Category: Politics

As Craig Ferguson is fond of saying, this is a great day for America. Congratulations to us all. With President-Elect Barack Obama on deck and Bush on the way out, we can all be hopeful about the future.

Of course, this euphoria could end up temporary if his early Presidency doesn’t turn out to be nearly as brilliant as his campaign. As with every Presidential election, the candidates over-promised to get elected. Now, the challenge will be to manage those high expectations so that he can appear successful and therefore be successful. It’s not going to be easy; I wish him luck.

I’m sure regular readers have been wondering who this blog would officially endorse. After all, my posts have been so centrist. That crack is meant as both sarcasm and truth. Anyone from the Right would certainly think my posts about the election are Liberal Left and anyone from the Left would certainly agree with much of what I’ve said; hence, the sarcasm. But I also believe that my views are truly centrist and not overtly ideological. The federal government should be fiscally conservative with the funds it gets through progressive taxation. The economy should be market-driven Capitalism but not without regulation. And freedom and rights are fundamental as long as they don’t hinder or risk the freedom and rights of others.

I would have voted for John McCain in 2000. What he said he wanted to do was close to what I felt was right for the country and I believed that he believed what he said. But McCain’s Straight Talk Express has long since been put up on blocks in the front yard of redneck America. His views now are so different from what they were then, and what he says isn’t necessarily in keeping with his recent actions, that it is really hard to believe anything he says. Then, in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate, he simultaneously pandered to the social conservatives and to the rural America who votes for somebody who looks, talks, and acts like them. Palin may be a great governor of Alaska but surely there must be somebody with a stronger background than her as the Republican ticket’s number two!

If the Presidential election tomorrow were about recognizing somebody for a lifetime of service to their country, the obvious winner would be McCain. But this isn’t a lifetime achievement award. This is a job where you need to pick the best candidate. The best meaning the most well educated, most experienced, and overall capable candidate. While it is true that Barack Obama does not have the most experience, he has shown wisdom in his choice for his number two. Even knowing that Biden didn’t completely agree with him on all his views and knowing that Biden could be a liability because of his sometimes poor choice of words, Obama picked him because he knew he was the right guy for the job.

And fundamentally, I trust that what Obama says he is going to do is what he intends to do. Both candidates fudged the truth a little when they say that they aren’t going to need to cut programs or delay some of their expensive plans due to the current economic situation. But when Obama says he intends to only enact programs that can be funded, I believe him. When McCain said that he’d find “a billion tomorrow” in government waste – that’s the sound of a main who is more hopeful than practical.

I believe Obama would be a trustworthy President. That he’ll provide the dignity and intelligence that this country needs in the Presidency – so desperately needs after 8 years of Bush. And while I believe that both McCain and Obama truly both want the job because they believe they can do what is right for this country, Obama’s the one who will. McCain was right for the job 8 years ago, Obama is right today.

There’s a lot of concern that the Democrats will “run the table” – control the Senate, the House, and the Executive Branch – and will then just “tax and spend” as Democrats of yore had. But look at Clinton’s Presidency: he had a budget surplus and government was much smaller under Clinton than Bush. The Democrats know that nobody wants bigger government than Bush 43 has created and they know that they’ve got an election in 2010 where they could get clobbered if they aren’t careful. Concern over unchecked “tax and spend” liberals isn’t justified today.

One word about the other candidates. I’m a 2-party hater. I think much of what is wrong with the current state of politics is the 2-party system. Too much us-vs.-them mentality. I think the whole concept should be scrapped and candidates should simply be who they are – everybody as Independent. However, at this juncture, there is no question that there are only two candidates remaining. Despite the fact that other names will appear on the ballot, none of them stand a chance. If you believe something different, then you are beyond hope. Therefore, if you don’t vote for McCain or Obama, it’s the same as not voting at all. That’s okay, but only if you truly believe that both are just as distasteful to you. And surely, most people will be able to pick one of the two as being more or less favorable and therefore be able to choose who to vote for or against. To all you Nader-supporting fools, if you had been honest with yourself in 2000 and voted for Gore, who clearly was less evil in your minds than Bush was, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today.

And finally, if you are under the impression that this is a popularity contest and that you want to pick somebody like yourself, I implore you to stay home tomorrow and don’t vote. Seriously. Leave the voting to those of us who have been paying attention. (Probably not a problem for anybody who has read this far.)

Obama for 44th President of the United States of America: Nov 4th, 2008

As theater, last night’s debate was both better and worse. Like a play, there were times where you were wondering what was going to happen next and you started to really dislike one of the characters.

