American liberals can't quite face the fact that if their man does win in November, and if he has meant a single serious word he's ever said, it means more war, and more bitter and protracted war at that—not less. -- Slate: Pakistan Is the Problem
Friday, September 19, 2008
Obama's War
And I do not have a problem with it.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Mere Personality
Here’s the thing: All four of them are qualified. All four of them, if landed in the hot seat, would do just as well as, possibly better than, the average of the forty three who went before.
The heat’s on Sarah right now. She’s not typical; she’s not safe. She doesn’t look like the others who went before. And she’s polarizing because she believes in things that people who believe in things either agree with passionately, or disagree with passionately. For my part, I stand with some of those things but not most of the others and I don’t care. She’s not the demagogue some on the left paint her as (check your facts, people), and our political system corrects for radicalism anyway. No worries.
The heat was on Barrack before and will continue. The right keeps on hysterically questioning his origins, his religious sensibilities, his commitment to good old fashioned Americanism. It’s all a bunch of panicky hogwash. Barry’s biography is emblematic of the sort of personality we like to read about in Presidential histories. He doesn’t have a lot of depth dealing with foreign policy issues but frankly, I don’t care anymore. Why not? Because just as in Bush’s first term, the next President’s first term will include events no one could have prepared for, and foreign policy “experience” (of which W had none anyway) will count for far less than guts and smarts and adaptability. Barrack fits the requirement.
No point commenting on John and Joe. They’re a pair of highly qualified old white guys from Washington.
So my point is I’m pretty much done with all the talk, the hand-wringing, the histrionics over this thing.
The heat’s on Sarah right now. She’s not typical; she’s not safe. She doesn’t look like the others who went before. And she’s polarizing because she believes in things that people who believe in things either agree with passionately, or disagree with passionately. For my part, I stand with some of those things but not most of the others and I don’t care. She’s not the demagogue some on the left paint her as (check your facts, people), and our political system corrects for radicalism anyway. No worries.
The heat was on Barrack before and will continue. The right keeps on hysterically questioning his origins, his religious sensibilities, his commitment to good old fashioned Americanism. It’s all a bunch of panicky hogwash. Barry’s biography is emblematic of the sort of personality we like to read about in Presidential histories. He doesn’t have a lot of depth dealing with foreign policy issues but frankly, I don’t care anymore. Why not? Because just as in Bush’s first term, the next President’s first term will include events no one could have prepared for, and foreign policy “experience” (of which W had none anyway) will count for far less than guts and smarts and adaptability. Barrack fits the requirement.
No point commenting on John and Joe. They’re a pair of highly qualified old white guys from Washington.
So my point is I’m pretty much done with all the talk, the hand-wringing, the histrionics over this thing.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
They don’t bother me
A lot of people are bothered by Palin. I’m not. Absent the fierce ambition that got her into that big white house in Juneau, she seems like a lot of people I’ve known. I disagree with some of her beliefs and philosophies, but I agree with others, and who cares anyway? She aims to be Vice President. Until McCain croaks, that doesn’t mean a lot more than being honorary mayor in a town run by the chamber of commerce. If he does, I sense her independent Christian and female instincts will work well within the Constitutional system, and things will turn out fine.
A lot of people are bothered by Obama. I’m not. Absent the admirably high self-esteem that got him through Chicago politics and enabled his reinvention into the image of a seemingly new kind of Senator, he seems like a lot of people I’ve known. I disagree with his standard left-Democrat positions on a lot of things, but so what? I grew up around folks just like him, and I understand them and him. So his wife wasn’t “proud” of America before. So he belonged to an avidly anti-white-America church. This is all old news where I come from and I grasp the multiple layers of political consciousness that such associations entail. He’s a great communicator and way too smart to become, say, another Carter. Under Obama, things will turn out fine.
A lot of people are bothered by Biden. I’m not. I wrote as if I was a few posts back, but I wasn’t serious, merely unimpressed. Other than the minor scandals that ended his earlier Presidential bids, I know nothing about him except as a sort of whipping boy for the occasional conservative editorialist. And even the most right-wing conservatives allow he’s an unfailingly decent man, well-versed in the practical realities of Washington, and I have to admit, he and Obama make a handsome pair. With Biden as President of the Senate, things will turn out fine.
A lot of people are bothered by McCain. I’m not. I don’t pretend to be overly impressed with his military record. He comported himself well, but I’m more interested in his decision to forego a path to the Admiralty and instead work with the politicians. Not sure what to make of that but his record does show independence and general good judgment. Current pundits’ juvenile use of the word “McSame” doesn’t sway me: It is extremely clear he has made compromises in order to get where he is, but we all know that the game changes once a President takes office, and in a relatively short time his fundamental character will outweigh any recent accommodations to the out-going Bush loyalists. Under McCain, things will turn out fine.
Different in each case. The two men as President will react quite differently to provocations from the real chess players out there – Russia, Iran, China – and will push somewhat different economic agendas. But I have faith in my country and in the promise of the future generally; and though I often characterize politicians as having a special species of the criminal mind, they don’t really bother me. Things’ll turn out fine.
A lot of people are bothered by Obama. I’m not. Absent the admirably high self-esteem that got him through Chicago politics and enabled his reinvention into the image of a seemingly new kind of Senator, he seems like a lot of people I’ve known. I disagree with his standard left-Democrat positions on a lot of things, but so what? I grew up around folks just like him, and I understand them and him. So his wife wasn’t “proud” of America before. So he belonged to an avidly anti-white-America church. This is all old news where I come from and I grasp the multiple layers of political consciousness that such associations entail. He’s a great communicator and way too smart to become, say, another Carter. Under Obama, things will turn out fine.
A lot of people are bothered by Biden. I’m not. I wrote as if I was a few posts back, but I wasn’t serious, merely unimpressed. Other than the minor scandals that ended his earlier Presidential bids, I know nothing about him except as a sort of whipping boy for the occasional conservative editorialist. And even the most right-wing conservatives allow he’s an unfailingly decent man, well-versed in the practical realities of Washington, and I have to admit, he and Obama make a handsome pair. With Biden as President of the Senate, things will turn out fine.
A lot of people are bothered by McCain. I’m not. I don’t pretend to be overly impressed with his military record. He comported himself well, but I’m more interested in his decision to forego a path to the Admiralty and instead work with the politicians. Not sure what to make of that but his record does show independence and general good judgment. Current pundits’ juvenile use of the word “McSame” doesn’t sway me: It is extremely clear he has made compromises in order to get where he is, but we all know that the game changes once a President takes office, and in a relatively short time his fundamental character will outweigh any recent accommodations to the out-going Bush loyalists. Under McCain, things will turn out fine.
Different in each case. The two men as President will react quite differently to provocations from the real chess players out there – Russia, Iran, China – and will push somewhat different economic agendas. But I have faith in my country and in the promise of the future generally; and though I often characterize politicians as having a special species of the criminal mind, they don’t really bother me. Things’ll turn out fine.
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