Do your homework

It's quite amazing the different views available to us depending on which lens you're looking thru.One could go across the internet and cherry pick enough stories to fully support whatever view they support.I was always taught this is how the human belief system works.First,we develop our beliefs based on our early influences and then spend our time finding ways to support them.

In politics,if you're a republican,you listen to Limbaugh and Hannity and watch Fox.If you're a liberal,you stick to Olberman and Matthews and their ilk.You watch,listen and read whatever is slanted toward your beliefs.Sure makes it tough to objectively weigh the opposing viewpoint.Of course,an independent will claim to take the middle road sometimes agreeing with one side or the other.Eventually,everyone usually ends up disliking you because you ride the fence.

I always wondered which was held in higher regard.The leader type with strong convictions or the open minded type willing to listen to different views.Obama attempts to portray himself as the latter.For example,he's willing to negotiate with terrorists without pre-conditions.I can't say comparing Reagan to Obama would be the best analogy,but they are the two people representing these two scenarios most recently.

If the popularity rating is the yardstick,it's quite clear.Reagan wins hands down. 100% is not possible as there will always be party line people to support one side or the other.If you wish to reject polls and use election results,obviously we can't do that until 2012,but it would be a tall order for Obama to duplicate the Reagan landslide re-election.Based on the mood of the voters and the clear lack of support for Obamas policies,it would be impossible at this point.

I bring this issue up just to ponder what it is we want from our elected officials.Clearly,if you don't agree with their policies,you won't support them.Yet,at face value,one would think you wouldn't want the leader with strong convictions if you're not a supporter.You would be more likely to support a moderate type who may sway to your view.The facts don't seem to bear this out.I'm finding Obama to be more divisive than Reagan.My Dad hated Reagan which I never understood when I was a kid.Now when I look back and realize that my Dad was dependent on the government for its social entitlement programs,I'm able to understand.

You even hear people like John Conyers being scolded by Obama for not publicy supporting him in all instances.The gays are getting impatient.The illegal immigrants are getting impatient.If cap and trade is delayed,you can add them to the list.These are just a few examples that to try to be the all everything to everybody is virtually impossible.It's hard to imagine anyone coming into office with a higher level of support than Obama and he can't pull it off.

To be fair,I blame a large portion of that on the ignorance of the voters.They jumped on the 'hope and change' bandwagon without doing their homework.As we now see with the constant exposes from people like Glenn Beck,this information has always been there if you cared to look for it.

So,as always it comes back to the voter.We really want to vote for a candidate we believe in.Yet,as I explained earlier,human nature dictates that we inherently reject challenges to our belief system.We simply don't want to challenge ourselves,perhaps because we can't deal with the disappointment so well.This leaves us open to buying into the message the candidate is selling.We don't want to spend much time verifying the validity of their claims and researching their true motives.When you do that,you'll find the vast majority of candidates will fail the test.

This is human nature,as well.Power and greed and the two main attractants in holding political office.Even those that didn't enter politics for those reasons find it hard to resist its charms.The moral of this story is you had better spend considerable time studying the character of your candidate and review their influences that shaped their beliefs.Obama is the best example of this.The bandwagon supporters bought into the packaged message for sale while ignoring the man behind it.

It seems those ringing the alarm bells about William Ayers and Rev. Wright had good reason to.We find out more all the time about the radical upbringing of Obama and it makes connecting the dots very easy with the agenda he's pushing thru.We've never had the level of capability that we do today previously in researching a candidate.I would hope that more voters will utilize it next time around so they don't make a short sighted mistake and end up disappointed.More to come...