Hear, hear. It’s a measure of how much a tribal contest American politics has become that Obama isn’t running over Romney in a complete Reaganesque landslide. This guy would have been our collective hero twenty years ago if he had an R after his name and made the right noises about abortion.
Increasingly I’m starting to see Obama as a better option than Romney. The Romney campaign has so far given me little trust in that he would be able to show firmness and independence on issues-while I didn’t agree with everything President Bush, he could and did show independence on issues such as immigration reform.
Can you name two issues he showed independence on? Or even one policy he successfully implemented which showed his independence from the party? I know it sounds snarky, but I honestly don’t think you’ve given that particular opinion the scrutiny it deserves.
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Bush tried to push through immigration reform, which his party hated him for and refused to pass.
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He practically begged congress to intervene during the financial crisis, and if it weren’t for Bush, the democrats and a handful of sane republicans, we would have had another great depression. Don’t you remember his speech to Americans where he said something like, “I’m a free market capitalist and I believe in conservative market principles. But after talking to all my my financial experts and advisers, I realize that we have to do something to prevent another great depression.” It was a stunning moment of competence in Bush’s presidency, and he deserves tons of credit for it.
I’m actually glad to see Qin recognize that Obama is actually willing to compromise, and has been moderate overall. Romney you just can’t know what kind of president he would be… would he be the kind of president he said he would be tonight, or yesterday, or the day before, or…?
Aside from the other respondents, I think both John Mace and Bricker voted for Obama in 2008.
If I recall correctly, Medicare and Medicaid form 21% of the budget, Social Security 19% and Defence 20%. Or perhaps Medicare and Medicaid should be exchanged with Social Security. At any rate, since payroll taxes were sufficient for Social Security until the Obama administration and Social Security hasn’t contributed meaningfully to the national debt, the two biggest concerns should be healthcare reform (and while the ACA was a step, America’s healthcare costs are not replicated in any country with universal healthcare) and defence.
What do you mean for unionisation? The increasing number of right to work states and declining union numbers? The right to join a union is still enshrined in the Universal Declaration. That said, I haven’t seen a Democrat appeal to unions in my lifetime. Perhaps I haven’t been paying attention.
“Free trade” is something that the Democrats have adopted since at least the Clinton administration, but in name only: in praxeological theory, free trade is only possible when governments do not interfere in markets in any noticeable way. So we have NAFTA and rice subsidies, the Oman Free Trade Agreement and the renewal of the Buy American clause, calls not to authorise the budget along with more money redistributed to private concentrations of power than during the Reagan adminsitration, post office bills garnering riders about defunding Egypt and both parties adopting protectionist measures in regards to immigration.
I’m undecided between voting for Obama or going for a third party (as I did in 2004 and 2008). There’s no way Obama’s not going to win my state, so it doesn’t really matter which I choose in the end.