The current political season has intensified my love for a country that is revered by some and reviled by others. I can not be convinced, even amid the drumbeat of “change”, that America no longer is a shining city on a hill.

Our nation certainly is not invulnerable to internal conflict, as we learned so painfully in the mid-19th century. It is not immune to catastrophic economic downturns (1930s), or to severe economic bubbles (1907, 2008). It is not always on guard when enemies visit (1941, 2001).

The strength of this union will be tested again on Tuesday on an election day that is historic by any measure.

Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy for President represents a serious crossroads for the United States. If he is elected, the power Obama will inherit and how he wields it poses a serious, long term threat to the economic and physical security of our nation.

Opposition to Obama has drawn sharp criticism. Predictably, many left wings citizens, and neighbors, assume that concern voiced openly about Obama’s candidacy equates to racism. This illogical leap was, sadly, inevitable.

I am not, to quote comedian Dennis Miller, worried about the color of Obama’s skin. I am worried about the thinness of it. I am not concerned by his blood lines. But I am gravely concerned about Obama’s blood oaths (Ayers, Khalidi, Rezko, Wright, et al).

Some say Obama has turned the race for the White House into American Idol. I fear more his idle, empty social welfare rhetoric, and ideologically cluttered foreign policy vision.

Sen. John McCain prepared to become President of the United States by living, serving and persevering. Sen. Obama prepared by endearing himself to powerful and wealthy mentors, memorizing every page of the Democrat playbook and reciting it to the adoring masses with undeniable eloquence.

Before you vote on Tuesday, and if you are at all undecided, consider the eloquence of commentator Charles Krauthammer, who offers the most concise description of the Obama phenomenon I have read (below). Most of all remember that, while we are strong and resilient as a nation, we are not invulnerable, even to trifling, ambitious, unqualified political candidates.

Krauthammer, August 2008:
“Barack Obama is an immensely talented man whose talents have been largely devoted to crafting, and chronicling, his own life. Not things. Not ideas. Not institutions. But himself.

“Nothing wrong or even terribly odd about that, except that he is laying claim to the job of crafting the coming history of the United States. A leap of such audacity is odd. The air of unease at the Democratic convention ... was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments – bearing even fewer witnesses.”

By The Conservative Soldier:

As Mother's Day approaches, I am thankful for my mother, for her enduring, positive influence on my life and on countless other people of all ages over the decades. I am thankful that, at 77, she remains a pre-school teacher in a school owned by an equally healthy 78-year-old woman and family friend. It is comforting to know that Mom is infusing these little guys and gals with love, happiness and human decency, qualities they will carry with them unknowingly in the years to come.

I am thankful and blessed to have a mother to wrap my arms around on Sunday, a mother with whom to bicker about preparing the feast and doing the dishes.

And I am really, really thankful for all of the people my dear, sweet mother is not. That she is not:

Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left). Hillary Clinton. Jane Fonda. Barbara Walters. Dianne Feinstein. Gloria Steinham. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Arianna Huffington. Now there's a roster from hell if I've ever seen one.

I am most certain many of the aforementioned have children who love and adore them, who share my gratitude this Mother's Day. But that's part of the problem. They have children and grandchildren who might very well some day aspire to be them! So the cycle of femi-liberal madness will go on unabated.

Dennis Miller on his brilliant talk radio show this morning expressed surprise and dismay that the attractive, intelligent Chelsea Clinton is still up there on the campaign stump with her mom, Hillary, even as Sen. Clinton rambles on about electibility and experience and her connection to the downtrodden. "I would have thought she might get it more than she does," Miller remarked.

And then Miller's hilarious sidekick, Sal, suggested maybe Chelsea had been brainwashed at birth, and can be placed in campaign zombie, wave-and-smile mode merely by the snap of a finger or the utterance of a secret word.

