Let us hope it's a blip

[fpb]

Do I need to say that I regard last night's Iowa primary as an unmitigated disaster? On both sides, the worst candidate prevailed. What I have to say about Mike Huckabee I have already said; here I can add that a party who votes in the shallow and lazy Fred Thompson in third place is not worth electing. As for the Democrats, they have also voted for the shallowest and least competent candidate - a junior senator with no record and precious little by way of program. Whatever one may think of Edwards, he stands for certain definite things - the defence of the harassed middle class and the poor, in particular - and has taken clear and definite positions on a number of issues. And Hillary Clinton, however dislikeable she may be, has more experience than any other candidate. On both sides, people have voted for shallow personalities and poor records over competence and character. God help America if this is more than a blip.

Comments

[becomethesea.livejournal.com]

Because I'm curious... what's your opinion on Ron Paul?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

From what I can see, which is not a lot, he appeals to the lunatic fringe. Or at least to hardliners. His supporters certainly seem to feel like crusaders on a holy mission. It's all very well to be what we call "duro e puro" ("tough and pure"), but you have to appeal to people to get elected and to govern.

[goreism.livejournal.com]

Quebec independentist hardliners also call themselves pur et dur. Birds of a feather?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

And of a similar language.

update

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Since then, I heard a thing or two about this gentleman. Take, for instance, http://bidinotto.journalspace.com/?entryid=656. I only need add that I am a sworn and lifelong enemy of this kind of people.

[goreism.livejournal.com]

With respect to experience, the polls they were showing on TV indicated that only around 25% of voters offered experience as a major factor in their choice. After all, most people in the current administration aren't short on experience, and many of their actions have been deeply unpopular (you may have heard =p). Obama's line was that making good judgments was more important than experience simpliciter. Perhaps they remembered another lanky politician from Illinois without much in the way of previous experience. Or maybe they felt Obama's years as a community organizer after graduating from Harvard—something he emphasized repeatedly in ads—was relevant to understanding urban poverty. I remember you yourself arguing in a previous post that term limits were ineffective because politicians spend a few years as a state senator, then as a House representative, then as a US Senator, and so on. Isn't that an argument against experience as the sine qua non of a candidate?

Edwards has decided to occupy a very definite niche in the political spectrum, but I don't think he's taken significantly more positions than the other candidates. It's well known, for example, that Edwards supports health insurance mandates while Obama opposes them, or that Obama supports across-the-board tax cuts for most of the income distribution, while Clinton doesn't. This was a criticism made of Obama early in the race, but I don't think it really applies at this point.

I follow politics more as an interested observer than as a participant, but I'll say this: Obama has a really smart economic advisor in Austan Goolsbee, whom he met when they were both professors at Chicago. (A very nice man, as well.) For what its worth, Obama's first book is well-written and fascinating, and his second book makes it apparent he's no intellectual lightweight—if anyone ever had any doubts on that score.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I am glad to hear this and I hope you are right. The one thing we do not want is a president who, by lacking strong or sensible positions to take, ends up becoming the tool of his party supporters by default. I think that was often the case with Bush II, and I suspect that might end up being the case with Huckabee, as some of the positions he has taken are so extreme as to be absurd - and if he ever comes to power, he will be unable to follow through on them, so what shall he do? Likely enough, what his advisers tell him.

[goreism.livejournal.com]

You know, the candidate with the most experience seemed to be Richardson, but certain people I know almost viscerally hated his guts. I never got a chance to find out why, though. Any idea? Maybe because he'd only appeal to Latino voters with the last name "Richardson" (to cop a line from a McSweeney's list).

[fpb.livejournal.com]

From what little I could see, he managed to say more bloopers than anyone else, and left the impression of a hypocrite. But I did not pay a lot of attention to him, and the facts may be quite different. Anyone got an opinion?

