As an American citizen, a registered voter and a volunteer for the Obama campaign who personally registered 267 new voters here in Valencia County, New Mexico, here is why I voted for Barack Obama in early voting.
Like John McCain, I am a third-generation seafaring man. Unlike Sen. McCain, my dad and granddad weren't Admirals but able seamen sailing before the mast. My granddad went to sea on Square-riggers in 1900. My dad sailed all through World War 2 as a civilian merchant seamen seeing action at Attu, Kiska, North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Iwo Jima and the Occupation of Japan. I personally hunted the Great Steel Whales as a Destroyer Sonarman for six years across four of the five oceans and six of the seven seas. So call me...Ishmael.
My specialty in the US Navy was anti-submarine and anti-surface ship weapons systems. While I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard US naval vessels, I CAN tell you I was a member of the following special programs and inspections:
Personnel Reliability Program
Nuclear Weapons Handling Team
Nuclear Weapons Security Alert Team
Nuclear Weapons Security Backup Alert Force
Nuclear Weapons Accident/Incident Team
Nuclear Weapons Acceptance Inspection(passage needed to certify a ship nuclear-capable)
Annual Nuclear Technical Proficiency Inspections
Technical Surprise Inspections
When you consider that my battle station was as Firing Petty Officer, if nuclear weapons were aboard, it would have been my task to launch them. So, in a very real sense, my finger was on one of "The Buttons".
In order to be cleared for membership in the above, I had to demonstrate that I was a calm, intelligent, level-headed guy who could perform right action under enormous stress. The ONLY candidate who shows the same character traits I HAD TO SHOW for admittance to the above is Barack Hussein Obama. I have serious reservations about turning over control of the world's largest nuclear arsenal to a man like McCain who has documented Temper issues that even his own friends admit to and a poor grasp of world geography. When you compound that with Sarah Palin as VP, a known Biblical Millenialist, I find that quite frightening.
Now, as a third-generation seafaring man, I DO find two nautical characters McCain reminds me of. The First is a Jonah. A Jinx, Bad Luck incarnate. If you examine his record from the Naval Acadamy to now, you see bad luck, death and ruin follow in his wake. For those unfamiliar with a Jonah, here's a link to Father Mapple's Sermon from Moby Dick:
The other nautical character McCain reminds me of is Ahab. Scarred body and soul by his experiences, he is chasing his white whale of the Presidency. Not because he has any grand strategic vision for the nation, merely because he WANTS it.
So sign aboard the Pequod me lads. Aye, sign aboard you green-faced blowsies. Just remember what Elijah told me:
"There will come a day at sea when you'll smell land where there be no land. On that day Ahab will go to his grave. But he will rise again within the hour, rise and beckon. Then ALL, all save one will follow."
For this nation truly IS the crew of the Pequod. Drawn from all the isles of the sea and all the ends of the earth. From Greenland to Mombassa; from Clyde to Kokoboko.
I write this because I don't want to be like my namesake and have to say:
"I, alone, am left alive to tell thee the tale."
For I AM Ishmael and I must keep the true watch from the masthead.
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