis the US has faced since the depression.

Elections in most European countries take a few months; the candidates have a limited period to get their message out; campaigning stops prior to the election so people can make up their mind in peace, they vote, and the process is done with.  Here in the US, we live with the ads, the slander, the ugly words exchanged and the millions of dollars20spent on the campaigns for a year or more and 24/7. 

Four years ago, the Bush campaign brought McCain down by insinuating that his wife was a drug addict that he fathered a black child, and he was not conservative enough.  McCain had some integrity then and stood up to these accusations, though he lost the nomination.  Now the tables have turned. Becoming ultra- conservative is the chic thing and he is mighty proud of it.  He is now Bush's comrade in arm and looks up to him even if neither Bush nor Dart Vader Cheney was invited to participate in the actual Republican Party bash.  The excuse:  poor Gustav!! 

McCain has a new woman on his side, an obscure governor who has no experience in foreign policy-- having left Alaska for a foreign land only on three occasions--no experience in national or Washington politics, and no experience in anything else except for raking in earmarks, firing people whom she does not like and the latest, asking the librarian in her hometown on how to censor certain books!  Her most important contribution to the debate is that she is a working mother of five, one of whom is pregnant at the age of 17 and the last of whom has Down syndrome.  Appearing at a religious gathering, she said, "It was God's will for us to go to Iraq and God would want us to win!"  She is a "moral" person who decided to keep a child with Down syndrome, a child who is facing a20miserable life because her mother chose life over abortion.  She is also against abortion in case of incest and rape.  What kind of perverse morality do people like her uphold when they condone sending men and women to another land, destroy other people's children, render the same children mother and fatherless, or just kill, maim and burn their bodies by accident? Or bring back home young soldiers with broken bodies and souls because oil mongers decided that this is a "just war."  She says in one of her "amazing" speeches, that Obama is just upset because we are winning in Iraq! "In Iraq (Ayraq) change happened and that is a great thing for America," she said!!!  What change?! 

Meanwhile, one-time Republican nominee Giuliani, whose every other word used to be September 11,  who introduced a crook to GW Bush for Homeland security chief,  mocks (ha ha) Obama for having worked and volunteered once in Chicago's poor neighborhoods as a community organizer!  He is just too ridiculous for words.  I guess crooks and hypocrites invite their ilk to their parties. 

 Obama has shown class and grace in the midst of all the slandering and dirty politics.  He chooses the right words but these days, but many Americans are not listening.  No one mentions that from the start, even before this terrible war began, he was one of the few who spoke out against it.  Thes e days Iraq and Afghanistan are forgotten, disastrous economic issues, the terrible housing market, staggering unemployment all seem to be marginal issues, even to those hardest hit by these disasters. McCain and Palin are too scared to talk about the real issues, so they talk petty politics. Slandering their opponent is their daily routine, and, as usual, the mainstream media keep the merry-go round spinning.  

 America has now a new showgirl to be infatuated with.  Britney and Paris Hilton move over; Sarah is the star of the day.

Until 2004, I had never voted, even though I had been a citizen for a while.  In the last elections, I voted for Kerry. This time I will vote for Obama of course, but to be honest, I am so scared; I am deeply concerned; I am not sure if he is going to be elected. 

Obama is too good for this country and I am not sure if most Americans are just ready for a new face, for CHANGE or for a man, who stands up to big corporations,  to bigotry, and who has a real sense for morality and decency in politics.  I would be terribly disappointed if he is not elected. I would seriously question the wisdom of the American people. After a ll, which administration has brought us to the brink of bankruptcy of almost every financial institution in this country with their negligence? 

I am not sure what I will do if McCain is elected.  Can you imagine a USA run by this woman if something happens to McCain? I am a woman and I am horrified at the thought of it.  Can you imagine a world of Palin after Cheney?  It's like watching a horror movie unfolding before your eyes.

I hope when November comes I will be proven wrong. I hope Americans have become sadder and wiser.   I hope they have learned something from the past eight years, have learned something about interfering in other countries' affairs without anticipating the consequences, that they have learned that people around the world are fed up with their self-righteousness and ethnocentricity, that their version of democracy or great culture is not what everyone wants or should copy.  I hope they do show some wisdom, remorse and real morality and choose Obama over McCain.  I hope they get out of their la la land and face reality even if it's harsh.  After all, as an Iranian American, I sure don't want the guy who says "bomb, bomb Iran" or his running mate who probably doesn't know where Iran is on the map, to be my President or my VP.

Change is desperately needed, on all fronts, not tomorrow or today but yesterday. Time is running out for all of us.  Please, God of Palin, bring us Obama!

... Payvand News - 09/27/08 ... --