It’s easy to see why republicans are disliked so much. During McCain’s (very nice) speech, Obama was booed. Real classy guys. No one likes a sore loser… There was general applause when Obama mentioned McCain during the acceptance speech. What is it that makes Republicans so good at being nasty?
I have been pretty clear in my not liking Obama overall. I will say this though, for the first time in 8 years, the prospect of not having Bush and Cheney in the White House feels real. Right now, that is far more overwhelming than Obama’s win to me. He does give a good speech, that’s also a kind of relief, a president that uses English properly!
I am cautiously optimistic about Obama’s foreign policy. If he puts “getting along” as a higher priority than being tough, I will love him. It can go a long way… Some of his comments about Pakistan make me worry a bit, but I think that the change from the neocons will do this country (and almost all others) a world of good. With any luck, he will remember how much trading with other people engenders good feelings.
It is also just now starting to dawn on me how uplifting this could be to people that have traditionally given up on life. He is a great story, there’s no getting around it.
I am still worried about the economics that we will be subjected to in the next 4 years. A lot of what he is saying sounds like trouble. Here’s my request for Obama; please please please keep the rules simple. People and businesses can deal with just about any (reasonable) rules in the game, as long as they don’t vary. I know that legislation will be passed to “fix” the economy. I am inherently distrustful of things like that, but if he knows when to leave well enough alone, I think the downside can be mostly avoided. Do whatever you think you need to do and then stop. Constant fiddling is much more dangerous than anything else, look at FDR for a good history lesson.
There are a couple of obvious downsides to this night. The first I’ll only mention in passing but it needs to be said. Obama is the most likely president to be assassinated that we have ever had. I think that the odds are slim, but they are higher than anyone in recent memory. Not only is his skin color an issue to some, but the absolute frenzy his supporters have been whipped into may have the opposite effect on someone that is disposed to hate him…
The other thing to watch out for is high expectations. Right now, he is promising the world and everything in it. Everyone should be ready for the things that he can’t do, or does and does badly. I do think he’ll have a long honeymoon unless he totally screws something up.
Bush has been so bad for so long. His “legacy” was written all over this election Not only were republicans in general in a bad way, but the voter turnout can be correlated with him as well. It was great to see people so pissed off. Only 2 more months of W, I wonder if I’ll be able to take it…
It’s called 2008 third party movement. There are some significant differences between the various so-called third parties, but here are some things they have in common:
“The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most important issues facing our nation. However, alternate candidates Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election.
We Agree
Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.
Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.
The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.
The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.”
I only have some small quibbles with the foreign policy, but overall I agree with everything. In addition, I think that all of these things are much more important than anything the big two have been talking about. I wish more people were concerned about this stuff instead of indulging in rooting for and/or against a “side.”
Despite everyone’s supposed dislike of negative ads, they can be instructive. My current favorite one is from the RNC. In it, they detail how in bed Obama was with both Fannie and Freddie. It talks about how he supported them and how this whole financial collapse is due to people like him.
Of course the RNC can’t trumpet McCain too much. Here’s my favorite part… You see, McCain may not have accepted as much money from Fannie and Freddie as Obama did, but he has his own skeletons to worry about. McCain was, of course, a star in the whole Keating five messiness. The RNC is walking a fine line and hoping that people’s memories don’t go back that far. God, politics is dirty…
Bush is only in power for a little longer, did he have to go and piss off Syria? There are already a lot of countries that won’t allow Americans in because of our foreign policy, is Syria going to be next? How on earth am I going to get to Damascus now?
What? There was more than my travel plans at stake in that? Pssh, what could be so important? I kid….
I just saw another Obama campaign ad talking about jobs shipped overseas. This one laments that workers in the Carolinas the sewed the American flag had their jobs sent overseas. They lost not only their jobs, but their “dignity” as well.
Where to start? OK, first of all, those people were either going to lose their jobs to increased mechanization or outsourcing. Odds are that the investment in new machinery was too expensive, so the company could either outsource the labor, or go out of business. Would Obama rather have had the company go under? The idea that we can force companies to keep employees when it is not viable and not to have any bad consequences is naive and comical…
Second of all, and this may be what gets me more wound up, is since when are companies responsible for the “dignity” of their workers? More importantly, since when is the federal government responsible? This has to be one of the more obvious examples of the government overstepping it’s bounds. Dignity is up to the individual, not their employers and certainly not the government. I wish that there was at least the suggestion that the government cannot do certain things let alone hint that there are things that it shouldn’t do….
I keep hearing the ad where he says that companies that “send AMerican jobs overseas” will not get tax breaks. It’s an odd thing to say and do really. First off, which tax breaks is he talking about? Why are there tax breaks to begin with? Don’t get me wrong, I favor the least amount of taxes n general, but when certain industries or companies get “tax breaks,” it’s really just a way to pay back the donations that have flowed from them.
