Our Next President--Who To Vote For...

I am a registered independent since I do not agree with all of the policies of either party.

Tonight I watched a great Frontline on PBS that reviewed both Obama and McCain.

My impressions based on this program:

Obama:
* smart, driven & cautious.
* has a vision of what he wants to accomplish which I think is centered around getting people out of poverty and helping the middle class.
* knows he is good at giving speeches.
* looks like his Presidential campaign is what he used to get elected as Senator in Illinois...from the speeches to the slogan.
* hasn't really had much time to accomplish much at all in Senate, since it appears he
had a plan to run for President since day one in the Senate. The Democrats also
saw him as the celebrity who could get elected President--probably after Hillary
served her term.

McCain:
* courage, patriotic & driven.
* has been at odds with conservative wing of his party for decades. Almost became a Democrat while in the Senate at the start of the Bush 1st term.
* committed to winning the war in Iraq. Could not stand Rumsfield or Bush during the 1st term since he knew their military plan was wrong.
* he was a key reason for the change in military strategy by Bush in the 2nd term, which is the "Surge" strategy
* it seems that the Bush re-election team took over his campaign for President once he was selected as the nominee. The result: he had to embrace the right wing policies and even Bush to appease conservatives and religious right. The choice of Palin--who clearly is not ready to take over as President--was driven by a need to get conservatives energized.

Overall IMHO:
Very impressive men. Perhaps the best choices we've had for President in a very long time.
I believe that either man would be an excellent President.
But it seems to me that Obama is the right man since the country is looking for
inspirational leadership at home, rather than winning a war abroad.

My fear is that once elected, our new President ends up just being a loyal party leader, rather than someone who can bring the best people together (regardless of party affiliation) to solve our country's challenges.

That's just my 2 cents.