Sarah Palin...

[fpb]

...and thank God for that. A woman who refused to abort her Down's Syndrome baby is my kind of politician. It seems that McCain has escaped the traps laid for him by his Republican "friends" and selected the ideal candidate: a reformer, a person of impeccable honesty, a high-achieving married woman and mother (that will rub salt into the wounds of Hillary's supporters), a woman with the vigour of youth still about her to balance McCain's white hair, and an outsider. As if that wasn't enough, she is even a former beauty queen! Thinking about it, she was the obvious choice, and it is only the navel-gazing self-regard of the Republican rumour mill that could have distracted us from her obvious merits to worrying about machine candidates like Romney or Liebermann.

Especially for jamesenge: I have come to respect and admire Senator Obama, but as an opponent. He is an opponent worth having; one can hardly wonder that grizzled old machine politicians grown grey in local struggles identified him at once as a coming superstar. It was like the grandees of the barely-founded Republican party sending each other enthusiastic messages after the Cooper Union speech: "We have the perfect candidate, and never mind that you never heard his name before". But there is one fundamental issue that separates me from him; namely, abortion. If the Republicans had nominated an abortionist such as Giuliani or Romney, I would have said that Obama is the better man. But Senator McCain, apart from himself leaving the impression that he hs "a fully paid-up member of the human race" (to quote a quip about a British politician), has shown himself his own man even when that could have made him unpopular, and has now made a selection of running mate that is as good as a statement. And while Senator Obama remains an impressive candidate, I will now be cheering for his opponent.

Comments

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

Well, you know I love Obama, and I really want him to be our next President for so many reasons. But I have to respect your opinion, especially when it's offered in such a rational, respectful manner (which on this subject is rare these days in the States! I myself have a hard time stating my political opinions without rude words and names! But I really don't state my opinion much to people who would actually disagree with me).

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Actually, Senator Obama said at least one thing that disappointed me in his speech. He promised to regulate health insurance so that insurers no longer drop long-term sick clients and leave them to struggle with penury and illness. I doubt whether that is feasible; it will certainly increase costs, and therefore prices (if money runs out on a particular case, it runs out; that case can only, from then on, be financed with money from the general pot); and above all, it does not deal with the great twin problems of American healthcare - its immense cost (on average 50% more as part of GDP than any other developped country) and the fact that at any time at least ten per cent of the population has no health coverage whatsoever. (Which, I would like to point out, is not only a social disaster but a permanent threat to the health of the remaining 90%. Disease may start with the hovels of the poor and improvident, but it never ends there; that is the lesson of all the epidemics in history.) There is a reason why every major advanced country except the USA has created a National Health Service, but evidently Senator Obama does not think that it is politically feasible to bring in any kind of national health cover. That may be reasonable, but it is a sad conclusion.