Obama is the Wrong Man

When Barack Obama first announced he was running for the Dems presidential nomination I have to admit that I was interested.  After all he’s obviously a very intelligent guy and is a strong orator.  When Obama took young black men to task back in June for failing to be proper fathers I thought he might be the right man for the job.

Now I see I was mistaken – he’s very clearly not the right person to lead America at this point in time.  Why the sudden certainly?  First, Obama announced on Friday that he would reduce sentences for drug violations.  Second, Obama will reportedly propose that the U.S. further reduce its nuclear arsenal. 

Readers familiar with my past writings may be wondering why I object to Obama’s intention to relax drug sentences.  Actually, I don’t object to that per se.  Rather, I find Obama’s reasons for doing so flawed. 

From the Houston Chronicle:

Democrat Barack Obama said Friday that as president he would relax drug sentencing laws and address vast racial inequities in the justice system as part of his crime policy.

…

"If you’re convicted of a crime involving drugs, of course you should be punished," Obama said in a speech at Howard University’s opening convocation. "But let’s not make the punishment for crack cocaine that much more severe than the punishment for powder cocaine when the real difference is where the people are using them or who is using them."

For Obama ending the war on drugs seems to be a matter of race rather than one of principal and I do object to that, particularly when he’s speaking at a largely black university and proceeds to like drug sentencing to the events in Jena, LA., an obvious stretch.

With regard to reducing America’s nuclear weapons stockpile, the NY Times reports the following:

Mr. Obama, according to details provided by his campaign Monday, also will call for pursuing vigorous diplomatic efforts aimed at a global ban on the development, production and deployment of intermediate-range missiles.

…

If elected, Mr. Obama plans to say, he will lead a global effort to secure nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years. He also will pledge to end production of fissile material for weapons, agree not to build new weapons and remove any remaining nuclear weapons from hair-trigger alert.

In his speech, according to a campaign briefing paper, Mr. Obama also will call for using a combination of diplomacy and pressure to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs. Aides did not say what Mr. Obama intended to do if diplomacy and sanctions failed.

We’ve seen in the recent past that North Korea will not negotiate in good faith and in fact may even have sent nuclear technology to Syria, a state that is at least sympathetic to terrorism.  Neither do the Iranians show the willingness or forthrightness required to enter into a binding agreement.

As nice as it sounds, this is exactly the wrong time to reduce America’s nuclear capability.

Happily Obama will not win the Democratic nomination, regardless of how much money he’s raising at the moment.  For that much I’m grateful to Hillary.