Alternative History Lessons

-By Noah

Uncountable words have been written about the 2008 Presidential campaign as various people try to convince one side or the other why people should vote for Barack Obama or John McCain. I'm about to offer a different way of looking at it. I call it Alternate History. Travel with me back to various points in our nation's past. Then, ask yourself if we would have been better off, not with the President who was in office at the time, or, one of the two choices offered to America tomorrow. There's the calm, reasoning, analytical Barack Obama who considers potential consequences of actions on the one hand, and, the bellicose, shoot first, ask questions later, practically unhinged (either because of age or temperament or medical history or all three) John McCain on the other. Consider the possibilities. See how they relate to today.

First, the Great Depression: Instead of FDR, we get Obama's new deal like proposals, or, John McCain's Herbert Hoover-like strategies of continuing the flow of money up the class ladder to the richest of the rich. We know what happened with FDR in charge. He strengthened the middle class and therefore the nation to the point where it was able to not only withstand Japan and Germany's assaults but beat the both of them and saved our allies at the same time. Of course, many Repugs didn't even want to take on Hitler at all. Some, who shall remain nameless, even openly supported him.

Second, World War Two has been won and one of our greatest generals, George Patton, wants to now take on the Soviet Union. Rightly, he sees the future threat. Wrongly, he doesn't seem to consider that such an effort would bankrupt us, let alone what happened to Hitler and Napoleon when they tried it. The prosperity of the post war years would have never happened. Fortunately, John "lots more wars" McCain was not President. Instead, an "inexperienced" man from the Midwest named Harry Truman was.

Third, General Douglas MacArther wants to take the Korean War all the way into China and teach those commies a lesson, never considering the consequences for our economy and future prosperity, let alone that we would have enough troops (Sound familiar?). Once again, that "inexperienced" man from the Midwest prevailed and so did we. My hunch is that Obama would have done the same. That is, of course, if a man of color could have run for office back then, which brings us to things like the Civil Rights Act and voting Rights Act, both rammed through a reluctant Congress in the 1960s by Lyndon Johnson. Who would attempt the same? Barack Obama? Or, John McCain who proudly voted-- over and over, year after year-- against even having a holiday in celebration of the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Oh, and one more. Let's back up to October 1962. JFK was President, a pragmatic man of vision, forceful yet reasoning all the way, not unlike Barack Obama. He inspired a country so much that we even went to the moon. I remember October 1962 very well, the daily press conferences explaining to the American public and the world perhaps the most momentous crises in history. Every day, I wondered if there would be a November 1962. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the very existence of human kind was in the balance. On our side was JFK. On the Soviet side was an exceedingly arrogant little man named Nikita Khrushchev for whom diplomacy consisted of taking off his shoe at the UN and pounding it on his table. He was the Ahmadjinejad of his time times ten, with more weapons at hand. Could you imagine if McCain had been President instead of John Kennedy? No, you couldn't. You wouldn't be here. Choose very carefully, MY FRIENDS.