Chelsea can rightly argue that she did not ask to be the daughter of the President of the United States -- and it's a wonder she is, given that Bill Clinton might have easily never gotten around to a night of passion with Hillary, for both the obvious reason and because he was probably "overbooked" most nights as his state trooper convoy snaked its way in and around Little Rock diners and hotels. Chelsea might say she did not ask to be the daughter of a political animal like Hillary Clinton, whose thirst for power knows no bounds.

But despite all of that, Chelsea might feel obligated to forgive Dad and lend moral and emotional support to Mom. (And, the way it's going, after the Clintons blow through their $104 million, Chels may be hit up for financial support, as well).

And that's the scariest part. We all know how it feels to love your Mom. You don't agree on everything, you don't want to hang out with her all day, every day. But no matter what is simmering inside you, no matter how significantly your values and beliefs and aspirations might run counter to hers, you go along and get along because Mom deserves it, at the very least. Human nature being what it is, many adult children never tell Moms (and Dads) what they need to hear, never challenge their ideas or decisions, because, well, it's too hard. Chelsea Clinton might think her Mom's candidacy is becoming a joke, but Hillary will never hear it pass through her daughter's lips.

On Mother's Day, if your Mom is with you, in body or spirit, pause to be thankful. Especially if she is a woman who put her family ahead of all else, who taught her children how to be decent human beings, who did not wallow in self pity because of the world's gender inequalities, who did not look to government and entitlement programs to get her through life, who did not contemplate ever, not for one day, membership in a labor union, who did not lean against feminism's crutch.

That's the kind of mom the world never will stop needing. And, hopefully, cherishing.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now retired as head of the church Obama "attends" in Chicago, may be, in fact, Obama's former pastor, as the Presidential candidate characterizes him. But Wright certainly is not Obama's former problem. Not by a long shot.

Run, Barack, run. From Rev. Wright. He says he'll come after you if you are elected President because you will then be the leader of a nation whose foreign policy Wright detests.

But it does not appear the Rev. will wait until Inauguration Day. He appears to be coming after Sen. Obama in the here and now. Wright's arrogant appearance Monday at the National Press Club in Washington -- on the eve of a key Democrat primary in Indiana -- can not be misinterpreted. He denies interest in the political process, but make no mistake about it, Rev. Wright is exacting his revenge on Obama.

Obama distanced himself from Wright after revelations of Wright's past ranting from the pulpit. Obama denounced the anti-American, inflammatory passages from various Wright sermons. Obama claimed he did not often hear Wright when Wright was going off on subjects such as AIDS and America's racist tendencies.

So now it is time for Obama to pay the price. The Rev. says he is raising his public profile to protect the dignity of his church, and the so-called Black Church community. Yet it is obvious this is only about Wright getting back at Obama, getting back at the mainstream media and about the care and feeding of Wright's massive ego. He is not attempting to soften his messages of contempt toward the United States and its policies. At the National Press Club, Wright actually sought to advance and sharpen those messages.

First, Wright granted a sit-down with ultraliberal commentator Bill Moyers to take a few swings at Moyers' softballs. Then he spoke before the NAACP in Detroit, pounding the podium, or was it Obama's political future he was smacking down? Why would Wright include a rant in his Detroit speech in which he called the candidate "Barack Hussein Obama"? Not once, but several times in rapid succession. The Obama camp abhors the use of Obama's middle name.

Then it was off to D.C. for a contentious Q&A at the National Press Club. Why now? Why not?

Obama must pay. If Obama falls, Wright rises. Wright will not see Obama in the Oval Office after Inauguration Day 2009 because Obama will be back home in Illinois, regrouping as a defeated man must do. And Wright wants it that way.

The Rev. is so completely delusional he would rather turn up America's racial tension a few notches, he would rather reassert the power of the Black Church and its doctrine, and he would rather become a rising celebrity. He'd rather have all of that than see Barack Obama become America's first black President.

The Rev. Wright has come home to roost. But voters on the fence may soon be leaving their perches to re-examine Hillary Clinton or John McCain, and leaving Obama with plenty of time to shop for a new house of worship.