What it sounds like he is saying is that we should give tax breaks to companies that create jobs in the US, or at least they don’t ship them out. Read the first paragraph again… Any time that companies or industries are given preferential treatment, it means that there is some serious lobbying going on and a fat bonus to the management of that company.
Here’s what’s going to happen… There will be some companies that it is easier to give jobs to Americans than others. Giving them a tax benefit is going to skew what types of industries and businesses will be profitable to start. Ideally, no government would distort things like that and ideally, companies can be started in whatever industry people can figure out how to make a profit, regardless where the labor is. We want more businesses, not fewer. Even businesses that rely totally on foreign labor do hire some people stateside, isn’t that a good thing?
Well, it looks like ALL of the local representatives in the house voted against the bailout. I’d like to thank them for that. Unfortunately for them, their parties (that’s right both dems and republicans) were 100% behind the bill, so I’m still not going to vote for their parties…
I’ve been bitching and moaning for a while about how I don’t really like either candidate. This bailout bill is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Neither of the candidates even said, “Well, maybe we should think about this…” let alone thought that the bailout was a bad idea. Both parties were all gung-ho to pass this as soon as possible. That is an amazing amount of money that has just been handed over to the federal government and there was only token debate about how much power was being given essentially to one man.
I’ve had it, but what to do? I, along with everyone else, have been looking at the voting options as a two horse race. It occurred to me today that that isn’t so. There are a handful of other parties on the ballot in Virginia, how does this platform sound?
“We defend America’s traditional civil liberties and personal freedoms as the foundation of a tolerant society. We believe in the protection of people from dishonest business through liability in the courts. We endorse a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade as prescribed by America’s Founding Fathers. Unlike the two major parties, for whom the only debate is whether the government should be enormous or merely huge, we believe the size and scope of government must be substantially reduced. Individuals should have sovereignty over their own lives as long as they do not interfere with the rights of others.”
Guess what party that is? It’s the Libertarian party. It basically fits my sensibilities to a tee and I’m willing to bet it fits a lot of other people’s too, they just don’t know about this party. I’ve known about them, but I never really thought about voting for them. Why not?
Well, there is zero chance that any of their policies will ever get written into law. Zero. Things like real free trade (not what passes for that in all of the trade bills coming out of the congress) and the elimination of all of the unnecessary federal bureaucracy just don’t have any political traction and probably won’t any time soon. Other things like the abolition of the federal income tax are so big that the idea is a little scary. But that’ll never happen either.
As it turns out, that’s probably a good thing. Knowing that the huge stuff won’t get done is fine. Right now, I’d be happy with resistance to the crazy things that are going on right now. A Libertarian would not have voted to invade Iraq (see Ron Paul) and a libertarian wouldn’t have voted for this enormous bailout. it would be nice if someone was fighting for me instead of selling me out.
Of course the big reason I wasn’t going to vote for a Libertarian is because they weren’t going to win. Especially after the Nadar issue that got W elected, third party votes have been seen as throwing away your vote, at best.
This is the killer, the guy isn’t going to win, so why bother? Of course one of the other guys is going to win, so why bother voting for them? Especially if I don’t like either of them. Something struck me today, voting for these guys could actually make a difference, even if they don’t win. Counting votes is the only way people know that that outlook exists in the population at large. This vote will actually mean more than just another vote for the big two, it will show that someone does care about things that the candidates are ignoring. I believe that most of the people that don’t vote are sick of the big two. Politics is stupid, politics is inherently corrupt, etc. If people realize that there is another choice and vote that way, things can be accomplished. Even if I am the only one in my district to vote this way, it might get someone to say, “Libertarians, who are they?” That chance is worth a lot more to me than “throwing away” my vote on Obama or McCain.
So for me, this makes a lot of sense. If you are disgusted by the bailout and Iraq, a libertarian vote makes a lot of sense. A democratic vote may communicate your dislike of the Iraq situation, but it is also tacit approval of Obama’s financial largess to very wealthy people. If you want to say no to interventionist wars, bailouts, ever increasing debt, and government intrusions into things like sexuality, vote Libertarian. It’s gotta start somewhere, so I’m voting libertarian down the line…
They passed the bailout bill. I’m willing to bet that the one the House passed is actually worse than the one they rejected. SIGH. There wasn’t any party opposition at all, both were of the opinion that they needed to get it done RIGHT NOW! The parties are looking more and more alike, and not in good ways. It’s really frustrating that both houses were willing to sign away so much money with so little research. Once again, I’m hoping that this is the action that really rouses the ire of a lot of Americans. My biggest fear is that people are going to get away with this. The people that actually ran these banks into the ground are getting a free pass and by the time most of the people that voted on it come up for re-election, everyone will have forgotten about this. What a waste of money…