Barack Obama Lagging In Confidence Polls

August 1. 2008

Barack Obama

According to a Gallup poll released today, Barack Obama has work to do in convincing Americans he can handle national security and terrorism matters.

Considering rival John McCain is a military man, even a former P.O.W., this was to be expected, as I wrote a month ago ("John McCain's image as a P.O.W. has helped him nationally with his contingent, who see him as a symbol of stronger national security").

John McCain

However, to be frank, I am very concerned about McCain's intentions in this arena, as he seems to be inching towards a showdown with Iran, which could prove very detrimental, not only to the aforementioned nation, but America as well.

In an age where there is already so much conflict in the world, another war, or worse, a nuclear strike, would set off catastrophic events, that would change life as we know it. This scenario needs to be avoided.

The destruction such a move would breed would be dire. I do not wish such a fate upon any nation. I'm not being dramatic nor am I trying to think up the worst possible scenario. Mr. McCain's language betrays that of a man eager and ready for a fight with a Middle Eastern nation of 70,000,000 people, Iran, that would come at a very high price to America and the Middle East.

The world cannot afford anymore of this bloodshed and heavy combat. It is regressive, not progressive.  

Poll: Obama still has work to do on commander-in-chief test

August 1, 2008 09:54 AM - A new poll suggests that Barack Obama's much-publicized overseas tour has not paid immediate dividends in Americans' perceptions of whether he is ready to be commander in chief and the nation's chief diplomat.

The Gallup report out this morning shows that those who believe that Obama can handle the responsibilities of commander in chief dropped from 55 percent last month to 52 percent now. It also found that those who believe that Obama would do a good job dealing with terrorism dropped from 49 percent to 45 percent and those who think he would do a good job on the Iraq war dropped from 51 percent to 48 percent.

Also, Democrat Obama still trails Republican John McCain substantially on the commander in chief and terrorism questions. For McCain, who has more military and foreign policy experience, 76 percent said he is ready to be commander in chief and 67 percent said he would do a good job on terrorism.

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