Wednesday, June 4, 2008

McCain vs. Obama

So, all this has been rather interesting stuff, and now it's June, which means summer will be full of all kinds of political meanderings, here and elsewhere. I'm just glad the two democrats are done fighting, and now we can get on with it. One thing I found interesting is that I signed up as a McCain supporter on Facebook, and there was a whole thread about whether ticked off Clinton supporters would end up voting for McCain because they couldn't stand Obama. I thought, naaah, that probably wouldn't happen, but by golly, there were several people on there saying exactly that. They said they would rather anyone than Obama, and they weren't completely annoyed by McCain because he has a record of working with both sides at least some of the time, but they figured Obama to be a liar or inexperienced, so they are voting for McCain.

How very interesting!

So if you add the religious right, pro-life people, people who really wanted Ron Paul but can't see him winning and still want to vote against Obama, and people who appreciate McCain's record and military experience, he will probably win. I truly do think Clinton was the stronger candidate, and I think the Democrats just shot themselves and their voters in the foot.

For those Obama folks out there who can't believe I'm saying all this, I really want to know, in concrete, real, factual terms, why you'd want to vote for him. As far as I can tell, he has charisma and he's "different", and that's about it. Different is not necessarily good. I don't think he has the experience he'd need to handle extricating us from a war, rebooting the economy, and doing what a really busy president does. He needs to be a governor or something, first. You know, governing? That's what the president does. A senator does not govern. At least Hillary had seen it done, up close and personal, for eight years.

Obama, let's see you be governor of Illinois first. Then you can come back and play with the big boys.

Please don't let us down, Mr. McCain... meanwhile, I'd encourage people to read his website. He's very interesting. As minor as it seems to some people, I'm happy to see they have adopted kids. He's done some very cool things and has a lot of wisdom. I won't agree with everything, I'm sure, but the alternative makes me wish I could move to a more free country, if one existed.

Enjoy the summer!

1 comment:

  1. I vaguely preferred Obama over Clinton until he got the NARAL endorsement - even though they were really just trying to endorse the winning Democrat to push the Democrats from fighting each other to fighting the Republicans. Still, my only preference for Obama over Hillary is that I perceive him as having less pressure to act on "Women's Rights", which lately means mainly abortion. I think making access to abortion easier would have been key for Hillary.

    As for Obama vs. McCain, I see it as being a basic Democrat - like any other, he has the perks of supporting a more universal health care system, environmentalism, and being (maybe too) anti-war, but with the nice racial first going for him - against the most likable (policy-wise) Republican that I know more than a few scraps of info about. McCain seems to be more centrist than many other Republicans, more interested in the environment, and more rational about the war. I need to do a lot more reading (I've been putting it off until primaries were over to simplify my life - caring for family trumps involvement in politics right now) but now I have no excuse to keep procrastinating. I'm leaning McCain at the moment, but will probably swing back and forth several times before I am confident. And there is always the possibility of voting for someone else, even if that someone will never win. But I want things simple, so just major candidates for now. If I can't accept either, then I'll look at the others, and if I don't like them I'll write someone in. I *am* going to vote for someone I trust this year.

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