Senator Obama, where are you?

This is not the time for a happy smile. This is the moment for you to show your strength, your substance. McCain is attacking you. The American people want to see you fight back. If you can't fight back against McCain, how can you possibly be an effective Commander in Chief and defend the country against its adversaries. The world may not be the Hobbesian jungle that the Republicans want us to believe it is. But there are bad guys in the world. We are not ready to disband either our local police force or our defensive military.

• How dare you John McCain lie to the American people about solving the energy problem?! Your party has been in charge for the past 8 years. You got us into this mess. How can you be so shameless as to tell us that you can get us out?! And especially by doing more of the same. Are you crazy? Aren't you smart enough to learn from the experience of the last eight years?
  
• How dare you John McCain take advantage of a recession and the suffering of our fellow citizens to play dishonest politics?!
  
• How dare you John McCain lead people to believe that you can solve the energy crisis when all you are really doing is offering the country one more hit of poison—and even that's a lie. Even(!) George Bush knows that we have to solve our addition to oil. That means get off it, not feed our habit with stories of oil forever if we just keep drilling.
  
• How dare you John McCain attempt to lull people to sleep and attempt to convince them that offshore drilling will solve anything. Misleading the country in this way is the most unpatriotic thing you can do.
  
• Have you no shame? You act like you are willing to sell the country down the river to the oil companies in an attempt to steal the election.
  
• People are suffering John McCain and you are telling them to take two drill bits and call you in the morning. Are you crazy? High oil prices are a symptom of something much more serious. Don't tell the American people that you will lower the cost of oil by reducing the oil tax. Don't tell them that you will solve the problem by focusing on the symptoms. That's bad medicine and you would make a very bad doctor.
  
• How dare you John McCain be obstructionist in finding a solution to the energy problem. We have a serious problem, and you are apparently not capable of even looking it in the eye. You are telling the country to put its head in the sand and see if there's any more oil down there, and then perhaps the problem will go away. You are making it that much harder for those of us who want to deal with the problem to get started.
• So get out of the way John McCain. If you can't lead towards a solution, and if you can't follow when led, get out of the way!
  
• They call you a war hero? They call you a patriot? You are doing more damage to the country than any terrorist. How dare you!

Senator Obama, where are you? Why aren't you saying this sort of thing. The American people want to see your fire, your anger, your conviction, your ability to lead in a crisis. (And this is a crisis. The Republicans will keep blaming you for the energy problem and may very well steal the election. If that's not a crisis, what is?)

The country can take it if you can lead. But if you don't have it in you to respond to McCain's lies and lead in the right direction, you don't have what it takes to be president.