Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has passed away. My deepest condolences to Senator Obama and his family. I can only imagine the horrible storm of emotions he must be going through, losing the grandmother who helped raise him the day before he may be elected President. Thank God he left the campaign trail the weekend before last to spend time with her.

If you think an Obama administration truly would seek comprehensive energy solutions, you haven’t been paying attention.

As we pointed out before, Biden has said he doesn’t want any coal plants in America.

Now, surfacing, is Barack Obama telling the San Francisco Gate that he would tax and fee coal plants so much, that they would go bankrupt.

OBAMA: “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.” (Interview with San Francisco Gate – 01/17/08)

Here’s what former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore has to say about Obama’s comments:

“There is a clear difference between John McCain and Barack Obama when it comes to the issues important to voters in Southwest Virginia. Barack Obama’s recently unveiled comments about bankrupting the coal industry is only further proof that he seems to have no problem telling liberals in San Francisco one thing and voters in Southwest Virginia another. Coupled with the comments made by his running mate, Joe Biden, there is ample reason for voters of Southwest Virginia to be concerned about their economic security should Barack Obama be elected president.”

Part of the “change” that Obama wants to bring is a new “civilian national security force”; apparently, our national defense should not be left up to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines anymore:

Today’s column by David Warren in the Ottawa Citizen takes on the question of “experience”:

There are “credentials,” and then there is “cred.” It is sometimes necessary to shorten or otherwise alter a word, to recover its original meaning. Here we are discussing not a job resumé, but what can be seen through it.

Of the four candidates on the two U.S. presidential tickets, it strikes me that both John McCain and Sarah Palin have some credible personal background to equip them in dealing with the interface between politics and life. By comparison, neither Barack Obama nor Joe Biden has ever done anything much, except master party political machinery.

More…

Obama’s associations with Tony Rezko, William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and Franklin Raines? What about the fact that French leader Sarkozy has called Obama’s Iran policy “utterly immature” and “arrogant”? Or how about attacks in Virginia on McCain supporters by Obama supporters? What about the whole ACORN mess and the fact that lawyers who support Obama might be supervising the results? What about the Chimaera of Obama-Reid-Pelosi?

Just curious: Does any of this matter?

Yay! I don’t have to do research tonight. The Wall Street Journal has done it for me. Here are the two presidential candidates directly compared on:

Trade
Energy
Unions
Taxes
Health Care

You all know that I am not an Obama surrogate, but I will give credit where credit is due.

With a HEAVY DOSE of skepticism, I present the Obama Tax Calculator.

This calculator really makes a voter think. And, when you see how much money you might get back from an Obama administration, you really might feel compelled to vote for him. It’s a great marketing technique.

Based on mine and my wife’s income, filing jointly, a President Obama will ensure that I get $1000 more back on my taxes than the $100 he says I’ll get from a President McCain.

Believe it or not, I don’t really feel good about that. Not because I don’t want the money, but because I know where it comes from: those companies and investors that are providing jobs and employment for the rest of us.

Why should I be a recipient of their wealth? Of their hard work?

What did I do to deserve it?

Besides, if I take their money, doesn’t that mean they have less to continue investing, saving, researching, and developing?

It just kinda seems like, well, stealing.

Barack Obama’s Education Plan
John McCain’s Education Plan

Highlights:

Obama

• Create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state “zero to five” efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.
• Quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both.
• Provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families.
• Reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law.
• Double funding for the Federal Charter School Program to support the creation of more successful charter schools.
• Recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field.
• Provide funding to school districts to invest in (dropout) intervention strategies in middle school.
• Double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.
• Support outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college.
• Create a national “Make College A Reality” initiative that has a bold goal to increase students taking AP or college-level classes nationwide 50 percent by 2016, and will build on Obama’s bipartisan proposal in the U.S. Senate to provide grants for students seeking college level credit at community colleges if their school does not provide those resources.
• Create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education.
• (Create) a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service.

