REPLIES TO THE CURRENT QUESTION

Our question last week was:

What are the three most absurd positions put forward by Barack Obama?

Here are your answers.  The name of a writer is included only if he or she actually placed a name at the end of the message.  Otherwise, we assume the writer wished anonymity and "name withheld" is inserted.

Standing, sitting, lying down.

Any position the man claims to have has a shelf life
with an expiration date that compares unfavorably to milk.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Andy B.
NYC

So many to choose from, so little time.  Let us delve into this rich trove of blather expounded by the Senator.

First and foremost has to be his statements that we will be able to pay for all of his grandiose ideas simply by closing the corporate loopholes and with no tax increase on 95% of us taxpayers.  Actually that might actually go beyond absurd and enter into the loony world of liberal economic thought where it's all done with smoke and mirrors, we do it like the Europeans and live happily ever after, or until the piper has to be paid.

Second probably would be the diplomacy of "Talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime!" thus saving the world from war, famine and pestilence for all time.  As a sometime student of foreign affairs, I find the ludicrousness of that incredibly naive view of the world high on the absurdity index.

There are a few that probably rank higher than this third one, but it is very specific, and clearly shows the absence of reality in Senator Obama's thinking/positions.  I have heard him say on at least three different occasions that he is committed to "giving every American the same health care package that he has in the Senate."  He plans to do this with a National Health Insurance Plan and a National Health Insurance Exchange (Read: new and bigger bureaucracy) to watchdog the private insurers, yada, yada, yada.  Obviously our world knowledgeable Senator hasn't visited our neighbor to the North anytime recently and seen the beauty of government controlled healthcare.  Since Canada is only 60 miles from me, I visit it regularly.  The stream of Canadians heading South for healthcare that isn't available or for which waiting times stretch out beyond the horizon has steadily grown to its current flood all because of a National Health Insurance Plan.  Maybe it didn't come up when he was in Berlin as he was too busy attending a rock concert to discuss German health care with anyone.  It is in every way as good as Canada's.  The UK is notorious for its government health care plan.  As I read in a recent article, they have solved the problem of shortages in their organ donor program because the wait for the surgery exceeds the life expectancy of the planned recipient by a significant period.  Rant over.

In summary, all politicians offer absurd, unsupportable plans and proposals to get elected.  That is the nature of the electoral process.  Senator Obama has billed himself as different, "Change you can believe in" comes to mind.  This may well be a stealth fourth absurd notion that I can sneak in.  The only change that he is truly interested in is the change that he can steal from my pocket to help pay for his schemes.

Don Newell

Most absurd is perhaps the suggestion that ocean will stop rising. Even
if, like me, you accept the basic tenet of global warming. America uses
about 25% of oil production, and it does not do much deforestation anymore,
so the American contribution is a small fraction of the total. Also there
is no suggestion as to what can be done for replacement. The solar/wind
things are prototypes, and it is not possible to build a policy on them
so far.

The suggestion that he will take on Washington interests. This is in direct
contradiction to his proposed schemes, which involve the state and thus
mechanically increase its power. The compassionate conservatism of president
G.W. Bush expanded the government and this was by design, not by error.
Obama would continue this trend.

The suggestion that you can deal with terrorist and rogue states by
negotiating with them is as far removed from reality as possible. There is
no political vacuum. If America and the Western world in general is less
proactive in the defense of its interests, then other powers take over
the space left. In the end there is no misunderstanding.

Mathieu Dutour Sikiric

• Experience is irrelevant to forming good judgement
• The Surge was a bad idea
• Let's make the poor and middle class rich by taxing their employers
  

Alan Weick

1) Talking to the Iranians without preconditions. (Bad for USA.)
2) Defending his work as a "community organizer." (I'm sure Muqtada
al-Sadr is proud of his work as a community organizer, too.)
3) Publicly comparing his resume with Palin's. (Bad for his campaign.)

Frank Drouillard
Novato, CA