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Hernando Today

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Hernando Today

Published: November 6, 2008

Updated: 11/06/2008 10:00 am

Vote Perplexing

I am truly bewildered and disappointed today with my fellow Americans. I don't understand how the majority of them could have voted for Barack Obama.

First of all, let me say this is not meant to be derogatory toward Obama. He may yet become a great president. I am just questioning the reasoning behind voting for him now. Was it just for the sake of change? Was it racially motivated? Was it because he is an eloquent African-American?

Was it because the incumbent president is Republican, so you decided to vote Democratic? I just don't know the reasoning to vote for someone so young, inexperienced and unproven.

Here is what I do know, however, and why I chose to vote for Sen. John McCain. When Obama was 1 or 2 years old, lying in his crib, McCain was in the cockpit of his fighter jet on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, waiting for possible orders to strike a Russian missile site on the island of Cuba. When Obama, or "Barry Sotero," was in grade school (in Indonesia, I might add), McCain, after being shot down over North Vietnam, was being brutally tortured every day in a POW camp. When Obama was attending one prestigious college after another (by the way, where did he get all that money anyway?), McCain was again serving his country as a U.S. senator.

In Obama's victory speech, he said his winning the election shows the American dream is alive in this country. I beg to differ with him. I don't know when we started to change as a country, but we have changed. The ideals we used to hold in high regard seem to have been forgotten by many Americans. If old-time Hollywood were to make a movie about someone rising up and becoming the president, what better script could they write than McCain's real life? McCain deserved to be elected this time around. Obama's time would have come in the future.

America's lack of respect for someone's sacrifices for his country, for his service to his country and for his loyalty and love for his country is astounding. McCain was shot down a second time, only this time by his fellow Americans!

Russ Colombo

Spring Hill

Welcome To A New America

Anyone who doesn't think we are living in a new America today was sleeping last night.

History has been made in more ways than any of us could have imagined. Today, there is new hope, not just on a national level, but on a local level. Voters said it loud and clear: Enough of the old way of doing things. We can do better.

Today we not only have a new president-elect, but two out of three of our county commissioners have been replaced, not because they were Democrats or Republicans, but because they represented change.

Regardless of your party affiliation, I believe we are all agreed on one thing. What we had was not working. Just look around, the evidence is everywhere. Our economy is in a shambles, unemployment is rising, young people cannot afford to go to college and income is declining.

Now is the chance for our new representatives to show us that they will take us to a better place.

We need to move forward. We need people to work together to make life better for all of us.

Who does not want to see fewer foreclosure signs on lawns across our communities?

Who does not think that our health care system could use some improvement?

Who does not care if our young people get the best education on the planet?

Who does not believe that we all need opportunities for better jobs, with salaries that will allow us to support our families on one income - not two or three.

This is not the impossible dream. It is the American Dream. We have a right to fight for it, work for it, live it and pass it along to our children.

America proved on Nov. 4 that our democracy works. Our voices can be heard, and we are ready to take on the challenges of the 21st century, affirming that we are indeed the greatest nation on earth.

Good things are coming to this country because, above all else, America woke up on Election Day. The alarm clock went off, and we all got up.

Good morning. And welcome to the new America.

Maryann Tobin

Brooksville

Black Tuesday

A very large part of my country died yesterday. A country, that I gave my left leg for, is no longer the place that thousands of men and women who sacrificed life and limb in the defense of her has been turned over to someone who has not earned or deserved to be called commander in chief.

May God forgive those misguided and gullible souls who have inflicted this shame on this great country of ours. I am unable to forgive and will remember all who have stated that we need a change. I pray that everyone remember this Black Tuesday in the future and not to forget that you voted for a change.

Philip Strmensky

Brooksville

A Daughter's Lament

Six years ago, at age 13, I wrote a letter to the editor expressing my disappointment in the residents of Hernando County. Here, at age 19, I find myself in the very same position.

I have campaigned for my father, Chris Kingsley, since I was 8 years old. I have seen what he has done for Hernando and watched as he threw his heart and soul into his job. I was there when my dad worked long nights and weekends for his position, and I have seen him work hard for anyone who came to him. As I am a sophomore at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, I was unable to be with him through this campaign.

When I flew down to Florida the weekend before the election, I was appalled by citizens of my county, and after the election even more so. The level of ignorance I encountered was astounding. When I approached one boy voting in his first election with some literature on my father his response was, "no thanks, my grandma gave me a list of who I need to vote for." He had no information on what or for whom he was voting.

Another thing that shocked me was the lack of integrity on behalf of my father's opponent, but more precisely Blasie Ingoglia. If Ingoglia had problems with the way government was run, then he should put his own face out there and not hide behind his money and some other person being pushed into the position by deceitful underground tactics and lies. His purely partisan bias is not the type of democracy that we need, and his statement that partisan politics had nothing to do with it is absurd.

Just because I have not lived in Hernando this election year does not mean that I have not seen the lies and stories people come up with. Belonging to a school where integrity is one of our core values, I cannot imagine that a person who condoned the actions of Ingoglia would have much that I could respect. It is a shame that the residents of Hernando once again failed to see what they had.

My father did not fight for the whims of certain individuals or parties but fought for what was truly best for the county. People are selfish and greedy and when they are not provided with instant gratification, they complain. I wish the residents of Hernando County the best of luck with their choice and James Adkins luck when they tear him apart in four years as well.

Kali Kingsley

U.S. Air Force Academy

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