I tend to take voting advice with a grain of salt from anyone with the cutesy Obama location in their profile. I’ll stay undecided and unimpressed with either candidate for now.
Is there something wrong with the advice, or do you just think the Obama location thing is annoying?
And frankly, referring to the current U.S. Presidential race, I don’t see how anyone should be undecided at this point. Do you not have opinions on the issues?
Greta idea! So the next time I write up my CV, I’ll just put “no curruption charges” under “Work History” - and nothing else. I’m sure that’ll work out just fine.
Seriously, WTF? If you can’t judge a person by their actions, what should you judge a person by? Their words?
When I see Obama in the location of a poster, in my eyes it shades whatever they happen to be posting. Hence the reason for the grain of salt. It is as simple as that. That poster went to the trouble of editing their profile to show their allegiance. I naturally assume that every post they make regarding voting advice or politics in general to be so influenced.
Not an attack or anything, just a personal observation.
That’s perfectly reasonable. Of course my opinions are influenced by my other opinions. But it’s still possible to evaluate them independently, isn’t it? My advice is either bad, good, or somewhere in the middle. If you haven’t bothered to actually think about which it is, you don’t really have anything to add to the discussion, do you?
In my own case, the major factors that have led to an undecided status are:
A complete rejection of any suggestion that any one (or one of only two) party(ies) somehow deserves my vote. That is, I am neither bound by any party loyalty, nor by claims that “it’s a two party system and any other vote is unthinkable.”
A complete and total refusal to vote for McCain. His policies are wrong, too close to a continuation of Bush, and bad for America and the world.
A belief that, while Obama’s policies are some undefinable, but relatively small amount better than McCain’s, that the limitations that will be put around either one by the opposition in Congress will reduce those differences even further.
The fact that Obama failed my own three-pronged “can I vote for him” test that I used in determining a potential primary vote. What failed him was his support for a federal health insurance policy – which I consider outside the general scope of government as well as outside of any power granted them in the Constitution. (You, of course, are free to disagree with this analysis, but you’ll not convince me of its legitimacy.) So, coupled with #3, it would be hard to justify a vote for Obama.
So far, I have not fully analyzed those “third party” candidates that will be on my state’s ballot, so I cannot commit to voting for one of them.
You may well disagree, but I think that’s a fairly reasonable line of thinking that would lead to an undecided voter at this point.
Sure, if you think that will keep people from finding out about the kickbacks you took as a City Councilman. We’re talking about a public election, where the candidates’ past careers are public knowledge.
Uh . . . yes. You should judge a candidate by the platform and positions he or she runs on.
regarding my decision, I have not joined the fan club for either candidate because I think that we as a nation, can do better. Once again however, I am being forced to choose between a turd sandwich and a douche bag. A choice I do not relish.
Yeah I have opinions on the issues. Neither one of the candidates do it for me.
Sorry but that is just short sighted. I wouldn’t hire somebody to work for me based only upon what they say in an interview, leaving their resume aside, anymore that I would completely discount a politician’s past work history, votes on my key issues, ability to get along with the other side, etc.
I don’t think so. The record that a person leaves behind is a thin, sketchy distillation of years’ worth of complex decisions, all of which were made in unique circumstances that are very hard to reconstruct. It is possible in some cases to note that a candidate has tended to behave in a certain way, but I don’t think you can accurately understand why.
Right. Because politicians are always willing and/or able to keep their campaign promises.
Platforms and positions are bullshit. They’re the sweet nothings politicians whisper in our ears to get in our pants. They never have anything to do with reality, and they never will.
I understand the undecided voter who does not know how to weigh two issues, say pro-life vs. pro-gay rights. Such weighing is difficult and complex.
I do not understand the undecided voter who claims that both candidates are simply too far off the mark. The idea isn’t to pick only the candidate who perfectly matches your preferences. The idea is to pick the one who most closely matches them.
If you have set beliefs on the issues, and you have a sense of priorities of some issues over others, the only way for your position to be rational is if the candidates are equidistant from your ideal candidate. Given the massive constellation of salient aspects of a candidate, it seems like–just as a matter of probability–this is very unlikely. Does any person in the United States other than yourself meet your criteria for a favorable political candidate? Are you telling us that this person is not closer to Obama than McCain or vice versa?
The idea that either candidate must meet some personal threshold before you offer your support is irrational isn’t it? It is not as if withholding your support somehow encourages candidates you prefer. Instead, you merely shut yourself out of the political process such that your favored issues are marginally less relevant to the campaign. Even if you still vote for one candidate or the other, the decision to withhold support merely on the principle of some threshold is still irrational for the same reasons: you marginally decrease the likelihood of winning of the candidate you should rationally prefer.
Granted, in some sense, all voting is irrational. Better to plant a tree or something. But if we’re operating under the premise that voting is important, your position seems very odd to me.
I have opinions on all the issues. Senator Obama agrees with my stand in a few instances. Senator McCain’s stand on a few issues is close to mine. However, I would never want to see abortion criminilized, nor am I a supporter of UHC. If there were a strong third party candidate I probably would not be undecided.