I'm so glad I watched the debate last night. This whole election cycle, I've known that I'm voting for the Democrat, and I'm honestly glad that it's Obama, and not Hillary (there is not enough time to explore my complicated feelings about Hillary here; maybe some other time). But I haven't been really excited about Obama, I just think that his proposed policies are more in tune with what I'd like to see happen in this country. And his world-view doesn't seem to be as hostile & arrogant as the whole Republican field's view. Still, I wasn't convinced that he would win. (I'm still not, but that's another story as well).
But tonight, Obama really impressed me. McCain seemed to endlessly spout campaign slogans and stories (that always sound fake to me, no matter which politician is telling the "let me tell you about this american (insert mother of a soldier here, usually) that I recently met who told me something that appeals to patriotism and therefore endorses me as the more patriotic candidate" story). After McCain's long "bracelets" story, Obama told his own ("They're mothering off!" was the comment in our party at this point), and made the point that there are mothers who've lost their sons to the Iraq war who don't support our continuation of the war - e.g. Americans are different, and many don't agree with McCain/Bush that we're winning with our current strategy. I certainly don't, and I know I'm not the only one.
Overall I thought Obama was much more substantive, though not too bogged down in details, and I hope that that level of detail will be appreciated by the American people. All over the web, I'm reading that people think Obama's sentences were too complicated for the American people, so maybe it was a bad thing. But I'm getting kind of sick of the assumption that the majority of the country prefers to be treated like they're stupid. I found Obama's respect for the intelligence of the electorate refreshing. And I think he did a fairly good job of not sinking into mudslinging mode, but rather focussing on his specific vision and what he sees as important challenges facing the nation. Come to think of it, I have felt in the course of this election that Obama has been pretty dignified as politicians go - so I'm probably biased, sue me :)
I won't go on too much about McCain comments that made me scream at the screen. (FREEZE ALL SPENDING EXCEPT DEFENSE????? Are you kidding me? And keep the Bush tax cuts permanent at the same time? With: 1) a serious financial sector crisis; 2) crumbling infrastructure (think Minneapolis bridge collapse); 3) natural disasters causing more damage lately (think Katrina, and Ike); 4) challenges to our educational system (we need better science & technology education, a better trained workforce, and probably better financial education); and5) a major shift in approaches to supplying energy needed, we can't freeze spending. At least they could repeal the Bush tax cuts to pay for the damn war - if the ultra-rich (i.e. people who run oil companies & defense companies) are going to reap huge profits from American military actions, let them pay for it, not the taxpayers who earn much less (but have fewer loopholes available to them, and are much more numerous). Let us get something in return for our taxes, and people might be a little less bitter about paying them.
Obama's economic policy excited me. I really don't think the health care reform thing has a good shot at happening, but increasing taxes on the over $5 million crowd does not bother me. I'm waiting to see what happens on the Wall street bailout, and fully expect it to be unfair (I say let them fail, possibly provide some home-ownership relief for actual individuals or maybe a low cost loan program + tax exemption or deduction for down payment + closing costs (if people refinance at better terms or buy a house), and invest some money in emerging technology (and maybe, just maybe in manufacturing?) to boost jobs in those sectors. Wouldn't it be nice if American companies made something again?). Plus I had extra excitement left over from an NPR story on three companies that are opening in Western PA, that all make different kinds of solar panels (traditional polysilicon, some kind of carbon-paint, and the parabolic mirrors for the heated oil kind), so I'm on a pro-alternative energy industry kick right now. Maybe I'll look up some stock in that sector & start following it.
Okay, that's enough swooning for now. Got to go attack the weeds that are taking over the sidewalk.
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3 comments:
Couldn't have said it better myself. I agree with you 100%. Although I've actually been excited about Obama for awhile now.
Once more, the opinion from never never land. I have never voted for a Republican. I think that I am going to this time. Here is why:
1. All politicians lie all of the time, hoping that Lincoln was wrong. It doesn't matter which candidate you vote for, they are lying. From the day they take office they are concerned about one thing and one thing only, getting re-elected.
2. McCain is old and will probably not survive his second term.
3. Palin is female.
4. The heads of state for Norway, Iceland, and Germany are female. These countries are not engaged in any cowboy diplomacy that I know of.
