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The question is does the United States still have the intestinal fortitude to be a Super Power? When the British occupied Iraq back in the 1920s and their troops were fired upon by the Iraqis, they would go into the village and take out 10 men and shoot them. That sent a message to the Iraqis not to mess with them. To be a Super Power means dirty deeds have to be done dirt cheap or you cease to be a Super Power. Being a Super Power is not a popularity contest. To keep enjoying the fruits and perks of a Super Power means getting your hands dirty sometimes. That is the cold hard reality of this world. Call it evolution and survival of the fittest if you will. Now how to go about being a Super Power. The model that Augustus Caesar laid down is about the best. Augustus never lived in a big palace and kept saying to the Romans that in another 5 years or so when things got better he would return Rome to being a Republic again. He fully realized that the only way he would ever cease to be a Caesar was feet first, and on occasion people went missing. During his reign of 40 or so years Rome enjoyed a Golden Age of prosperity. Unfortunately the Bush Administration and the NEO Boobs that influence its direction have failed to take that warning to heart, and have told the world it "our way or the highway." Mother always told me, "To give em a reach around to make em feel good about themselves when your screwing em." That is in essence what the Bush Administration has failed to do and you can see the results in how the world views us. Is this damage permanent, probably not unless the next administration follows the same practices, then the pattern has become set. Contrary to the beliefs of the Left, McCain is no GW Bush and will not represent 4 more years of the same thing. McCain may keep the principles of the Bush Admin BUT NOT THE PRACTICES. McCain's problem is that he doesn't convey that very well and the left keeps picking away. Hillary is smart enough and shrewd enough to know the realities of the game as she has had enough practice at it. However in practice Hillary is a morally bankrupt person, and will do or say anything to manipulate things to her own ends. The ends justifies the means is her motto, and that clarity of purpose is what made the Clinton's so successful. In other words they just out manipulated everybody else. Barrack Obama is a shape cookie and a quick study to be sure. One can see that on a weekly basis in his campaign. Besides the rhetoric of his campaign for "change" what is the reality of that message. If he should become President of the USA the day he steps into office he is going to face a huge amount of inertia in the government bureaucracy, political establishment and be facing all those special entrenched interests. Either he will modify his position to go along, to get along, or he will be marginalized as Jimmy Carter was back in the 1970's. The real danger is that Obama will use the bully pulpit to institute "change" that will eliminate dissent from the system by limiting it, which will then entrench the party that is in power permanently. Meaning the Democratic Party, which on face of it, the left will love. at least until the day that they don't like something that the government is doing to them. However as the campaign has progressed Barrack Obama has made choices which seem to indicate that he is going along to get along with the status quo. After all you have to prove yourself to be a reliable political operative to become president of the USA. That is how you get enough support to make it into the office