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

goreism, above, has a different and more hopeful view of Obama, which you might want a look at. goreism is usually well informed and intelligent, so if he says that Obama is better than I thought, I am ready to consider his viewpoint. The fact remains that the Republicans, at least, have made two disastrous choices, counting Thompson. The idea of a Hollywood actor becoming a conservative leader may appeal to Ronald Reagan's orphans, but Reagan had paid his dues, left acting for full-time politics instead of hovering between the two, and worked his way to governor of California before he was elected. You can say nothing of this about Thompson.

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

I will have a look. Thanks. :)

I'm just feeling awfully pessimistic about my nation's leadership chances at the moment.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

What I have to say about Mike Huckabee I have already said ...

I'd call him an unprincipled boob with pretentions of morality and no basic human decency. What would you call him?

Obama actually did best in the Democrat primary. He means well, but is hopelessly naive -- he'd be a second Jimmy Carter.

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

I prefer Obama because I don't want any more dynastic type presidencies, and I've loathed Edwards since he ran for vice president.

But there's probably a bit of what you said going on in my head too.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I would be interested to hear why you feel so negative about Edwards.

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

Oh, for some reason I thought I'd already told you. I was watching the vice presidential debate between Edwards and Cheney, and Edwards made that comment something along the lines of 'I congratulate you for having a gay daughter', and then he sat back with the most repulsively smarmy smirk I have ever seen on a man. The point of that remark was obviously to point out to Cheney's conservative base that he was tainted by proximity to a homosexual, and it was a cheap, low blow to use an opponent's child against him. And to me it was doubly bad for Edward's to use homosexuality as a weapon, because much of his base would like sexual preference to be a non-issue. And to top it off, it simply gave Cheney the opportunity to be gracious under an unfair attack, as he merely replied, "thank you for your kind remark", and said nothing else.

I already disliked Kerry at that point, but that really put me against his running mate. If I had liked the Republican candidates better, I would have seriously considered voting against Kerry and Edwards, even though I am a pretty die hard Democrat.

[theswordmaiden.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you're talking about. I believe Cheney's daughter (forgot her name!) mentioned that incident in her book, and said she gave Edwards a huge scowl in response.

Relax - it's the vote of a bunch of people in IOWA

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

At no other time does anyone pay any attention to that giant sink-hole of intelligence. It might as well be the vote of the people in Nebraska - all three hundred of them. The folks who win are the pretty, non-threatening ones. New Hampshire will vote for McCain. (Who knows who gets the Granite State Democrats - all 300 of them. Who cares?) The only primaries which count are the ones in the big electoral vote states - Florida, New York, California. Everything else is posturing. This year I'm voting for the smartest one. Character counts, but going to war by mistake has scared me off idiots of good character advised by smart friends with no moral fibre.

Re: Relax - it's the vote of a bunch of people in IOWA

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Rather elitist, aren't you?

Re: Relax - it's the vote of a bunch of people in IOWA

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

It's what holds my fantasy world together. We all need our very own Special Happy Places. Mine is between my ears, where the flowers bloom, the sun shines eternally, and all the people are smart and happy and safe. Where's your's?

Re: Relax - it's the vote of a bunch of people in IOWA

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Pax, children. I don't want two of my favourite online friends calling each other names. I do not think that it is elitist to ask for brains and character in a presidential candidate, and I have not been impressed by the calibre of the favourites, especially on the Republican side. Let us all hope that I am wrong.

Re: Relax - I didn't sense any friction

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

I would never dream of calling dustthouart names. I was accurately identified. (I generally use the word 'snob.') dustthouart's world is filled with lovely people (among them the "Hogwarts Elite," for example). They also live in mine. Some of them may even live in Iowa. Or New Hampshire. (But they'll still be ignored after Primary Season, when all the candidates sprint back to the Political Center.)

[norwyn.livejournal.com]

I do not think that it is elitist to ask for brains and character in a presidential candidate...

It may not be elitist to ask for such, but at this point, it may be little more than a fantasy. I've tried to make my selections, and just cannot at this point commit to any of the candidates. I like McCain. However, he is not a strong candidate in terms of electability. He would do well as vice-president, and the people would likely accept him in that role. It's sad that there is no Republican candidate with the brains and sense to take this next election.