McCain had the same nonsense he had in the last debate. The only difference being that last time, he just kind of dropped the nonsense with a bit of a weird smile whereas this time the nonsense was yelled out by a clearly upset man. After only about 20 minutes, I was thinking “my God, what else can Obama do but stand up and say ‘I don’t need to sit here and take this, good night'”. But he held it together way better than I would have.

And that only makes the comparison more stark: Obama looked entirely Presidential the entire evening and McCain looked more and more like he didn’t belong in the audience, never mind at the table.

McCain’s nonsense is getting tiring. I’m quite surprised he even brought up Ayers because it only gave Obama a chance to settle it. And as far as Obama’s truthiness (thanks, Colbert) goes, there was only the issue of the “negative” adverts that McCain had been running: Obama said they have “all” been negative but what he should have said, and I believe he meant, was that “all in the last month” have been negative.

Oh, and being as white as I am, I feel like I can say this about McCain: if it weren’t for the makeup, I think he’d be transparent. I’m kind of regretting watching it in HD because you could see that his razor had irritated his upper lip.

Yes, I watched the Biden-Palin debate hoping for the train wreck – some spectacular blow up or burn out by one or both of them. Neither delivered. Instead, we got Biden showing strength in leadership and Palin showing she had done her homework. I just couldn’t escape the feeling that Palin is the George Bush of this election: claiming to be one of us, talking folksy, and pandering to her base with empty rhetoric. So while I feel good about Biden’s performance and feel like he came out ahead (I hate talking about “winning” a debate), I know a lot of Palin supporters will feel like she came out ahead and Palin probably even won over some converts with her folksy talk and her winks.

And to those that she won over with those tricks: don’t vote. Remember, this isn’t a beauty pageant. This is the election for President of the United States. I know the conventional wisdom is that everyone should vote, but clearly that didn’t work out so well in 2004. I’m granting a pass in 2000 because the country didn’t appear to need strength at the time. But to all of you who voted for Bush in 2004, keep in mind that you chose Mr. I’m Just Like You to watch over our foreign policy and our economy, even when it was clear he had a handle on neither. So either don’t vote or learn about the issues and ignore the populist pandering of Palin to choose the guy who has the mental capacity to run the country (hint: he didn’t choose Palin as his running mate).

On the Daily Show, Tim Robbins pointed out something that needs more attention: The Navy SEALs are the elite fighting force and we are glad that they are elite because they can do tough jobs that others can’t. Shouldn’t the guy in charge of the whole country (and indeed, those Navy SEALs) also be the best at his game – an elite diplomat and policy maker?

Even as interested in the process and the meta political process as I am, I found last night’s debate a bore. Too much rehashing of past empty and trivial discourse. Obama missed some opportunities to attack McCain. Like when McCain talked about foreign policy, and listed out a very wise course of action, including knowing when the US needs to intervene for our safety and knowing when the US intervention can make a difference. Obama should have hammered him on not heeding his own advice by targeting Iraq which fails both those tests.

In the end, it felt like McCain got out ahead on the nonsense and kept it coming so fast that Obama spent most of his time refuting it. If it were possible to keep score at home of all the fabrications and mistruths being tossed around, it might have been interesting to watch like an Olympic handball game. But where the future of our country, and indeed the leadership of the whole freakin’ planet is on the line, I’d much rather see adults talking about substantive issues.

And isn’t it interesting that the McCain campaign has chosen to use Palin as an attack dog to go after Obama in ways that would seem unseemly from McCain. Like on this fabricated issue of his association with a “domestic terrorist”. I think that’s what’s making this series of debates so strange. On the surface, the VP debate is Biden vs. Palin but actually it’s Biden vs. McCain and Palin vs. Obama. And last night’s debate was Obama vs. the Republicans and McCain vs. some imaginary foe he is creating. No wonder the American people (the best people in the world, the hardest workers, the only beings that can turn mud to gold! – sorry got carried away with McCainifying there) are so confused.

Is there any reason at all to hope that the last debate can convey some truth and poignancy to the American people?

Yes, it would have been nice to have finally broken the gender barrier. But it was never going to be. A Clinton nominee would have meant a McCain presidency. Too much of this country thinks very little of Hillary and her experience in elected office is less than Obama’s. So for all you that were hoping for Clinton, get over it and move on.

And where should you move to? Well, Obama, of course. What choice do you have? Well, yes, McCain is a good candidate and yes, he has picked a woman running mate. But be honest with yourself: why were you for Clinton? Was it for her positions on health care? Or maybe the Iraq war? Or maybe on tax cuts for working class? While Obama’s positions may not be as liberal as Clinton’s, McCains are far more conservative. Therefore, your nearest ideological choice is Obama.

