JOHANSON: Obama, the wolf in sheep’s garb

COMMENTARY:

It never ceases to amaze me how readily undecided voters - and moderates in both parties - are so willing to be swayed by personalities, by talking points, by 30-second ads, by last-minute program inducements (like Democrats promising to reduce taxes), and by their own knee-jerk reactions to imminent crises, rather than to their core underlying principles and beliefs.

This election is not a choice between "personalities." And it should not be determined by perceived differences in style, age, attractiveness or on whether it's "time" for us to show the world we're willing to put a black man in the White House.

Unlike in the past, when candidates differed little on substance, but significantly on approach, we're now at a point when our two candidates have seismically different views of America.

On the one hand, Barack Obama is a true wolf in sheep's clothing. On the outside, he's nice, pleasant, handsome, well-spoken, has cute little kids, dresses well, looks like someone we would all like to know. But underneath, he resembles an anti-American Marxist who believes the following:

-- Democrats have the answer to the current economic crisis. (Have Democrats ever had the answer to any economic crisis? The very Fannie Mae leaders who took $90-plus million in personal bonuses over the last few years - while causing the subprime mortgage crisis - have advised Mr. Obama's team.)

-- Murdering innocent babies - through abortion - is an inalienable "right." (I think Adolf Hitler supported this same position.)That marriage should be redefined to include homosexual relationships. (Inner-city poverty rates correlate with no father in the home. Imagine what it will be with no mother in the home.)

-- Government knows - better than you do - how to spend your money. (Just compare the lines and personalities at the Post Office and the DMV with those at Wendy's.)

-- It's more important to protect "wetlands" than it is to protect your family and America's industrial might.

-- "Global warming" is a bigger threat than crime, drugs, pornography, unwed mothers and immorality at all levels.

-- Noncitizens - including millions of illegal immigrants - should be allowed to vote in our elections. (You can be sure France, Russia or Cuba would never allow noncitizens to vote in their elections. And would you expect to be allowed to vote if you entered Britain illegally?)

-- We torture our prisoners of war but our enemies don't. (We don't torture our prisoners, unless you consider playing profanity-laced rap music really loud to be torture; and making enemy combatants wear underwear on their heads is merely how some college-age frat boys normally behave.)

-- The United Nations is a better form of government than our own. (And we should even care what the opinions are among the 75 percent of U.N. member-countries who do not have democratically-elected governments ... and are smaller than some of our national parks.)

-- We should elect Barack Obama because he's the first black man to run as nominee of a major party. (But that it would be ignorant and indefensible for anyone to support Sarah Palin because she's the first Republican woman to run, considering her position on the issues).

-- Appeasement to our enemies is a winnable foreign policy.

-- Surrender - ever - is in our best interests.

-- It's racist and discriminatory to require voters to "prove" they are legally entitled to vote. (Oct. 10 I saw Susan Estrich on TV claim that, while concerns about voter fraud should probably be investigated, it's not important during this election, because Mr. Obama is obviously so far ahead, that it wouldn't make any difference in the outcome. Can you believe she really said this?)

-- "Education" is the most important thing for our children. (And, of course, everyone believes this, but as we all know, the left has such a strangle-hold on our K-12 educational system and universities that it's just a pro-gay/anti-America breeding-ground for producing more Democratic voters.)

-- Mr. Obama will appoint more socialist-leaning - "let's change the Constitution" - judges to the Supreme Court.

-- We should not be allowed to drill for our own oil on our own territory (i.e., the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska).

-- Mr. Obama's claims for bipartisanship are only demands that Republicans compromise on their principles to side with Democrats. (Have you ever seen a Democrat compromise his/her values to show bipartisanship with Republicans?)

-- "Liberation theology" is a genuine religion. (When we all know it is leftist "religious-speak" for anti-American "community organizing" in Third World countries.)

-- Jesus was a "community organizer" (like Mr. Obama), and that Pontius Pilate was a "governor" (like Mrs. Palin). (When we all know that Jesus is God and Pilate was a dictator-appointed governor from Rome, not an elected official.)

I could go on and on (and even list John McCain's positions on all these same issues) but the important point is that we're not just choosing between two candidates - like we would choose a car, or a restaurant or which college to attend - we're choosing between the America we love and one we wouldn't even recognize.

Let's not so blithely flush it all away because Mr. McCain is too old, or can't use his arm normally, or because Mrs. Palin didn't go to Princeton or Harvard.

Thank goodness we have a candidate with the wisdom, experience and maturity of age. Thank goodness we have a candidate who was willing to have his arm tortured beyond repair in defense of America.

And thank goodness we have a candidate who didn't go to Princeton or Harvard (or Yale or Columbia).

Just last week, I heard Mr. Obama say, "Now is not the time to focus on ideology." Of course he would say that. That's always what the wolf says when grandma notices what big teeth he has (while he's wearing sheep's clothing).

Now is the time to focus on ideology! And now is the time for everyone to vote in the candidates who support our ideology - at all levels of government.

W.F. Walker Johanson is managing partner of the Northumberland Group in Washington, D.C., and an expert on marketing strategy.