Solidly undecided on Prez race

I spent Friday afternoon talking at length to my mother's attorney, who is a lifelong Democrat and former starter on the Vanderbilt University football team.

Besides a love for my mother who went to heaven nine days ago, we share a deep admiration for Lt. Robert Kalsu, Jr. He was an offensive tackle and All-America at the University of Oklahoma and a standout in his rookie season with the Buffalo Bills. Unlike other professional football players, when his National Guard unit was activated to go to war, he went onto the battlefield.

He said he was no better than any other man. He believed he must serve when asked for love of country.

With the 101st Airborne based out of Ft. Campbell, Ky., he headed an atillery unit in Vietnam. And he was killed while carrying 100-pound artillery shells on his shoulders to enable his men to return fire on the enemy. Lt. Kalsu also died on the day his son was born.

For those of us who lived in Del City, OK., and attended St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church there along with Kalsu's parents, this loss hit hard. Robert Kalsu, Jr., became my first hero in my young life. He remains there in my mind and heart now.

It is because of Lt. Kalsu that my mom's attorney and I want to make sure a president is elected who will make sure that the kind of sacrifice like Kalsu's will not be in vain. For me, I believe this war must end soon. This nation cannot fiscally afford this conflict and morally cannot afford the sacrifice of more lives, particularly those of innocent civilians. Meanwhile, the war in Afghanistan continues to escalate, and the hunt for Osama bin Laden must be made there.

This war should end in a way that preserves the sanctity of the sacrifice made by American men and women there, while acknowledging that members the Iraqi army must be the ones to secure the country.

My Mom's attorney says he wishes Sen. Barack Obama was eight years older and Sen. John McCain was eight years younger. Then, the choice would be easier, he said.

For me, Obama has not made the needed overtures to the Hispanic-American electorate. He has yet to show it the kind of respect that would be recognized, particularly by our elders. Although a Wall Street Journal poll showed him leading 62% to 28% against McCain among Hispanic voters, all that McCain needs to reach George W. Bush's 2000 take of the Latino vote is only 7 more percentage points. That is doable.

Sen. McCain must overcome some members of his own political party who have gone xenophobic in their action against undocumented workers. Meanwhile, our seaports remain virtually unguarded for things like dirty bombs that terrorists could smuggle in.

So, I, too, remain undecided in my choice for president. Other Americans are in the same situation, which does not bode well for Obama who still must sell himself to vast segments of the American people.