5. Norway has the highest standard of living on the planet. When the North Sea oil fields were discovered, Norway, who gets half of the revenue, declared that natural resources were the property of the people and they use their share for social programs.
6. Citizens of Iceland get free heat and electricity because the government has invested in and encouraged the development of geothermal energy
7. Citizens of Germany that are retired get an automatic raise in their pensions any time the jobs that they retired from get a raise. I won't mention what the government did for the East Germans when the country was united. It almost brings tears to my eyes when I see that there is a government that puts people before a balance sheet.
8. McCain is against torture. Someone has to speak out for basic human morality. The present president has about as much chance of understanding basic human morality as he did of understanding the Kellog-Briand Pact.
9. The Democrats had more votes in favor of the economic bailout than the Republicans did. If 133 Republicans had not voted against it, it would have passed. The only American that has benefited from this crisis is the CEO of Wamu. Seventeen million dollars for seventeen days is a nice salary. Finally someone said "We will not mortgage our children and grandchildren.".
10. McCain is going to win because he is following H.L.Mencken"s advise "No one ever failed by underestimating the intelligence of the American people.". The present incumbent is the proof of this political axiom.
I will close now because I have to go and refill my bile bag,
daddy
Dad,
Your points about other countries are correct - but you fail to recognize that these places have very strong socialist parties (and have for decades), which is why they are socialist democracies. That the current heads-of-state are female is simply trivial. It is the political parties that enact these kinds of socialist programs. We don't have a strong socialist party, and whenever anyone brings it up - it's labeled as communism, and antithetical to the American way of life. It is worth noting that Sarah Palin/John McCain are far less likely to support anything even remotely resembling socialism than the Democratic party is - although I'm not holding my breath for national health care either. I won't go too much into how insulting it is that you (and many others) assume that all women are pretty much the same ideologically, simply because they have uteruses. Palin is a person, who happens to be female, and conservative, and who happens to believe that no one should have a right to do anything that she wouldn't do. Oh, and she attends & seems to fully believe the teachings of a completely ass-backward church. Remember the branch of that church that we attended for a while? Where they threw out that woman, Ursula, for being a witch? And half the women there couldn't read? That's what we're dealing with here.
McCain is against torture? So is everyone else - non-issue, and a political ploy.
And as far as the "bailout bill", well, I don't have a great grasp on economics, but as distateful as it is, it is necessary to do something to ensure that the system doesn't fail immediately. The problem is that with all the investments going bad - banks are seriously restricting credit terms and lots of businesses (not investment banks, but places that actually employ people all over the country) can't get the credit they need to continue to run operations. This will lead to massive unemployment and a general tanking of our economy, and delay the recovery from our current, and worsening, recession. Plus, the volatility of the stock market is eroding the wealth of things like public retirement funds (that provide pensions to state and local government employees) and crippling the investments of individuals. Since we don't have a working federal pension system, that means we're on our own, and everybody just lost quite a bit of money. Although I'm happy to see that the market regained quite a bit yesterday. I myself have lost ~15% of the money I've put into retirement savings thus far. The only upside is that the stocks are cheaper when they take a downturn, so my monthly contribution buys more. And I'm not so concerned with short-term losses since I have 35+ years to make up those losses.
Finally, concerning points #1 and #10, I think my original post contained a reference relevant to these. Yes, Americans are stupid. Yes, they have lost faith in the system. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they are as stupid as many politicians believe them to be. And treat them as such. I found it very refreshing that Obama wasn't talking down to the American public as much as McCain was (yes, McCain seemed more regular-folks, but his off-topic stories and obvious imagery only content was insulting to anyone who might like to actually hear some substance about what he'd do as President). You may be right in the end, but I'm hoping that people are sick of being characterized as bellicose and gullible. Or that enough of them are that it may make a difference come November. Re: lying, sure, they all lie to some degree. But that doesn't mean that you can't distinguish between them, either on frequency of lying or on the importance of what they're lying about. And I think they are also concerned with actually making the country run better than it does; its just that there are differences in how they perceive the problems facing us and what should be done about it. Although McCain does seem to think that things are basically fine, since he's not really proposing any substantive changes to W's policies. But that's just my interpretation, and as I've said, I'm biased.
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