We are officially closed for summer vacation. But before we leave, we’d like to thank you, our loyal audience for your continued support with our promise to do our very best to inform and entertain when we return on September 3rd 08.Lee has packed his gear bag with his new Wilson tennis racket, a fifty pack of wilson T-4 balls, chips and salsa, Patron Tequila, Mr. & Mrs. T’s Margarita Mix, the Zune along with Kerwin Swint’s new book “Dark Genius”. With shades and sunscreen, the Cool Guy is good to go!But we are told however that his laptop is always within reach should something crazy break on the campaign trail.

It would have been nice to end our last podcast and posting for the summer on a high note, but as fate would have it we are compelled to report the facts as we see them. Barack Obama’s triumphant return the to States after his tour de force trip overseas was met with mild criticisms from the press for maintaining limited press access and hard hitting below the belt gibes for his failure to visit the wounded troops while in Germany being leveled at him from John McCain. Like a jail house bitch, McCain continue his rant this weekend challenging Barack Obama’s patriotism by overstating his objections to Obama not making the troop visit a priority while in Germany . We’re not sure if it was more disgusting or pathetic to watch a man who has billed himself as a straight talker, a maverick and former war hero to engage in the deceptive tactic of creating and inflating an issue to rain on a better man’s parade.What should have been left to underlings and campaign flunkies, John McCain himself appeared with George Stephanopoulos this Sunday, hammering Barack Obama not only for his lack of concern for the troops, but also his inability to understand how to wage war, win war and anything related to foreign policy. John McCain vainly went on to harangue Obama for doing exactly what he goaded him into the first place; go abroad and prove you can compete on the world stage.Taking the McCain challenge and winning on every score card, John McCain was left scratching his thinning hair trying to figure out how to survive the overwhelming attention and adoration Obama received. It is becoming abundantly clear that Barack Obama is the upgrade America has been waiting for a long time. The system America has been laboring under has more than outlived it’s usefulness and is indeed in need of a complete overhaul. This trip Barack Obama took furthered the case for change and that change genie that has been hidden from the American public is now in plain view for all to witness. Some may say that John McCain is a safer choice as he is like an old comfortable shoe; always there, broken in and molded neatly to every bump, lump and disfigurement a pair of tired old feet. But we think as does the rest of the world , this country needs to breakdown and buy a new pair of shoes We are in desperate need of America’s 10.0 version of domestic politics and foreign policy. We need the next generation of energy, effort , sharp minds and imagination to compete effectively with the challenges that face us. But that can’t happen with a president that needs the internet explained to them. We stick fervently to the old adage; you can’t teach new tricks to old dogs. In our opinion John McCain has only one trick left to perform and that is to just role over. Click here for the podcast We have reached that time of the year when we shut our doors until after Labor Day to retool, recuperate, remodel and recharge ourselves. We shall return anew with a fresh new look, full of new features and media offerings that should please our loyal audience; well, that’s what our intentions are but of course, you’ll be the judge. C-YA in SeptemberLee

The contrast could not be starker between the images of Barack Obama and John McCain this week as we move on to Paris from Berlin Germany, chronicling the young Senator’s history making trip abroad. Drawing an estimated two hundred thousand adoring Germans to hear the best America has produced in many years speak, was a sight to behold. Watching the throngs of Germans cheering Obama’s emotional appeal to strengthen the ties between us all and tear down the walls that separate us struck a nerve, a sentiment, and a resurgence of pride in the American spirit that this writer has been deprived of for quite some time. Seeing the American flag being proudly waved on foreign soil and not being burned and dragged in the streets with our nation’s leader being hung in effigy was also a tremendous change for the better.Witnessing a surprisingly diverse audience of races and cultures presumably filled with the curious as much as the hopeful, we could sense a feeling of goodwill welling up for an America that had let them down over the last eight years. With precise language and his usual par excellence delivery, Barack Obama touched their hearts and minds in a way that will begin the healing between our country and their Union. We found it amazing to see how one speech could go so far to repair the damage done to our western alliances.Perhaps it was Obama’s race considering the track record of America’s race relations that Europe is marveling over. Perhaps it was Obama’s background that wowed the crowds. Perhaps it was as simple as Obama being the fresh new approach the world has been waiting for that captured their imaginations. While we can’t say for sure what his appeal is and why it is so broad and wide, we can say with a high degree of certainty that John McCain could not have come close to what Barack Obama achieved on this trip this week.Conversely John McCain and his campaign spent the week bitching about Obama being arrogant to act like the president before the votes are cast, stirring up controversy for not getting equal press coverage and Barack Obama’s refusal to admit “the surge” resulted in positive conditions on the ground in Iraq. In reality, John McCain is just plain boring. Even his handlers must be secretly cringing when Senator McCain tries to speak. But in John McCain’s defense, he is hardly being served well by his campaign management as they had his visuals in the back of a supermarket cutting cheese and bad jokes while Barack Obama is seen conversing with the world’s multitudes. Alas, even granting McCain the consideration of his campaign management team being second tier in quality, that fact of the matter remains that Senator McCain is so dated, he couldn’t draw two hundred thousand flies if he was smothered in sh*t on a hot summer’s day in Arizona. The thought of John McCain, the personification of an antique rising to Obama’s European vacation occasion is both laughable and sad at the same time.

Well the early assessments of Barack Obama’s “World Get to Know Me Tour” are in and he and his campaign production company are receiving nothing but rave reviews. Before leaving Israel for the European leg of the trip, he made a predawn visit to the Wailing Wall placing a note to the big Guy in the crevices for good luck. By all accounts he left the Israelis with a favorable impression as well the Palestinian leadership. Israel was clearly the toughest audience Barack Obama was going to face on this whirlwind adventure, but he held to his P’s and Q’s while crossing every T and dotting every I to give the Israelis all the assurances they would need to feel his commitment to their security. Going one step further than John McCain did on his visit to the troubled region, Obama was gracious enough to make a stop in Ramallah to chat with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.While few in their right minds will see these gestures for anything other than what they are; an audition for the next leader of the free world, one can extrapolate that his superior performance of a statesmen will bode well for the challenges Obama will face come inauguration day.With John McCain left mumbling to a bored and totally uninterested US audience, he spent the week flinging over the top insults and accusation at Barack Obama in a vain attempt to get some airtime. Looking like the perennial shrinking violet or at best the lonesome wall flower, he and his campaign crew held to the only narrative they had left to pursue; “The Surge.” Trying desperately to gain ownership of the minimal gains the so called surge has produced McCain and the lame, tried to paint Obama with failing to acknowledge the successes of the action while still taking advantage of the results.Even that argument is being effectively beaten down with reporters digging back in their notes to determine exactly when the local Iraqis leaders decided to rebuff the outside insurgent’s efforts to create chaos through continued terror attacks.Since the timelines of events leading up to the infusion of additional forces will support Barack Obama’s stance that it is difficult to substantiate what precisely precipitated the turnaround in Iraq, there is no reason why he should concede the point to McCain. Politics is the ugliest form of war and when one finds him or herself in such a battle, one concedes nothing but the obvious. And nothing is obvious in political war.Today Germany with Angela Merkel, tomorrow France with Nicolas Sarkozy and, Saturday the UK with Gordon Brown. It looks like smooth sailing from here on out. Great show so far.Click here for the podcast