& nbsp;       &n bsp;       &nb sp;       &nbs p;         ;                 BARACK OBAMA

I don’t dislike Barack Obama. I don’t care what color his skin is, who his pastor is, what religion he has chosen to participate in, how often he changes churches he attends or for what reason.

Since Barack Obama is running for President of the United States, I am interested in what experience he has that qualifies him for the job. I’m also concerned that our next president be a staunch defender of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Since Obama is a first term junior senator from Illinois, it is reasonable to question his qualifications for the job of President of the United States. Does anyone remember his promise that if elected, he would immediately bring the American troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq? Now he is hinting that he might not do that, but will consult with his advisors and determine what is in America’s best interests. I suspect that what really happened is that Obama was absent or sleeping in government class when the teacher explained the various commitments that the United States and other nations have entered into and one of his current advisors simply informed him that he had to abide by international laws and he couldn’t just pull the troops out to keep a campaign promise. He then tried to explain his new comment on the subject as a clarification, hoping to avoid the impression that he was inexperienced in international relations. Im sure that NATO was relieved to hear his clarification and to know someone was going to keep him from violating our international commitments.

Anyway, that was the impression I got and I began to wonder what other kinds of trouble his inexperience would ultimately lead to?

Like many people, I’m also concerned with Obama’s reluctance to wear an American Flag, put his hand over his heart and sing the National Anthem. I have tried not to jump to any conclusions on this subject, but I must admit that it seems to me that the President of the United States should be proud to wear the flag, put his or her hand over the heart and sing the National Anthem. I haven’t heard an explanation that satisfies me, so it does concern me.

Obama’s willingness to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights concerns me also. Earlier this year He commented that he felt the Washington D.C. Gun Ban was Constitutional. When the Supreme Court determined that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right to own and keep a handgun in one’s home, even in Washington D.C., Barack still did not completely accept the court’s ruling. He basically tried to straddle both sides of the issue while not actually criticizing the courts decision or alienating the Brady Bunch.

If Barack Obama doesn’t know the importance with which the word, "People", was regarded by the framers of our Constitution, he shouldn’t be President of the United States.

People is only used once in the preamble, twice in the body of the original Constitution, five times in the Bill of Rights and once in Amendment XVII. It should be noted that each of these occurrences deals with individual rather than collective rights.

Obama’s lack of understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights could eventually lead to the appointment of Supreme Court Justices who also lack an understanding of those important documents. We already have four Supreme Court Justices who weren’t listening to their U.S. history and government teachers during class when the reasons for the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights and the American Revolution were discussed.

However, as opposed to Barack Obama as President of the United States as I am, there is something else to which I am equally opposed. This morning the New Yorker magazine came out with a cover depicting Barack Obama wearing Muslim clothes, his wife as a gun toting terrorist, in the white house burning an American flag in the fire place, bumping their fists underneath a portrait of Osama Bin Laden. This kind of cruel mockery of Barack Obama and his wife was tasteless and undeserved. I hope you will join with those of us who are sending objections to the New Yorker magazine publisher and editor.

We ought to be able to support or oppose candidates based on our vision for the future of our country without resorting to name calling, mud slinging or cruel satire.