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Do you feel a draft? Apparently John McCain does.

While at one of his pseudo town hall meetings in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the presumptive Republican nominee let it slip that he would support a return to a military draft. McCain was responding to a question from the mother of a wounded soldier.

While referencing McCain's oft repeated pledge to follow Usama Bin Laden "to the gates of hell" the woman raised several issues. She reportedly reminded McCain of serious failures in caring for wounded veterans and the deplorable state of U.S. military readiness.

Stating "if we don't reenact the draft I don't think we'll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell", the concerned mother - and the applauding audience - waited for McCain's response. In a style typical of a man who speaks before he thinks, McCain responded "Let me say that I don't disagree with anything you said"

Did McCain know what he was saying when he said it? Long a critic of returning to a military draft, did McCain just not listen? Or did he just commit political suicide? Either way his response is truly stunning.

Any objective observer of John McCain knows that he has converted the vaunted "Straight Talk Express" of 2000 into the Double Talk Express of 2008. Flip flopping like a red herring out of water McCain has changed his mind on several key policy points, from opposing a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to opposing - then embracing - the failed Bush tax cuts. Could this be the fish that finally derails his campaign?

The War on Iraq was a direct result of the failed Neoconservative strategy of preemptive war. Throwing up one boogie man after another, America has been kept in an ungodly state of perpetual war for the last 8 years. Combined with the outsourced war on the cheap strategy of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the result has been a U.S. military stretched to the point of breaking.

Enter John McCain with a strategy of occupation with no end in sight and things look grim indeed. Perhaps the questioner was right. Just how does McCain intend to realize his twisted vision of war without end? Where will the he find the troops needed for four, eight or - as McCain so plainly stated - one hundred years of war?

The War on Iraq has brought untold misery, death and grief to military families. As the rest of the country worries about the recession, military families have borne the burden of this endless war. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been needlessly slaughtered and millions have been left homeless. Does McCain, after declaring victory in 2003, now feel a need to share the misery?

Only McCain knows. Look for his handlers to backtrack on this flippant response to a concerned mother. If we are to take him at his word - as he insists we should - does John McCain intend, as President, to bring back a military draft? The last thing Camp McCain wants is the suggestion that their candidate favors the forced conscription of young Americans.

But there lies the rub for Camp McCain.

How do they begin to explain away his strident agreement with the notion that a return to a military draft is the only way to get Bin Laden? Perhaps it was just a lack of judgment or worse, McCain really feels that a draft would be a good idea. Camp McCain and their candidate are now painted into a corner from which there may be no escape.

Copyright 2008 Michael O'Brien All Rights Reserved

Over the last week or so, John McCain has been stumping through southern Ohio, preaching a gospel of offshore oil drilling while attacking Barack Obama for being too famous. McCain had to know that he was preaching to the choir while he recited a litany of economic hardships faced by Ohio's working families.

Ohioans know all too well what years of Republican economic policies have wrought on our communities. Thousands of lost jobs and growing underemployment has decimated Ohio's middle class and thrown more families into poverty. Unemployment in Ohio is up and the gap between rich and poor has never been wider.

John McCain cried crocodile tears over the loss of jobs in places like Wilmington. McCain's righteous indignation over the loss of 10,000 Ohio jobs belies his lack of a comprehensive economic plan.

While McCain rails that Barack Obama will raise taxes on the middle class, a study by the independent Tax Policy Center clearly shows McCain's claims to be false. While refusing to acknowledge that the economic policies of the last 8 years have been an utter disaster for working families, McCain's prescription is more of the same. His plan for more tax subsidies for corporations, extending tax cuts for the wealthy and a continuation of unfair trade policies will keep us on the road to economic ruin.

The country - and our great state - deserves more than a third term of Bushonomics. We deserve a President who has a plan to start us on the road to economic justice and security.

Barack Obama has a comprehensive plan that will create jobs, restore fairness to tax policies, help small businesses expand and protect the rights of workers. Rebuilding our infrastructure, expanding access to health care and leading the way on energy policy will provide Ohio - and the country - with the economic security we need.

For decades, some corporations have attempted to sway the vote of their employees. In some subtle and not so subtle ways, some corporations threaten, cajole and induce employees to vote against their own economic interest.

During my years working for a major aerospace company, it was common for managers to drop off donation cards. The expectation was that employees would gladly pony up to the company's political action committee. Not donating could mean finding your name on the next list of lay-offs. No one ever came to me directly and said the words "donate or else" but the message was crystal clear.

Forcing employees to make a choice that may run counter to their ethics or economic benefit is a power that employers have used with relative impunity. Allegations of pressure by employers are hard - if not impossible- to prove. Workers feel powerless, especially in this time of economic uncertainty.

In the latest attempt at corporate coercion, Wal Mart is herding managers and supervisors into mandatory meetings. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the message at these meetings is clear - vote for Democrats in November and unionization is sure to follow.

The company claims that the meetings are not an attempt to sway the how managers vote. Some managers and supervisors are not buying that line. In the WSJ report, one Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri knew better, saying "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote".

Let's hope that other Wal Mart managers - and workers in similar situations - see these tactics for what they are - intimidation on a grand scale.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121755649066303381.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

Copyright 2008 Michael O'Brien All rights Reserved