We have heard the word ‘CHANGE” used a lot lately. Change means to alter, convert or revolutionize. Most of us enjoy a newly improved version of anything, do we not? How about a change of seasons? We look forward to the crisp northern breezes whispering the command of change to the deciduous trees, reminding them that it is time for a change of scenery. How about a change of vehicles? Love that new car scent if you can afford to fill the tank and make the car payment! How about a change of address, change of wardrobe or change of marital-status?

     The more I think about it, change is a matter of perspective and can be positive or negative. I cannot help but think about the winds of change in the form of a killer tornado that ripped through a Boy Scout camp in Iowa this past week. The campers were probably enjoying the cooling rains until the tornado tore through. A call from your doctor informing you he saw a change in your x-ray would surely send chills down your spine and a change in marital status would be great if you were getting married but not so great if your spouse died. Job change sounds positive unless it is due to corporate downsizing and a change of hair color could be nice and easy unless you did not follow directions on the Nice and Easy box. Climate change (Global Warming) was alarming until hurricane forecaster Dr. William M. Gray told the audience at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change that the “planet will experience a global cooling trend within 10 years.”

     Then there is Obama. His avant-garde campaign slogan centers on “Change you can believe in.” Could you not say the same thing about menopause or death? Both are changes you can believe in, unfortunately.

     There is truth to Obama’s slogan because Obama has changed since the onset of his campaign. He has changed the status of his long-time friendship to Pastor Wright, and then changed his church affiliation. Obama changed the definition of his friendship with Bill Ayers, (former leader of a Communist-driven homegrown terrorist group who bombed the Capitol building and the Pentagon.). Obama changed (within 24 hours) his position regarding Iran’s volatility (or lack thereof) due to its diminutive size (A small malignant tumor is nothing to worry about?), and changed his top aid, James Johnson, due to an alleged association with DC special interests.

     The way I see it, Obama is the extreme left‘s lackey. He is attractive, intelligent, educated and probably got an A+ in teleprompter 101 at Harvard, but he is not a leader. A good speech reader does not make a good president. I compare Obama to the wizard in the Wizard of Oz. The great wizard spoke authoritatively and convincingly until Dorothy and crew saw who he really was - a short, little fat man behind a big machine. Obama’s “big machine” may make him sound convincing to the ignorant or appealing to the idealist, but his lack of foreign policy experience in addition to his extremely questionable friendships and associations serve to peel the curtain back and expose who Obama is to the realist.

Most Americans agree that change is in the air. Few of us desire the winds of change to come like a 230 m.p.h. tornado blowing us from Kansas to the Land of Oz. None of us want to wake up the morning after the election with an “I’m not in Kansas anymore” feeling in our stomachs. Instead, most of us prefer change to come gently and predictably, just like those northern breezes whispering to the forest that it is time for a change of scenery.