That´s where the JOHN McCAIN/COLIN POWELL ticket would make more sense. Both are experienced and tried by fire, and to the WORLD they wouldn´t necessarily mean a third Bush term, but an honest attempt to correct the mistakes of the Bush administration.

Believe me, IT´S TRUE LEADERSHIP THE WORLD NEEDS, and whether you like it or not, if Obama were to sit in front of Ajmadinejad, Castro, Chávez or Jong Il, he´s going to look so SMALL and humble that nothing coming out of his mouth would mean anything to these thugs, apicture resembling that of a well-intentioned Chamberlain waving the empty promises of someone like Hitler.

The threats faced by today´s world and the western hemisphere are so HUGE that we need common sense and a strong diplomacy.

An economic war is being waged upon us here in Latin America by the raising Asian giants, and if we´re being already impoverished, think of your Auto industry in shambles because of the STRONG LEADERSHIP they’re lacking.

It´s not protectionism that needs to be applied but effective leadership to reconvert industries, yours and ours, into making them more competitive, more innovative. Latin America CAN and SHOULD become your natural ally, both politically and economically, so we can resist any crisis better, sharing some of your workload with us here, so illegal immigration can be deterred with effective solutions, not barriers.

Meanwhile, you can RE-TRAIN your work force so none of your jobs would be affected, and the american worker, who’s also an american consumer, can still have a fairer chance, and goods still be produced and bought at affordable and competitive prices. WE NEED TO LEARN HOW TO BE EFFICIENT AND PROFITABLE AGAIN. Let´s face it : we´ve become lazy and our sorry situation is nobody´s fault but our own.

I think terrorism should be fought more decissively; our determination and resolution shouldn´t be challenged; a zero tolerance policy against it is still necessary. There is no ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS or POLITICAL reason to justify it. And a McCAIN/POWELL formula would also send this message.
We down here in Colombia, for the last 40 years have suffered from the worst acts of terrorism perpetrated by the most savage form of communist insurgence ever known since the Khmer Rouge.

The F.A.R.C. has allies in the oil-rich corrupt regime of neighboring Venezuela whose dictator plans to use them as a trojan horse in his quest of brutally annexing our peace-loving democracy to his domains. Hugo Chávez keeps buying weapons from an irresponsible Putin, and plans to access the Pacific via-our homeland so he can supply the dreaded chinese communist tyranny with cheap oil in the beginning century. WE MUST STOP HIM. And believe me, Obama won’t and can’t.

As the cowards and opportunists that they are, the communists SANDINISTAS, Daniel Ortega’s band in Nicaragua, have joined Chávez in putting a squeeze on Colombia, to revive their long-forgotten and ludicrous pretensions on the Colombian islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina as well as their surrounding archipiélagos on colombian waters of the Caribbean; challenging with no arguments Colombia’s legitimate and un-disputed two hundred years-old tradition of un-interrupted sovereignty exerted over these islands and waters.

Such preposterous claims have been made in the hopes that a false and non-existant territorial dispute will divert people’s attention from the alarming reality of Nicaragua’s sad string of corrupt and failed regimes, sky-rocketing inflation and terrible management of its own economy. Facts all true that have placed this miserable population as the poorest in the whole hemisphere, second only to Haiti.

The Sandinista government, built on remnants of another bloody communist guerrilla, also provides haven, shelter and weapons to F.A.R.C terrorists in order to gain simpathy with their scarce communist peers in Colombia, also competing for gaining Chávez favor, just the same way Castro did, in order to breathe more air into his defunct Cuban regime.

Adding to this, Chávez´puppet in Ecuador IS harboring the F.A.R.C. terrorist also, along with their camps, and their drug-manufactoring labs from which they finance their organization. A fact that has been denounced repeatedly in the past by Colombia, and deliberately ignored or consented by Ecuador’s pro-Chávez officials.

Colombia´s Army, constantly attacked from this outposts, at this point had no other choice but to bomb some of these camps neighboring our border, where F.A.R.C´s top boss Raúl Reyes, a known U.S. citizens kidnapper, had always found safe haven; and where communist indoctrination of gullible and naive international activists have been taking place to fuel the smearing and dis-information strategy on the world’s opinion about the reality of our country’s situation.

Thanks to God, U.S. collaboration and training, our forces GOT HIM. He was our Némesis, our Bin Laden so to speak. And also more recently, the entire world rejoiced as our Army struck another blow to these terrorists by rescueing 15 hostages unharmed from their clutches, including three american contractors. Communists all around the world can´t cope with this sonorous defeat and already have launched an all-out media smearing offensive to belittle this triumph.

Some of them were kept in the jungle for more than ten years. The americans alone were retained for six years under the worst conditions. Need more? Ask Thomas Howes, Marc Goncalves and Keith Stansell…

Or the relatives of Larry Gay La’henaha’e, Ingrid Washinawatok and Terence Freitas, native-americans slained long ago by A.K.A. “Grannobles”, another F.A.R.C. thug, while defending colombian aboriginal communities from F.A.R.C.

We must STOP these guys, who along with Chávez, Ortega, Correa, Castro, Bin Laden, Ajmadinejad, Jong Il, Al-Sadr, Nasrala, Hizbollah, Hamas and many others are nothing but tentacles of the multi-national web of world’s international terrorism; a sad wrongful, murderous and fanatical entity that deems everything pro-western, pro-democracy, pro-freedom as FIT for ultimate annihilation by the most ruthless means.

A John McCain / Colin Powell ticket CAN STOP THEM.

The democrats have chosen poorly betting all their chips between the Charisma card and the “Glamour” card of the Clintons who believe me from the distance, they´re no Kennedys. Obama is not a bad person and certainly his constituents must be more than pleased. He´s well intentioned but LACKS LEADERSHIP. That makes him the WRONG man for the job. Just like Bush. And picking the WRONG man is only going to be noticed under the WORST circumstances. Just like Bush. Republicanism as a whole failed here, not because it´s evil as some paranoid Liberal mongers roar, but because it was blinded by the WRONG CHOICE OF PEOPLE. It´s the WRONG PERSON making the WRONG decissions and appointing the WRONG people, once he´s onboard. That´s shown under the WORST adversities (9-11, Katrina, Tokio protocol, Unilateralism in launching the Iraq campaign).

Powell was dragged unfortunately into this and at one point, he left wisely. In fact, he DISCREETLY took distance from this administration´s mess, and the people is so aware of it that his credentials remain IMPECCABLE.

The good thing about these two leaders is that both acknowledge the errors already made, and the need for a corrective way out. A McCAIN / POWELL formula should (and would) build more consensus internationally ¿How about appointing Joe Lieberman as Scy. Of State? THAT´S PRACTISING ELEGANT DIPLOMACY. That´s a whole lot more than the empty charge of ultra-optimistic-wishful “Yes, we can” hot air rethoric.

In serious cinema, biographic epics should be played by REAL ACTORS. Look-alikes only account for bad movies. Not only is needed someone that looks the part. He´s got to be able to PLAY THE PART. It´s the same in politics. We may not like the way McCain looks, or his age won´t appeal to younger voters or sway the media. But deep inside WE KNOW he´s the right man for the job.

That´s what an election is all about.

Thank you for your time, and for the opportunity to contribute.