I think you know very well that jerseydem said nothing about either Obama’s race or his age. You just made that up. You’re still drinking the Obama koolaid.

Jerseydem did bring up Obama’s lack of experience, his probable learning curve once in office, and his dependence on vague idealism instead of solid public policy in his speeches and debates.

Oh, and have you checked your own IP lately, “jClifford in New York”? Yup. Reston, Virginia.

You get done bemoaning the fact that so many Democrats voted for this package of terrifying totalitarian spying powers, and then you switch around to say that you’re supporting for President the very man who worked all day long to make sure that not a single attempt to reform the law and protect freedom would pass, and voted for the law in the end.

Why do you do this? Apparently, you think that throwing away our freedoms is okay, so long as it’s good for the environment.

You know what? It won’t be good for the environment.

John McCain has been a failure as an environmental leader. What global warming bill has he gotten passed in all his years in the Senate? None.

Furthermore, John McCain’s environmentalism has been too weak, too late, accomodating corporate desires to keep on polluting just like they have been – voluntary reductions and that sort of nonsense. John McCain is as environmentalist as an oil industry spokesman, with lots of green talk covering a corporate agenda, and a do-nothing.

You use experience as an excuse? This line of reasoning would have led you to vote for Stephen Douglas instead of Abraham Lincoln. You know what? I bet you would have.

Practically, John McCain is antienvironmentalist. He supports anti-environmental Republican politicians. He has supported the Iraq War from the start – said it would be easy – and now says that keeping the soldiers in Iraq for 100 years or 10,000 years is something he would be comfortable with. That Iraq War is draining our economy of exactly the resources that we need to wage a green economic revolution here at home.

But I think you know all this, “jerseydem”. From what I’ve seen of you, you’re just terrified of Barack Obama.

Why are you so terrified of Barack Obama? Here’s what you wrote a while ago: “Are Caucasian Americans really ready to vote for a Black/minority president?”

The election so far shows that yes, most “Caucasian Americans” really are ready. Why aren’t you?

You can’t come up with a single reason that Barack Obama is NOT going to be able to deal with environmental issues except that he’s younger than Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Let’s see you bring up some substance.

You know what we’re seeing in our bumper sticker sales in the last week? We’re seeing a rush of people who feel exactly the opposite of the way that you do. Republicans who would rather vote for Barack Obama than John McCain. We’re selling a lot of bumper stickers reading “Republicans Against McCain” and “Republicans for Obama”.

Nevertheless, when casting my 12th presidential vote this November, and after steadfastly voting Democrat for the past 36 years, I will consider voting for McCain if Obama is the candidate. Here’s why.

I think that in all probability, Obama will get eaten alive by the Republicans for his lack of experience. But even if that is not the case, I don’t think I can vote to put the fate of the world in his way-too-inexperienced hands.

There are way too many critical issues that the next President will confront, perhaps the most important was one discussed the other night on Fox news (of all places – I’m not a Fox fan, but this particular discussion was very informative.) The issue was getting China and India on board for environmental measures; global environmental risk, the commentators noted, is one that we have simply just about run out of time on. It’s now or never.

To me it’s clear: we don’t have time to cover Obama’s learning curve. We don’t have time to sit around and feel warm and fuzzy about vague notions of “hope” and “change.” We can’t afford to indulge whiny 20 and 30-somethings who just want someone with a last name other than Clinton or Bush (the latter is, of course, irrelevant).

Planet earth, and its inhabitants, must address environmental issues IMMEDIATELY. It seems to me that the only two candidates equipped to rise to this occasion are Hillary and McCain. And if Obama is the Democratic candidate, this Democrat, who has only voted Republican once (for the late Rockefeller-Republican Sen. Chase (D-NJ) in 36 years, will serious contemplate voting for McCain. It’s not a tempting choice, but it may be the only choice I can make with a good conscience, if Obama is my alternative.