Two Solid Choices
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Independents, McCain
I know a lot of you folks are convinced that Barack Obama is dangerously inexperienced and liberal OR your convinced that John McCain is deranged and nothing more than a George W. Bush carbon copy. Demonization of “the other” in politics is a long and storied American tradition. I’ve played along many a time. But this year, things are different.
This election, we have two good choices – or at least the best two choices for which we could have hoped.
I know, that’s political blasphemy. I’m sure some of you are typing “naïve” into the comments right now. But I think there’s a lot to like about Obama and McCain. I think both are coming from outside the “typical” in American politics and I think both will be less beholden to partisanship than either of their opponents would like us to believe. These are two very smart men who I believe are patriots in the truest sense of the word. I have serious disagreements with them both, but I’d trust either to keep a steady hand on the wheel of state.
I’m not that old, this is only the fifth presidential election in which I’ll be voting, but I think I’ve learned one very important lesson: it’s never as bad as the wild-eyed opponents claim it will be. Despite whatever screw-up we put in the Oval Office, the nation survives. Whichever self-interested political party we put in charge of Congress, we keep right on going. Whoever appoints the judges and whoever those judges are has yet to upset the rule of law. We go on and we do pretty well.
I realize this is an important election. George W. Bush has left a few messes, and globalization and terrorism are pressing problems that, if not handled well, could cause significant harm to our nation. But being president is about more than policy preferences. It’s about leadership and the ability to make the right choices in unforeseen moments. In that regard, I think both of these men would lead us as well as we could hope through the next four to eight years.
McCain, at this moment, seems to me to be the better option, based on his experience and his resistance to solving problems by expanding government. But government has solved problems in the past and I’m not so bold as to say Obama’s plans would fail or irrevocably harm our nation.
I’m supporting McCain but I won’t lock down that support at anything near 100%. I’m open to reconsideration and I wish more of my independent-minded brethren would also realize that this year does not offer us an obvious choice. Both sides are doing an excellent job of demonizing the other, exaggerating small details and resorting to fear mongering. But I don’t plan to buy in to such b.s., no matter how loud it gets.
For the first time in my life, I feel I have the opportunity to vote for someone rather than against someone. Call me naïve for saying that. But, damn it all, I’ve found reasons to like them both.
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June 10th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Is McCain deranged? No. Is he a Bush clone? No. But about 75% (or more) of his policies are nothing more than a continuation of Bush policies. That’s enough for me to strongly oppose him. He is with Bush on Iraq. He is with Bush on tax cuts. He is currying favor with the religious right and promising to support everything they want. He is with Bush on the kind of Supreme Court justices he would at least try to appoint. Whether he could succeed or not is irrelevant. The desire to stay the course with the Bush administration in so many ways shows what kind of President he wants to be and that’s not the kind we need.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:37 am
You know it’s funny you mentioned that. I’m open about who I plan to vote for when, but when asked the other night, I honestly couldn’t say. Like you said, I think it comes down to that I’m considering voting for someone, as opposed to against someone.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:39 am
i couldn’t agree more, Alan. I think the important point here, for folks who would quarrel, is that such a judgement is being made comparatively. These candidates are IMO an easily demonstrable cut above George Bush, Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, and so on. Sure, they have flaws, but I ccan imagine talking meslef into either McCain or Obama if they were facing any of the folks in the laundry list above. And Hillary Clinton is conspicuous in her absence from that list. I dn’t like her as well as the chosen 2, but I think she’s a cut above the same list.
i simply can’t work up anything approaching the derangement that both sides on the partisan divide have been furiously brewing.
That said, there is plenty of time for us to develop a healthy dislike for one or the other, or failing that a very substantive reason to prefer one over the othewr. My primary concern with Obama is that he veers into such demagoguery that he believes too much in his own clippings. My primary concern with McCain is that he may no longer be up to the demands of the job.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:42 am
If this were eight years ago, it would be easier to go along with the two good choices idea.
McCain is not what he once was.
He was against the tax cuts for the rich before he was for it; he opposed the influence of the regligious right (labeling key far right religious leaders as “agents of intolerance”) but now actively courts their favor; he opposed overturning Roe V. Wade, but now supports it; he was for campaign finance reform, but now ignores his own rules when it benefits him; he once decried Bush bottom feeders like Sam and Charles Wyly and Grover Norquist, but now actively seeks their support; he said he was opposed to torture, but torture is OK for the Bush administration….
The one area he is most consistent in is his stance on the war, but this is WORST decision ever.
His experience as a legislator is no indication of what he will do as an administration (a charge that can also be made about Obama).
He opposed the new GI Bill, which seems to fly in the face of his support for the troops.
He openly admits the economy is not his area of expertise.
You say that he is resistent “to solving problems by expanding government”, and I might go along with that if his solution to the war was not throw more money at it and hope we win.
I voted for McCain in the Michigan 2000 primary, but that McCain and this McCain seem like distant cousins.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Obama is a great liberal candidate, but McCain is not a great conservative candidate. This is why Obama will likely win in November–he engenders genuine enthusiasm within his party’s core as well as the larger halo of Democrat-centrists. McCain doesn’t do that at all. I would argue that McCain has not so much become centrist as he has random. He’s not conservative enough for the Republican core, and he doesn’t have enough personality and energy to pull the middle ground away from Obama.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I would suggest before you base your decision on “expanding government” you do a little research on the policies of the Republican administration that McCain promises to continue. Under W, we’ve had the biggest government expansion in history.
The idea of small government conservatism went out the window 7 years ago in the post-9/11 runup to war. We’ve seen huge increases in spending, and the creation of huge bureaucracies, all under the guise of fighting the war on terrorism. Additionally, we’ve seen activist judges (to co-opt another false Republican meme) consistently usurping the Constitution and suspending civil liberties in an effort to bestow greater power to the Executive Branch.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Why do McCain’s speeches sound like he’s reading a children’s book (poorly)? With awkward intermittent smiles? Someone give him his pudding and send him to bed.