Leadership, huh...

It seems like an eternity ago, but it was only June 3 of this year.

Barack Obama was clinching the Democratic nomination, when John McCain took to the stage in a sparsely populated room in New Orleans, La., to launch his first attack. McCain planted himself in front of a puke green background and declared himself, "A Leader We Can Believe In." That decision, as well as practically every decision since, has proved him to be anything but a leader.

Even if you start on the night in front of the now infamous green backdrop, McCain was the spectacle of a follower. His theme, "A Leader We Can Believe In," was obviously cribbed from Obama's "Change We Can Believe In." He littered his speech with derisions of Obama followed by the mocking, "that's not change we can believe in."

There you have it. On his speech to launch the general election, McCain uses a knock-off of his opponent's words as the Republican theme and slogan. Leadership?

The rest of the campaign has not fared much better for McCain, and every bump in the road can be mapped back to an absense of leadership. First, he sputtered around from slogan to slogan, never really settling on one long enough for it to take root. When that approach faltered, he then brought in the Bush attack team who savaged him in 2000 and turned the reins over to them.

Bush's team immediately plunged McCain's campaign into an appalling display of negativity that ran counter to everything he had modeled throughout his career. The so-called leader did nothing.

The pathway continued downward. McCain offered no grand vision, no overriding philosophy, no uplifting message, just juvenile attacks that his opponent was a celebrity. According to McCain, Obama's great sin was that people liked him...that voters would assemble to actually listen to him. Record-breaking crowds gathered across the United States and throughout Europe for first-hand exposure to the message of hope and change. No one was following 'the leader.'

Then came the worst mistake of all. After vetting vice president contenders for months, he held a short conversation with a little-known governor from Alaska. Thirty minutes later, he had a nominee. The leadership virtues of consultation and deliberation, of exercising reasonable judgment, were all casualties to his impulses. It was the Magic 8 Ball at the helm. The leader followed.

The other missteps are recent enough to recall with clarity. He careened through the economic meltdown, bouncing from position to position like a pinball. In a final act of desperation, he cast his sailor's honor overboard and began steering his campaign through the mud and sludge directly to the rocky shore.

The passengers aboard the SSS McCain Disaster, sensing their iminent doom, have begun to jump overboard. The captain of the ship plows on...either oblivious to the fact that his crew is deserting him or powerless to do anything about it. Neither being a striking display of leadership.

So here we are...nine days before the election, and news organizations are reporting this his VP nominee is the latest to abandon him. She had always let it be known publicly when she didn't agree with one of McCain's decisions (pulling out of Michigan, not using Rev. Wright to attack Obama, for examples), but we were to see a more brazen display of disloyalty. Campaign staff for both McCain and Palin are going on the record to say that she is out for herself at this point. Ignoring advice from McCain and doing her own thing. And with all this going on, not a word from McCain.

Leadership, huh.

Top 10 reasons to reject McCain

With apologies to Dave Letterman and the Home Office, here are the People's Pundit's Top Ten Reasons to Reject Sen. John McCain:

No. 10 -- After creating signs, posters, commercials, and gazillions of specialty items proclaiming 'Country First,' McCain subjects us to endless recitations of his "I'm a war hero" story. Yeah, you got smacked around for five years. Get some counseling. Enough already.

No. 9 -- Speaking of counseling, after selectively dribbling out parts of his medical records, we learned he hasn't released ANY mental health records. Ok tough guy. You just reminded us that you were tortured for five years and subjected to inhuman cruelties. Shouldn't we get some assurances that you won't literally go cuckoo for coco puffs?

No. 8 -- Cindy Lou? Ok, I'm not mad at you for this one. Crashed three Navy planes, Millions of dollars. Ex wife payoff fund, Millions of Dollars. Marrying a stupid-rich know-your-place Barbie and getting seven houses, 13 cars and your own plane while she stands behind you gazing adoringly? Priceless.

No. 7 -- Insanity: Employing the Hillary Clinton campaign strategy of highlighting your experience, denigrating Obama's positivity, and randomly smearing your opponent yet expecting a different result. Helloooo! Get a clue. We already saw how this movie ends.

No. 6 -- Suspending his campaign to go campaign. In the worst of all stunts, McCain gambled his reputation to try and lead 535 people who had no inclination or reason to follow him and over whom he had no leverage. Stupid.

No. 5 -- No poker face -- Telegraphed to the entire world when he was angry, exasperated and disgusted in every debate. How are you going to conduct serious, hardnosed negotiations when everyone knows how to push your buttons?

No. 4 -- He dissed Dave. Really? You thought it would be a good idea to blow off Dave Letterman to go do an interview on the SAME NETWORK? Really?

No. 3 -- Joe the Plumber. After lifting up Joe the Plummer as the symbol of the poor would-be business owner who can't pay taxes on a quarter of a million dollars, we find out he's not a plumber, his first name isn't Joe, he had no plans to buy a business, he makes $40,000 a year, he didn't pay his taxes, and he's a Republican. Naturally, these revelations are evidence of an Obama smear.

No. 2 -- Remained unacceptably silent when attendees yelled "kill him" and "off with his head" about Obama, then whined that Rep. Lewis hurt his feelings. How do you sleep at night?!

And the No. 1 reason to reject McCain.... (drum roll please)

No. 1 -- We can't take four years of hearing him say "My Friends" without wanting to scream "Kill Him!" or "Off with his head!"

From Selma to Sarah: Why John Lewis is mad

Rep. John Lewis is mad. But then Rep. Lewis always seems to be mad.

No matter what the news of the day, Lewis seems to be mad about it and then uses his anger to remind us of his place in the civil rights era, which gives him license to be mad.

I was halfway through my reflexive eye rolling before realizing that this time Lewis was right. His anger was justified, and he expressed it in this statement:

As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.

Naturally McCain and his allies cried foul. McCain was no George Wallace. The statement was unfair. I have to agree. McCain is no George Wallace. But that's not what Lewis was saying. His statement was that McCain and Palen were similar in that they "created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans."

They were sowing the seeds of hatred and division.

That much should be evident as those seeds bore fruit this week. At a political rally, members of the audience not only screamed that Barack Obama was a terrorist but also that they should kill him. Kill him.

Just in case you missed the weight of that statement, let me repeat. Kill him.

That angry mob made a lot of people mad, not just Lewis. It scared some of us to see threats of human life treated so cavalierly. That anger could skew someone's judgment to the point that they would openly call for someone's life.

We are far removed from the hatred of Jim Crow days, but we should not lose sight of the lessons. That's the role Rep. Lewis still plays for us today. I share his anger. Maybe it's time to listen to him.