Tim Blair and Ann Althouse are lifeblogging it. But I’m sticking with Jenny Lawson for now.
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Tag Archives: obama
Heh:
Greg Mankiw suggested that Obama’s landslide with the youth has to do with the Republican’s association with social conservatism. Bullocks. For one, Mankiw’s sample (Harvard students) is hardly representative of youth voters in general, but more importantly, values weren’t a huge part of campaign rhetoric.
On abortion, while Palin talked about Trig – it wasn’t as if Obama brandished his 100% record on abortion rights (quite the contrary…). On gay rights, Obama was as much for gay marriage as McCain. And I don’t think youths are necessarily against all “values” issues. Instead I offer to you the biggest reason why youths voted for Obama: he’s a rockstar compared to McCain.
Had Obama been a old, pudgy old man with white hair who, because of injuries, can’t lift his hands above the chest line – and didn’t have celebrities come to campaign stops that happen to be near or in university towns and campuses, even with the identical same issues, I don’t think many of the youth would even care. Obama is the most good looking president so far, and somewhat charismatic to boot.
1. McCain is nominally pro-life. However as much as I respect Obama for being philosophically consistent (unlike most pols, he’s *for* late term abortions *and* against protections on infants born from botched abortions), I have a strong philosophical view that life begins at conception, and such pre-born persons have the right to life.
2. Obama entered the contest as a blank-slate candidate, promising his character as a reason why he should be president. Fine enough, which makes his character fair game – why ads on William Ayers is negative campaigning then is beyond me. I honestly don’t believe he’s a far-left socialist or a undercover Muslim, but the fact he rose fast through Chicago’s and Illinois political ranks without stepping on anyone’s toes or ruffling any feathers shows something more insidious: he’s a true-blue pol. I don’t think he shares Rev. Wright hatred of whitey, Ayers militantism or Khalidi’s anti-Zionism – but he’s willing to deal with whoever he needs to deal to get where he wants to get.
3. Coupled #2 with the fact that he would be a president with a Democratic congress, I doubt he would put his foot down and fight his Democratic colleagues. I think the risk of a undivided government is even higher in this case.
4. In as much as Obama has a choir of good (really good) advisers, that’s not good enough: Nixon’s advisers advised against price caps, for example. I’m far more inclined to believe that Obama would only listen to such advisers if it is politically convenient for him to do so – none of his team of economists would have approved the combination of programs his (a bit boring) infomercial promised. He’s too populist for that. McCain has a history of bucking the Republican Party *and* polls, Obama doesn’t.
5. A good example of such populism was in 2006 when Obama opposed any suggestion of regulation on the GSE mortgage banks. Such regulation, to be sure, would not have prevented the collapse of investment banks today by itself, but it would at least make it a lot less painful. Obama opposed it on the count of affordable housing, even if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is completely unsustainable.
6. Not to say there aren’t any pea-brained McCain policy suggestions–gas tax holiday, anyone?–but I think for the most part, they’re better than Obama. For example, healthcare–McCain’s idea of moving the health insurance tax exemption to individuals and providing subsidies for low-income households is a lot more sound that Obama’s nationalization plan.
7. I don’t think Sarah Palin is a bad choice. I think Joe Biden is a far, far worse choice. The amount of gaffes he had made, if not for the overwhelming pro-Obama press, it would have probably caused his campaign to collapse. If Sarah Palin, a Republican governor, could govern a state where both parties hate her guts, while still being America’s most popular governor – I think she is far more capable than Obama or Biden of being president.
If Obama wins, I hope Obama wins by a shaving — maybe losing the popular vote, and winning just one battleground state with a tight margin. Because, with conservative charges of far-left demagoguery, that would make the next four years hilarious. For me, at least.
Campaign advise for McCain: use this as your next ad. Freak the living hell out of every right-thinking American.
Rajan Rishyakaran 