gandalf: Thanks for the kind words. This thread has been a lot of fun to participate in, and I appreciate both your candor and the opportunity to respond. I also want to say that I am not advancing McCain’s fortunes at the expense of Obama. In other words, this isn’t an exercise in partisanship for me. I won’t be voting for either of them come November, so I don’t have a horse in this particular race, so to speak.
All that being said, I would welcome Obama if he turns out to be what you believe he is. I don’t think that is the case, sadly, but, please understand, that is just my opinion. My comment regarding Pakistan and Obama’s not understanding that it was a sovereign nation was not me poking fun at him. He did make that comment regarding al Qaeda and, to me, it did illustrate less than a comprehensive grasp of geopolitical affairs. Likewise his comment that we have somehow pushed Iran into the present state of affairs (regarding their attempts to join the Nuclear Club).
I realize that I am taking your points somewhat out of order, so I’ll finish the foreign policy point and then move on. I would very much enjoy seeing someone like Biden in the VP position. As I mentioned before, I don’t agree with his politics, but he is a very solid policy wonk and an exceptionally well-traveled (in terms of committees on the Hill) operator. I won’t pretend to know the inner workings of the Democratic Party, but I do know that Biden had some pretty caustic comments about Obama that he was forced to apologize for. As far as San Nunn goes, another solid choice (and, again, this said even whilst I oppose his views ideologically) for VP. I would ask what you’ve heard, if anything, regarding potential VP/running mate choices. Given his relative inexperience in foreign affairs, he would do well to choose someone like Biden or Nunn, but I also believe the powers that be at DNC will make the final call here.
Which brings me to politics. Obama has raised a staggering amount of money during this campaign. He swamped Hillary’s effort by a wide margin, and the Clinton money machine was legendary, to say the least. When do those chips come due? I say this because it does illustrate a hard truth in American politics, and that is that we have the best politicians money can buy. Do you feel that he is not beholden? He is a product of the Chicago political machine, and someone there obviously saw his potential or he would still be an Alderman on the North Side. This, coupled with his sense of expediency (I’ll use his jettisoning the good Reverend Wright here), shows that he is a capable politician and very adept at sniffing the wind. His handling of Hillary was similarly deft and that simultaneously speaks to his adroitness as a pol, but also something a little deeper and darker (in terms of willingness to dispose of enemies and baggage).
I do agree with the “breath of fresh air” idea. I think a core strength of Obama’s has been to rally people of all political stripes around the notion that both the Clinton Dems and Far Right Repubs are simply retreads of the same tired mantra. The question becomes: Is Obama like JFK in the respect that he is transcending party politics and offering a new vision? If this is the case, shouldn’t his voting record and policy stance reflect that? Since they don’t, what do you ascribe this new vision approach to? Is it possible he is just being a politician in that he will do what is necessary to get elected?
I don’t know enough about his energy policy to comment intelligently. I did like McCain’s idea about building new nuke power plants. If Obama is truly committed to revitalizing America’s energy policies (and, let’s face facts: We haven’t heard anything truly new here since the 1970s), then he should enjoy the country’s full support. I am all for 1930s style WPA-type infrastructure projects. Yup, that makes me something of a neo-Socialist, but so be it. We need to do something to bring this country back around and if rebuilding every damn road, bridge and water/wastewater/sewage system is it, then let’s do it.
I apologize for the meandering tone of my reply. It’s after 1:00a and I did want to put something down while it was bouncing around in my melon.
I am a cynic by nature and being a history buff has made me skeptical of promises, especially with the sort of money this Presidential campaign has chewed through.