There are former Clinton supporters that have banded together to back McCain. These people are idiots. If they truly believed in Clinton’s policies and platform, they would have to get on the train to conservative town, pass on through nearby Obama-ville, and keep on motoring to distant McCain-town. And again, while I too would like the gender barrier broken, I don’t believe that is a sufficient sole qualification for President.

Therefore, you former Clinton supporters need to actually focus on you believe in, besides a President with lady parts. Things like the economy, the war, health care. Figure out what you think about those issues and then vote accordingly.

It’s been quite a week. I didn’t get a chance to see the DNC coverage the night that Hillary Clinton spoke but the clips I saw later did make it seem like she delivered the excitement she needed to (despite Bill Kristol thinking she didn’t). I did get to see the coverage on the subsequent two nights, however, and was quite impressed at the relative substance of the speeches. John Kerry, of all people, nailed a great mostly-concise speech including lines like “talk about being for it before being against it” – brilliant move having the most notorious flip-flopper of recent history be the one to point out McCain’s own inconsistency. Bill Clinton delivered a great speech also – he was charismatic, as usual, but also had some good points to make that made me nod my head approvingly; well played, Bill. And then there was Biden who I have liked all along. What a fantastic speech by Biden and he really delivered it well. I don’t know how anyone could come away from that with a negative impression of Biden, Obama, or the whole Democratic party, for that matter. And then of course, Obama brought the house down on the final night in front of a massive crowd. Boom: election won.

Or was it? I’d long feared a Romney VP candidacy both because of the damage Romney could do to the Democrats and because I really don’t like anything he stands for any more after having morphed so significantly since being governor of Massachusetts. Well, perhaps McCain worried about the two of them being labeled a flip-flopping pair because he ended up choosing an unknown. Not only is it good casting to choose an unknown who the country can project their best hopes on, but he chose a woman for the role to try to steal more votes from the Dems who are upset that they didn’t get their chance to get a woman at the executive level this time. (Though the topic of Clinton supporters for McCain deserves its own post.) And on top of it all, they timed the announcement perfectly to take away as much of the post-DNC euphoria as they could. The ‘publicans would love a cute little stay at home Mom who just happened to get out and get elected to public office and somehow see her lack of experience as a good thing while Obama’s moderate experience is a bad thing. And America as a whole has got to embrace the self-described hockey Mom with a young mentally challenged child who manages to make it all work while adhering to the Republican ideals.

Or does she? Turns out Ms. Palin’s family isn’t the paragon of American morality and unity that the ‘publican’s would like it to be. Her daughter is a 17-year-old who is five months pregnant, her husband had a DUI years ago, and she is supposedly a former member of a Alaskan separatist movement. When McCain was asked if he knew about all this, his answer is that he did. Really? Geez, it seems like it’d be pretty easy to pick an unknown with a sparkling backstory. And yet McCain managed to pick an unknown who brings some baggage with her. This doesn’t sound like the wisest decision for McCain. Or maybe he’s relying on the voters of the country to follow their “vote for who you’d like to go to a bar with” mentality of 2000 and 2004 with a “vote for who you feel needs your pity” vote in 2008.

And now, as we go into the RNC, the ‘publicans are calling themselves the real party of reform. Is it really possible to say that with a straight face? I’m the first to admit that neither of the two major parties are likely to produce real reform. But for the party in office for the past 8 years to say they are for reform is to say that they are against the status quo which is themselves. Just how stupid do they think people are? Oh, that’s right, that’s how we got into this mess in the first place…

I considered voting for Biden in the primary. And in fact, I might have if he weren’t already a dead-man-walking. So it’s nice to see him back in the show. And at the time it seemed to me that Biden and Dodd were in fact running for Vice President – pretending to run for President to gauge their popularity and Presidential character. Or at least just to say “hey, look at me! – I can be more than a senator!”. So it’s also nice to see that his ploy paid off.

One of the things that torpedoed Biden’s Presidential aspirations was his propensity to say what was on his mind. It is one of the things that I like about him but and something to which I can relate. But it can be a liability in an election when every phrase is over-scrutinized and twisted against the candidate. Especially in Biden’s case where his choice of words doesn’t always make the right initial impression. (For example when describing Obama during the primary as being free from encumbrances that might be a liability to him, Biden used the word “clean” which people took to mean “not dirty” as though it were a racist thing.)

So while I should be excited that my two picks from the Primary are now together, I can’t help but be apprehensive that there are bumpy roads ahead and potential catastrophe if the wrong thing is said in the wrong way. And should McCain pick Romney, Romney could elicit damning sound bites from Biden in a Vice-Presidential debate. I’m bracing for impact.