It’s not even clear yet that he’s a diamond in the rough.

What is clear is that this is one of those moments in history when chances have to be taken, when untested raw talent is preferable to a known entity whose best maverick days are far behind him.

McCain’s judgment, through his choice of an unqualified vice-presidential candidate, among other campaign miscues, has been shown to be impulsive and erratic.

His lack of understanding of the global economy, and how it’s intertwined with the fate of working (as well as unemployed) Americans, is more frightening than any movie that was available for rental on Halloween.

Perhaps most importantly, Obama is smart enough, and secure enough, to know what he doesn’t know, and to surround himself with world class, universally respected advisers to fill in the gaps. Not unlike what a top shelf CEO would do.

In contrast, the Dan Quayles and Sarah Palins of the world are so constricted mentally that they didn’t and don’t recognize how mentally constricted they are. Very dangerous. That McCain, who at one point seemed like a pretty savvy fellow, allowed the choice of someone he knew in his heart of hearts isn’t qualified to be veep, points to 4 more years of a rudderless ship. A Navy man should know that’s not a viable vessel.

Paul Volcker, Warren Buffet, and Colin Powell know a lot more about the economy, foreign policy, and military strategy than you or I do, and they’ve cast their ballots in the form of endorsements for Obama. McCain’s got the Verminator and Cheney. Enough said.

LooseKannon and LooseKannon.com endorse Barack Obama for President of the United States.

                          

Given that she’s now made it clear that her tepid endorsement of Barack has given way to a full fledged desire to see him lose, he had no choice but to leave her off the ticket.

She covets the brass ring more than the well being of the country she claims to love. Very, very sad.

She cooked her own goose. I learned a thing or two as well.

                          

So ex-KGB strongman Putin decides to make his Kremlin old school move as the world and its leaders are in an Olympic stupor. Since I give him and his crew credit for being geopolitical chess masters, I’ve got to assume that they were aware that their incursion in Georgia feeds directly into the McCain campaign.

So here are two possibilities to ponder:

1. He decided that it was of major and overriding value to intimidate Georgia and other neighboring former Soviet states right now, even though he’d be aiding the cause of our more hawkish presidential candidate.

2. He, for reasons I can’t fathom yet, would actually prefer a McCain presidency. If I had a trusty Russki AK-47 to my head and had to give my best guess why this might be so, it would be because he sees McCain as having more potential to bumble (a la Dubya) the increasingly complex problems that will land squarely on the desk of our next chief executive. While I give credit to McCain as being a brighter and more substantial fellow than the Bushster, he still isn’t a great multi-tasker, which is a prerequisite for public office in 2009.

Now Putin can also make mistakes, and he may have overplayed his hand here, as his Georgian adventure has steeled the resolve of Poland to get the U.S. provided anti-missile defense system into place ASAP.

Any thoughts on the above are welcome and I’ll post the best of them, as I think we’re all searching for answers, and if we’re not, we ought to be.

Editor’s Update: Here’s AP video posted today of Condoleezza Rice signing the missile deal With Poland. The video is a snoozefest, but the implications of the signing should have you wide awake.

                          

How quickly will we be lulled into a catatonic stupor by Saudi promises of increased oil output?

Now that we’ve alarmed their obscenely wealthy princes by cutting down on our consumption in the face of budget busting prices, are we going to stick our heads back in the Arabian sand and put our urgency to fund and implement alternative sources of energy on the back burner?

Are we going to drill closer to home instead of innovate? And if we’re going to pay the price of drilling, can we use an equal amount of currency to find a way to harness the energies of the sun, the seas, and the subterranean so that we’re not compromised politically and ethically by our need for fossil fuel from people who don’t much care for us?

Are we that easy to manipulate?

Are we as intellectually lazy as we’ve shown ourselves to be over the last 8 years, voting for a friendly fella whose idea of research in college was finding out which New Haven 7-Eleven carried Heineken by the case?

Are we ready to wake up?