McCain and Obama Turn Down the Heat

“I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments, I will respect him” – John McCain said this weekend.

I'm heartened by John McCain's honest and pragmatic response to the hate we've seen on the Republican campaign trail.  Thank you sir, I see a glimmer of the man I once knew when I lived in Phoenix.

I only hope that allowing this dangerous behavior to continue for nearly a week before raising the bar has not already had very dire consequences. It was reckless of the McCain campaign to associate Mr. Obama with domestic terrorists or radical Muslims in a way the "fanned the flames" of racism, hate and extremism. I am still very disappointed by the John McCain I see in this election cycle. Thankfully, this one small grain of sanity has helped to lower the rhetorical temperature to a simmer from a boil.

I am inclined to believe that Senator McCain has asked Rick Davis to find a new way to improve conditions within his campaign. Mostly, because the idea that racially motivated and radical threats made against Obama are never acceptable, not even for a second. Mr. Davis recently said "I don’t think it’s that big a deal," but in truth, it's the biggest deal ever. Change the subject back to the economy, domestic policy, international policy and the war. Have ideological differences, but please don't characterize anyone as worthy of a violent attack, either verbally or physically.

Mr. Obama acknowledged Mr. McCains efforts to turn down the temperature on this dangerous issue while campaigning this weekend. I am happy to know that Obama is responding in kind, and reiterating my own sentiment, that John McCain has done a lot for his country, and no one should work to discredit his lifetime of effort. As long as both sides are looking to their highest sense of right the American people will benefit.

Bravo gentlemen. Lets hope we can continue to elevate the dialog for the rest of the campaign, and get this election over with. I am sure I'm not the only American who is ready to move on, and start the process healing and finding solutions to all these seemingly overwhelming problems.

Just a final side note. I do hope whoever wins in November, the winner reaches out to the loser for advice on how to best speak to the other end of the spectrum.

Related Article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNew/idUSTRE4998X420081012?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Recent John McCain Response to Representative John Lewis:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/mccain.interview/index.html

Additional Threats Made in Scranton, PA. Secret Service Investigates:
http://www.scrantontimes.com/articles/2008/10/15/news/doc48f6128d24004210022010.txt