Double Standard Politics

The 2008 presidential election season has no doubt been historic. For obvious reasons, which have been cited to death: Hillary Clinton, the first female candidate to win nearly 18 million votes; Barack Obama, the first black candidate to win the nomination of a major political party in America; Sarah Palin, the first female VP candidate for the Republican Party.

This election season has also been historic for another reason, a more personal one. Millions of people, myself included, are rethinking our political alignments. The double standard with which leading conservative Evangelicals have treated John McCain and Barack Obama has given me sufficient cause to question my politically conservative tendencies. In fact, I'm kicking the whole partisan bin; it's no longer my thing.

An article entitled "The Double Standard of American Politics" spells out some of the downright hypocrisies of my conservative buddies throughout this electoral season. Concerning Barack Obama, the writer says, "if you're black, raised by a single mother, lived on food stamps, help the community, get into Harvard, become the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, build a great campaign organization from scratch, and are voted to be the presidential nominee by millions of people, you are just uppity."

Based on the above referenced article, let's pose some rhetorical questions for reflection, or just for the fun of it:

Educational Background

• Is it true that at the Naval Academy, John McCain graduated 894 out of 899? If the name were changed to Barack Obama, would not conservative radio and media personalities be shining the spotlight on his qualification to lead America?
• Had John McCain graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, as Barack did, would conservatives not be cheerleading him as the smartest man who ever ran for the highest office, instead of painting him as an empty suit puffed with nothing but sweet-sounding words?

Approach to Diplomacy

• Did not this Republican administration (John McCain's political cousins) hold talks with Iran and North Korea? And did they not call that diplomacy? But then we should label it "appeasement" when Barack Obama proposes talking not only to our friends but to our enemies as well?

Charisma & Political Skill

• If it were possible under the sun for John McCain to motivate and appeal to more than two million Americans and bring them into the political process, won't McCain be hailed as the political genius of our time? But when Barack Obama achieves this great feat, he is attacked as having an over-inflated ego, thinking he's the Messiah?

• If John McCain had defeated the politician machine of the Bush dynasty, as Obama overcame the combined political talents and charisma of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, would McCain not have been lauded as nothing less than a political Albert Einstein for having the organizing skills to win that uphill battle?

It is getting more and more evident that the ability to keep America divided along partisan lines has become a booming industry to both the left and right wings of American politics. One can only hope that were not the case.