[Politics] Dropping pieces into place.

[elfs]

A friend of mine who apparently loathes Obama said, You all are in love with someone because he's good at oratory and looks good on television..

Oh, if only that were true, I could see through it.

Look, I disagree with Obama's economic policies. A lot of what he said at his speech was disagreeable, and I don't believe much of it. But he's a better choice than McCain.

The choice of Sarah Palin is the latest case in point. Everyone on the right is jerking off to this former beauty queen because her inexperience is a strong contrast to Obama's. Meanwhile, Obama has surrounded himself with world-class Chicago School economic advisors from Milton Friedman's back yard and equally competent foreign policy advisors. For all the complaints about his lack of executive experience, Obama has managed the most competent electoral campaign since Reagan. If that's not experience and judgement, then what is? Obama as president would do a hundred things I don't like, but he has shown that he has the competence and temperment to avoid the kinds of economic and military blunders that would wreck a nation. McCain, on the other hand, shoots first and vets the answers afterwards.

I watched Speed Friday night, and I just realized: oh, my God, if McCain is elected and something happens to him, that movie will become our life: Sandra Bullock at the wheel of a careening bus that can't slow down. Only in this case there is no handsome Keanue Reaves to heroically save everyone, the madmen are many and multiplying, and there's no script to guarantee the happy ending.

Oh, and Sandra's an anti-intellectual patriarchal, Christianist whose pastor belongs to an organization devoted to the violent overthrow of the United States. (Holy cow, her pastor makes Jeremiah Wright look as calm and restrained as the Buddha!)

As I've said before, I don't particularly care for Obama. But I will do everything I can to get him elected. The alternative is four more years in which it is absolutely guaranteed that the economic value of an hour of my labor will continue to decline, that our relationship with foreign powers will become ever more unpredictable and unstable (Jebus, the Cato Freakin' Institute: "McCain's record shows clearly that he is a verbal loose cannon, and would be a clear and present danger in the Oval Office."), that our domestic policy would continue its slow, griding degredation of our infrastructure, services, and information technology policies, and whose social policies will set back the clock on women and gays for years to come.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Jeezus frakking Christ on a toast-powered pogo stick. The Cato Institute used "clear and present danger"? In an era where Tom Clancy is not just a novelist but a military consultant to major news agencies, that's tantamount to "pass the ammunition"...

Stuff's gonna happen. History, not just footnotes, is gonna be made. What, I have no freaking clue... but you and I are gonna be a part of it, whether we want to or not.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Well, Cato's not particularly fond of Obama either. Not with titles like Hurting the Rich Important to Obama (http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9350).

At the moment, though, I'm in the mood for a little class warfare. I've looked through the statistics, and I know three things: I'm not rich. I'm not going to be rich anytime soon, not even if all my stock options hit fantasy proportions, and if I were rich, right now I could stand a little pain.

The evidence is strong: ever since WW2, people below the top 10% do better under Democratic administrations. We don't know why, yet, but they do.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The thing of it is, you and I ain't po', either. We don't live off largesse; we *work* our brains. We pay taxes. Probably proportionately more than "rich" people do. Primarily because they can afford the accountants and such. (They can also afford to either give away or at least stuff into tax-free pigeonholes more of their stash than we can.)

What irks me is that you and I more than likely make just enough that we're gonna take some of that shaft. And neither of us needs to. You've got two kids, among other things, and I've got issues of my own. OTOH, if I had a little more to give, I'd give a little more, of my own accord... to causes of my choosing. Which reminds me, I've got to do just that later... Tom Smith needs a little more in his recovery tip-jar.

BTW, link to sources for that last comment? I think that would be very very interesting to analyze... that might prompt me to devote a few words to it.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

One does not make history. One survives it.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Sometimes one doesn't even survive it. But sometimes there are folks who set out to do something big and get the job done *and* live through the ticker-tape none the worse for wear. Steve Jobs. Eli Manning. Harlan Sanders. Warren Buffett. The second half of Jimmy Carter's career, i.e. post-presidency.

But, as a general rule, yeah. But, as Winnie Churchill says, there's nothing quite so exhilarating as being shot at... and missed. :)

[jenk]

Appro of nothing, I've read that much of the dialog for Speed was written by an uncredited script doctor named Joss Whedon.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

you're kidding.

No, you wouldn't kid about a thing like that.

Lemme guess. Speed 2 had no such treatment?

[edichka2.livejournal.com]

As my fave prof said, with his thick Hungarian accent, "There are those things about which reasonable people may disagree." Economics is a good candidate here. And Obama is clearly a person of reason.

The GOP continues to outdo itself in its pursuit of unreason, of antireason -- hideously served up as "principle." I had hoped that the reasonable side of McCain would predominate this year, but clearly it has not.

- E

[tagryn]

For all the complaints about his lack of executive experience, Obama has managed the most competent electoral campaign since Reagan. If that's not experience and judgement, then what is?

Problem: Bush and Rove also ran two of the more tighter, focused, and successful campaigns in recent times. We saw how well that translated to executive competence. It doesn't work that way.

As I've said before, I don't particularly care for Obama. But I will do everything I can to get him elected.

Sounds like your opinion of Obama has actually deteriorated considerably since you wrote this endorsement of him in February: "I'm sad to see that Hillary is pulling ahead of Obama. I would much have preferred Obama. I think he makes a stronger candidate, and I'll still put my vote behind him in the coming caucus here in Seattle, if I can."

[(Anonymous)]

A lot of people, myself included, lost respect for Obama during the FISA telecom amnesty fiasco, where he proved that he unfortunately isn't the political messiah everyone was hoping for. Still, he's a smart, articulate man with excellent organizational skills -- you could do worse for a president.

Sincerely,
Anonymous Blog Reader #127

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I gotta second Mr. Anonymous here. Obama took a hard left at Albequirky on the FISA thing, and my cynicism returned with a vengeance... but still. Beats the ever-lovin' horse crap out of the alternative.