By Robert Amoroso

Perhaps to some my endorsement of Senator John McCain, for President of the United States, comes as no surprise, and yet for those readers who have come to that conclusion…you would be wrong. Because my endorsement isn’t based on ideology alone, it’s a careful thoughtful and researched analysis of both men.

Honesty and trust are the two entities within the human condition that for me trumps ideology. Some of us will inevitably change our believes as we go through and experience this condition called life. However, for me, honesty and trust are the foundation blocks of any relationship.

Love, hate, passion, lust are all strong and powerful emotions, and yet honesty and trust, for me, eventually decides the outcome…without it, no relationship can endure. We may love a candidate’s style, his appearance, his demeanor, and yet we may feel uneasy about him, and so it is with me and Senator Obama.

Why the uneasiness?

One would think that after 12-months of none stop campaigning, watching Senator Obama debating the likes of Senator Hillary Clinton, in the primaries, and then Senator McCain in the general election, that one would get a measure of the man. I simply cannot.

However, I can judge him, by his relationships and how they’ve endured. Obviously, they haven’t. Oddly enough they all seem to have ended only after the media began to investigate those questionable alliances. Ironically these are the same people who helped launch Obama’s political career. The likes of Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, and ACORN, have all fallen by the waste-side. These fringe characters and organizations to most mainstream Americans are extreme in there believes, and have used fear, intimidation, and violence as a political tool, and yet Senator Obama would have us believe that he knew nothing of their words or deeds.

I can also judge Senator Obama on experience; in that there is none…he’s a blank slate, an empty suit, his eloquent words simply do not measure up.

However, this article is an endorsement of Senator John McCain, in that the record is clear. Take a close look at him, look beyond the thinning gray hair, beyond his 72-years, beyond his halting speeches, pause a moment and watch him raise his crippled and broken arms and ask yourself “what price would we pay for freedom”, then ask yourself “would we sacrifice ourselves, for others”?

Then take a close look at his record, and ask yourself once again, who’s the true agent of “change”? Someone who votes “present” or someone who actually votes his core values, unafraid of the outcome, reaching across the aisle to the opposition, that same true grit and maverick spirit that helped him survive in a prisoner-of-war camp, is what this old proud warrior, will bring to the oval office.

After the glitz and the glamour have faded, after the speech writers have gone home, who would you trust to protect us from another unthinkable act…for me it’s Senator John McCain.