McCain

• We are a nation committed to equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to excellent education.
• The school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility.
• All students (will) have access to all schools of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.
• Schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable.
• (Schools) should…compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them.
• Parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them….All federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing school.
• Devote five percent of Title II funding to states to recruit teachers who graduate in the top 25 percent of their class or who participate in an alternative teacher recruitment program such as Teach for America, the New York City Teaching Fellowship Program, the New Teacher Project, or excellent university initiatives.
• Devote 60 percent of Title II funding for incentive bonuses for high performing teachers to locate in the most challenging educational settings, for teachers to teach subjects like math and science, and for teachers who demonstrate student improvement. Payments will be made directly to teachers.
• The first 35 percent of Title II funding would be directed to the school level so principals and teachers could focus these resources on the specific needs of their schools.
• Empower School Principals With Greater Control Over Spending.
• Expand The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program from $13 million to at least $20 million benefiting nearly a thousand more families.
• Ensure Children Struggling To Meet State Standards Will Have Immediate Access To High Quality Tutoring Programs. Local school districts can certify education service providers but providers can also bypass the local bureaucracy and receive direct federal certification. Education service providers can then market directly to parents. Title I money will be directed straight to the provider.
• Target $500 million in current federal funds to build new virtual schools.
• Allocate $250 Million Through A Competitive Grant Program To Support States That Commit To Expanding Online Education Opportunities.
• Offer $250 Million For Digital Passport Scholarships To Help Students Pay For Online Tutors Or Enroll In Virtual Schools.

I guess he thinks McCain will win Florida.

However, as a Detroit Tigers’ fan myself…his primary choice of the White Sox still annoys me.

The Daily Press has provided their voice to the chorus of endorsements that will come out between now and election day. For their part, they have chosen Sen. John McCain.

Here’s a little of their justification:

Obama’s rating as the most liberal member of the Senate — or one of the most liberal, depending on who’s doing the rankings — coupled with his vote tally in the Illinois Senate, and his policy statements, make it clear that this is a man who believes that we need an interventionist government that knows what is best for us, and will dip into our wallets to achieve its ambitious aims, whether they have to do with fixing the nation’s uneven access to health care or rescuing failing corporations.

Well, many folks predicted it, but now it’s official. Not too surprising, since Powell’s foreign policy recommendations and stances are pretty much in sync with Obama’s.

In what might be one of the first of what we hope will be many stops for the former president in the commonwealth (given that his surrogate-in-chief, Terry McAuliffe, might be running for the Democratic nod for governor), former president Bill Clinton paid a visit today.

In his honor, RPV and Delegate Jeff Frederick, party chair, laid out the welcome mat:

“Bill Clinton called Barack Obama’s past campaign statements a ‘fairy tale’, but now it looks like Bill Clinton will have to spread some fairy dust of his own to fulfill his political duty to campaign for the Obama-Biden ticket,” said Delegate Jeffrey M. Frederick, Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

“Clinton is a professional campaigner and will no doubt toe the company line and praise Barack Obama today. But when we listen to Clinton we should remember that when speaking honestly without pressure from either side, Clinton offered glowing reviews of Senator McCain, and his compliments of Obama had all the enthusiasm of a child who’s forced to give a kiss to an aunt with a big wart on her nose.”

Frederick was referencing stinging remarks Clinton made about Obama during the Democrat primary season as well as an interview Clinton gave ABC News September 18th when the former president said “I’ve never concealed my admiration and affection for Sen. McCain. I think he’s a great man.” Clinton has offered no such praise of Obama.

Among Clinton’s criticisms of Obama:

• Calling Obama’s statements on the Iraq War “the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen”;
• Equating electing a person of Obama’s non-experience to a “roll of the dice”;
• Complaining that Obama was overly negative and did a “hit job” on him;
• Offering a flawed plan on health care;
• Employing the race card;
• Making remarks about Americans being “bitter”;
• Not telling the truth on claims Obama campaign is without special-interest money.

“Bill Clinton was right when he said that Obama knows how to spread fairy tales,” said Frederick. “if this election was about the facts and the merits of the candidates, John McCain would coast to victory, maybe even with Bill Clinton’s support.”

Heh.

The latest poll results from Military Times are now available; and, not surprisingly, McCain polls very well, eclipsing Obama by a large margin: 68-23%.

Enlisted personnel support McCain 67-24%; Officers support McCain 70-22%. Obama enjoys a 79-12% lead among African-Americans, but McCain holds a 63-27% lead among Latinos and Hispanics.

The Navy supports McCain 69-24% and the 18-34 age group supports McCain 65-27%.

By a wide margin, across all ranks, genders, and generally race, McCain is the military’s preference to be their next Commander-in-Chief.

Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal writes a brilliant “No We Can’t” article on Obama: Obama’s Magic.

Basically, she explains Obama’s policies, in a light and entertaining way, while exposing the difficulty, if not outright economic voodoo, that it will take at implementing them.

90-second campaign commercial by McCain on Obama’s ACORN association: