I have spent a lot of time reading different op-ed pieces and blogs about the presidential tickets and my head is swimming a bit. I even took time to read the email from Anne Kilkenny about Palin. I don’t plan on endorsing any candidate from this blog (not my purpose) but I do think it is valuable to write through some of the questions I am considering just for the purpose of prcoessing.
Here are the thoughts and questions I have about each candidate.
Obama – People keep questioning his experience but that doesn’t concern me all that much. There are enough advisers and insiders to surround him to help him in the early going of the job. The bigger question than experience, for me, is ability, and I think he has that. My question about Obama is his ability to put meat to the lofty ideas he promotes. His ability to inspire is incredible. His ideals are beautiful, but are his ideals and dreams nothing more than a false facade ala the temporary building covers the Chinese threw up around Bejing?
Biden – Biden has a lot of experience, and has spent serious time working on Iraq, drugs, violence against women and host of other issues. He has been in congress for almost as long as I have been alive. I don’t have a ton questions about him, I don’t agree with all his policies, but he is a very solid VP candidate who adds important experience, perspective, and knowledge to Obama. Biden doesn’t excite me, but he makes a lot of sense for Obama. I guess the biggest question is whether or not he really believes in Obama since he was a loud critic of his before becoming his VP?
McCain – One thing I really like about McCain is that he has been bread to be a leader. A grandfather and a father who were both generals is a huge boon to his ability to lead. There are lessons about leadership that have been ingrained to him since birth that you just can’t get anywhere else. He has tremendous experience and would be a respectable leader on the international stage. What I can’t figure out about McCain are his philosophies of governance. There was a great op-ed piece about this talking about McCain’s tendency to govern based on moral philosophy rather than political philosophy. McCain almost seems a throwback in this regards. as a general in WW2 he would have excelled. I am just not sure how his tendencies to look for fights of virtue fit into the realities of today. They might be helpful in Iraq or detrimental. I have no idea what they would do for the economy. He is such a wildcard in those regards.
Palin – Everything I read about Palin tells me that i would probably really like her. I like people who take chances. I admire the bulldogs among us, those who grab on to something and stubbornly push through regardless of the consequences. I have just not read one thing about her, her experience or anything resembling a philosophy of government that makes me think she has any business being one accident, assasination, or heartattack away from having to lead our country. People keep saying that she has more excecutive experience than Obama but I am not buying it. She is a first term governor of a state that has a smaller population than Charlotte, NC. She has battled bad spending and the oil companies and corruption, but she has also shown tendencies of being vindictive against those who oppose her and I question her spending and economic policies.
Anyways, those are my reflections as they stand today. i am sure as the debates take place I will have other questions that emerge. What I am looking for over the next couple months are more substantial ideas of how he actually wants to accomplish all the things he keeps talking about from Obama, and more evidence that the philosophies of McCain are what the country actually needs today.
September 6, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I read in the paper that the chance of Palin actually having to step in the Pres position if McCain wins is like 2%.
To compare Obama’s experience and hers is silly. She isn’t running for President…he is.
I have to say I was bugged by your pointing out in another post that Palin better have a good nanny. Would you say the same about a male vp candidate with the same amount of kids?
McCain’s gonna win. I’d put money on it, but Methodists can’t gamble.
September 6, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I agree that comparing Palin and Obama is silly, but the Republicans keep bringing this up, so it seemed worth commenting on.
I would bring it up if another candidate had young children, especially a special needs infant. But Palin herself makes this something work bringing up because the image they keep putting forward centers around her role as a mother. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t celebrate her as a mother of 5, including a special needs infant, and not also ask exactly how she is going parent them while being VP. Seems legitimate to me. It is a comment that comes up more because she is a woman, but they Republicans are trying to use this reality and motherly role as an attribute that makes her such a great candidate.
I don’t know who is going to win, but it will be fascinating to watch.
September 6, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The Republicans are not the only ones comparing the two.
I do not believe for one minute that if she was a male that you would of commented on the nanny thing. AND if she was a male the commentary centering around fatherhood would hardly exist. Yes, you can have it both ways, but it means having support is necessary. You can be a mother AND do other things that are important…like lead people.
Yes, we can celebrate Sarah Palin being a mother of 5 AND we can celebrate her being a candidate for the VP of the United States of America. The kids have a father too…let’s not forget about him. Let’s celebrate the wonderful people (the nanny, their family, their neighbors, their church) that will help them through it all.
September 7, 2008 at 12:15 am
Maggie,
You are probably right, I probably wouldn’t have thought about it in the same way if it was a man. I agree with you, however, that with the proper support there is no reason a woman can’t fulfill those roles effectively. I certainly believe that.
It will be interesting to see if many of the questions that Hillary had to face about being president and being a woman will be questions Palin has to face.
It would be nice if one of the positives of Palin’s nomination is that the family support systems they use bring to light the ways families can function amidst difficult callings. It is certainly not that different from the role of pastors and their families, just on a larger scale.
September 7, 2008 at 4:53 am
Greg,
I think you’re insights on the race on spot on. However, I will disagree with you in one regard. I do believe Obama’s lack of experience is an issue, especially given some of the issues the country faces whomever takes office in January. I worry that his proposals are too expansive and would only seek to grow the size of government (which in turn would take more money from those same people he is attempting to help).
Biden was a safe choice, but it was a choice simply done because Obama has no experience on the foreign policy side. Now, I disagree with Biden on the issues, but he does give Obama experience that he doesn’t have.
Right now, I have the race for McCain with 274 electoral votes. I have Colorado going for McCain and New Mexico flipping. An interesting state will be New Hampshire, which has supported McCain throughout his career and quite heavily. There is a scenario in play where McCain could lose both Colorado and New Mexico, win New Hampshire and force a 269-269 tie, which would force the election to be decided by the House of Representatives.
September 7, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Excellent thoughts so far. I understand that VP picks have become “more important” since the influence of Cheney, but constitutionally, they are just sitting in the wings and basically useless. What they tell us however, is what sort of person the president is who would pick them.
McCain proves by his choice he is a maverick. Obama proves he is the liberal people are claiming he is. I think we believed both of those things before the picks, so debating VPs is moot.
The problem I have with both candidates is that they seem so thin. Neither has substance to their policies. I love to hear the Clintons talk about policy. They understand laws and policy decisions better than anyone. Even though I disagree with so many of their conclusions, I love to hear them talk specifics. I feel educated by the time I am done listening, even if I disagreed with everything they said.
Neither McCain or Obama have depth to their policies. Even cruising their websites, they are nothing compared to what Fred Thompson’s or Hillary’s was on policy. They are sound bite answers to complicated problems. Thin.
So the struggle is we have to choose the proverbial lesser of two evils (or to be more accuarate – two mediocres). As for me, I will look at how they plan to strengthen he dollar (a subject neither spoke on in their acceptance speech), who they will stick in the Supreme Court (since that has such a lasting impact), and generically which one I believe will do less damage to foreign and domestic interests.
What I do believe is that a president can do very little good in their term, but a whole lot of damage. I just need to figure out which of these guys will cause less damage.
**Side note on the dollar: Why do Americans not realize that a stronger dollar means cheaper oil. If we make our money worth more, we can buy more oil with it. If we double the value of the dollar, we half the cost of oil. We don’t have a gas problem, we have a dollar problem! (my apologies for the rant – couldn’t resist)
September 8, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Shannon,
I am impressed that you are already breaking down delegates, I have not gotten that far. It does certainly seem to be very close right now. McCain seems like a “safer choice” for most Americans because he is a more well known quantity, but who knows if that will win the day.
Dave,
I agree with the lack of depth analysis with both of them. Both seem like they are campaigning for the role of statesmen, figure heads that represent our country, rather than presidential architects who are designing how to address the problems of our country.