A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
|
|
|
A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
|
February 23, 2008Bullish on 2008, and on McCainAs I've said a few times before, I'm more than cautiously pleased at the caliber of the remaining candidates. Jonathan Rauch sounds downright bullish, especially on John McCain. On the 3 folks left, hyperbolic: This year's primary season has been so full of healthy developments that you could package it with oat bran and hawk it at Whole Foods. The country can thank its lucky stars that the process has pushed forward—in McCain and in Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama—the three most formidable figures in American politics. If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, the result will pit the two most widely admired political figures of their generations against each other in a presidential race. The last time the country saw anything remotely like that was when Dwight Eisenhower faced Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. And on Dear Johnny, Rauch is downright effusive: Most Republicans understand that their loss of credibility on spending restraint and fiscal responsibility has damaged the Republican brand. Wise Republicans understand, further, that supply-side dogmatism has become part of the problem. The supply-side movement made sense when the top tax rate was 70 percent, taxes rose with inflation, and tax cuts were only one part of a program that also included deregulation and lower spending. It stopped making sense when Bush-era Republicanism turned it into an obsession, fixated on the idea that if you just cut taxes and then cut them some more, lower spending, smaller government, and shrinking deficits will follow. C'mon now, be sure to transport through that hyperlink up there above the excerpts and read it all. You'll be glad you did. I'm not swooning like the almost schoolgirlish Rauch, but he makes a good case. Posted by Kranky Kritter at February 23, 2008 11:23 PMComments
The problem with McCain, as I have noted before, is that he's following a lot of the same things we've had to live with for the past 7 long, very long, years. He still voted with the pork barrel spenders, he still supports torture as an option and ignores more than 100 years of American history dating back to the war in the Phillippines, he now supports the tax cuts that have doubled the national debt, he's voted for the military policy that basically leaves this country more vulnerable to a major disaster or war, he's for the same deregulation that gave us the very expensive S&L problems in the past and the current fiscal meltdown of the present, and finally, for all his talk, McCain is tightly wound with lobbyists, with Washington insiders so to speak. Obama, or Hillary, can hang that on him and make it stick, especially given the recent news. Yeah ... and there's an underlying problem with all of these people. The institutional and cultural growth of the left and right movements, which are now a constant pressure-point for every candidate. Yes, we've always had that pressure in our system, but we're coming off the Bush/Clinton years, when the passion grew along with the Iraq issue and the impeachment question. On the one hand, I share Rauch's belief that these are three of the better candidates in the field (the fourth one who would have made sense would be Joe Biden, in my opinion). But I also fear my vote, in this case. I'm dying to see what John McCain will do as president, while also knowing that the coalitions he will cobble together include people who view the world very differently from me. I'm not exactly dying to see what Hillary or Obama will do, but I have some hope for either of them. I guess my gut is telling me to vote for McCain. He has more of a willingness to tell people to "go to hell" and just do what he thinks is right than the rest of these folks. Posted by: William Swann at February 24, 2008 03:40 PMI'm in sort of the same boat as you Will, except that I'm more undecided, Over at sf in the comments, I covered how I'll basically be supportive of either guy should they be elected (assuming Clinton loses the dem primary), up to and until either one of them fulfills one of my short list of "worst fears" which are specific to each guy. Posted by: kritter at February 24, 2008 06:16 PMI feel like Rove tore McCain's heart out in 2000. Not to be overdramatic or anything, but I kept feeling "this man's changed" every time I saw him on TV. Unlike 2000, he isn't grumbling about problems and trying to come up with innovative ideas to fix them. I'm afraid in 2008 he reminds me of Dole's campaign, in which the new ideas were cutting taxes to raise revenue, which had already failed for 20 years in our economy. To me, he deserves a lotta respect for having worked hard and well to serve his country thoughtfully for decades, but not being voted for in this cycle. |
Archives
July 2008
June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003
Recent Entries
July 4: Gasbag Edition
Independent Open Thread: Whatcha Doing This Weekend? Long Tail Controversy and Explanations Canadian Human Rights Commission No, Slavery Wasn't Competive With Free Labor Back online Irish Blogger Charged For Blogging Friday open thread Headline: Obama and Clinton Together in Unity There Is No EPA Document, There Is No EPA Document
|
