I don’t like either candidate. I liked McCain before Bush, but after Bush he seems so disgruntled. I like McCain’s experience, and I really like his free trade ideas, but his religious attachments (damn you religious right) and his stupid comments about not knowing anything about the economy really irk me.
I really liked Obama when he gave that speech a couple of years ago. However, I think he’s very inexperienced and I don’t like his voting record. His affiliations with Wright really annoy the fuck out of me, as well as anyone who proclaims the evils of America without advocating a real solution or pointing the blame at least partly with oneself since oneself is the ultimate actor. I also think that Obama is on the wrong side of the economy issue, but has managed to not say anything stupid like repealing federal gas tax (I’m looking at you McCain), though I thought he said stupid things that sound somewhat similar to fair tax and fair trade bullshit.
Age is going to be an issue for McCain - and possibly more of an issue for McCain than race is for Obama. Running mate selection will be very important. He is a young 72 year old guy - but he is a 72 year old man - and the presidency ages people quickly - a young Clinton, a young GWB, and a young Carter all aged ten years in as many months.
Please excuse me if this is the wrong thread, or if this has been intensely discussed elsewhere.
One of the significant contributing factors to Obama’s primary win was his ability to proliferate the internet with his message, while Hillary was constantly getting caught in blatant lies and ridiculous soundbites that were heavily watched on youtube. It’s almost as if Obama, being younger, closer to the Computer Generation, was able to use this savvyness to his great advantage during the primary season. It seems as if this tool has not yet been accessed by McCain (I know the URL to both HRC and Obama’s websites, yet have no clue what McCain’s is), and I feel this will significantly hurt his chances in the general. To elaborate, McCain’s supporters (I assume, I haven’t seen data for this one yet) are a decade or two older than Obama’s supporters, on average. Will that demographics relative lack of growth (because those that care registered long ago), combined with Obama so fluently spreading his message via the internet, cause a significant boost to Obama’s numbers, or has his new voter support already been tapped and garnered?
No, McCain has his own McCainspace thing you can use. I’m actually a registered Republican (though because of his position on the Iraq war, will be voting for Obama, of whom I am a big fan). McCain still sends me updates, though.
Anyway, I’m really torn here. On one hand, I’m due for a promotion that would squarely put me in Obama’s “tax the rich” bracket. On the other hand, I’d rather pay tax-the-rich-for-social-services taxes than pay another penny towards the war. And to top it all off, I see my agency being left status quo under McCain but getting recognition and possibly more funding under Obama (kind of irrelevant as I hope to leave for another graduate degree soonish anyway). I like Obama better, but if it weren’t for the war, I’d probably vote for McCain.
I’m sure McCain has his website and MySpace and FaceBook, etc. I was trying to point out that it doesn’t seem as widespread as the Democratic candidates’, and every YouTube clip I’ve seen of McCain has not cast him in a good light.
Out of curiosity, what do you think Obama will be able to do about the war? Do you think he’ll pull the troops out? If so, when do you figure he’ll do that? In his first few weeks? First few months? First term?
I’m not saying you shouldn’t vote for Obama…but frankly whether it’s McCain or Obama that gets elected, I would be quite surprised if we were out of Iraq within the full term of the next president. YMMV…but try and keep a grasp on the realities of the situation to avoid disappointment.
I don’t want to hijack the thread either but…you are kidding here, right?
Who should win? Which one would be a better President?
Iraq: Obama said last night that “We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must.” McCain envisions ‘victory’ by 2013, whatever victory means to him, and might or might not want us to stay in Iraq in force after victory.
Global warming: McCain’s plan is better than Bush’s, and it would have been great for him to push it in 2005. But Obama’s plan goes further than McCain’s, and the cap-and-trade credits would be auctioned by the government, rather than belonging to poluters by right.
Universal health care: Obama’s plan is far from perfect, but it would take us most of the way there. And besides, if Congress passed a plan more like those that Edwards and Hillary proposed, he’d sign it. McCain would basically let the free market solve the problem in some way that it’s mysteriously been prevented from doing already.
xtisme, it will be interesting to see what he does about it. I suspect the withdrawal will be slower than people hope for, but that it will occur over the course of his presidency. I just can’t vote for someone (McCain) who says he’s comfortable with another 100 years. I’m also not a big fan of his uncomfortable pandering to people I strongly suspect he detests, and who certainly detest him (the Christian right wing). In short, I’ve kept my registration Republican because I’m lazy, but Bush & Co. have run people like me and my family out of the party (Northeast Republicans). I should probably switch it to Independent.
I have to say — and I know you and I have argued before about past campaigns — that from where I sit, this is the first election since Goldwater v Johnson in which there’s a substantive difference in the platforms of the two candidates. And you’ve outlined some of it very well.
There’s nothing mysterious about it: Most of the problems we have in this country WRT to health coverage exist because the free market has NOT been allowed to operate. Government interference and over-regulation is the problem, not the solution.
It will be interesting to see what he does do, I agree. I think the political realities are going to minimize his actually, realistic options as to pulling troops out of Iraq any time soon. Again, I’m not saying to not vote for Obama…I think there are a lot of good reasons to do so if you are happy with the economic and social side of his politics. Just be realistic on what he can and can’t do wrt Iraq is my advice.
That argument has never made any sense. When the problem is that something isn’t profitable, then that’s a problem the free market won’t solve. Not to mention that relaxing regulations on medical services is an excellent means of hurting and killing people, not curing them. The free market isn’t the magic wand people like you want to pretend it is.
So McCain has challenged Obama to 10 town hall style meetings. Obama has said several times and said it last night, “That’s a debate I welcome” to discuss issues with McCain Personally I think Obama can mop the floor with McCain in any kind of one on one discussion even though McCain is supposed to be good at those.
Do you think Obama should accept after negotiating the details?
Is it McCains plan to be so unreasonable on the details that Obama will decline and then McCain can claim he is afraid to discuss the issues?
I’d like to see it because I think it will clearly show Obama’s superiority. I’m acctually surprised that McCain would make the offer or his advisor’s would approve of it given Obama’s oratory skills.
I think it more than levels the field in regards to oratory skills. Fielding unknown questions from potentially hostile people is a skill, just as much as standing at a podium and debating in a traditional style is a skill.
By all accounts, McCain has been doing the town hall thing for quite a while, whereas I get the impression that Obama is more comfortable in a traditional debate.
Obama will completely destroy McCain and be dancing on his still twitching corpse by the end of the elections.
Bush and his crew have so completely pissed off so many hard core republicans its insane, people who have voted repub for over 40 years have told me there is no chance in hell they will vote for anyone even remotely attached to the current administration.
but thats all its based on, a few people I know who are totally disenfranchised with their party of choice.
I think the McCain camp wants so many because it would eat up Obama’s campaigning time. They know that the more time he spends campaigning, the better his support tends to be. The more time they “control” the less able Obama will be to effectively implement his 50-state strategy and put the purple states into play.
On the other hand though, if Obama did agree to these meetings, he could insist that each one focus on only one area of policy. At least this would make it so that the general public wouldn’t get so tired of the meetings and it would really give us the chance to get real details.
Hopefully my reply made sense.