Why I Back Barack Obama So Strongly

One often hears that Obama backers are star-struck suckers for someone who speaks in lofty platitudes but has little substance.

So, I invite you to watch this speech. It is 31 minutes long and is about the economy, the mortgage problem and the upcoming financial troubles (this speech was given a few months ago)

Notice how Obama sets up the history, gives an overview and then talks about the specifics of his proposed solutions.

Yes, those who believe in an unregulated free market won’t like it.

But no one can say that this speech lacks substance.

Analysis of this speech can be found here.

Anyway, if you want to know what I expect of a President: it is what you saw in that speech. I expect the President to have such a firm grasp of the issues that he/she can talk intelligently and in detail about them.

John McCain couldn’t do this in 1,000,000 years; frankly he lacks this kind of knowledge about anything. Just for grins, watch him humiliate himself in the arena of national security.

Of course, such speeches don’t make great campaign material as they don’t fit into a neat little soundbite.

Of course, BHO can pack quite a wallop in sound bite fashion:

(via here)

Of course, in the interest of “fairness”, I’ll let a McCain adviser speak on the economy (McCain thinks that the “fundamentals are strong”)

But hey, the Republicans are there to reassure us: things could always be worse!

As one of my Republican visitors reminded me: Hatti is worse off than we are. I agree…though isn’t that a bit of a low bar?

Barack Obama: “Obambi” no more

Workout notes: Yesterday my right shoulder was oh-so-slightly sore so I cut back a bit today: 4000 yards, but easier. 500 warm up, 500 drill/swim with fins, 5 x (25 3/g, 75 swim) on 2 (low 1:4x), 5 x 100 fist on 2 (1:40-1:42), 10 x 50 golf (87-93, mostly 88-89) on the 1, 5 x (50 fin, 50 easy) on the 2, 500 strokes, 100 paddle, 100 IM, 100 paddle, 100 IM, 100 paddle.

Afterward I stretched my shoulders and they felt ok.

Politics:

Barack Obama calls out John McCain on his lies.

It is about time!

(Cartoon Via here)

Political Figures and First Impressions

This will be an essay on how I react to candidates before I know anything about them.

Back when the 2008 race all started, the Republican I feared the most was Fred Thompson.

The reason: he is conservative and, well, I found myself kind of liking the candidate! As to the latter: well, he reminded me a bit of the better senior Naval officers that I knew. He kind of gave off an aura of “I know what I am doing; I have the situation under control and if you follow my lead, everything will be ok.” Hence I thought he might be popular with many other men as well.

He spoke well, and IMHO, debated well; fortunately he had no stomach for campaigning.

Believe it or not, I actually liked George W. Bush at the start. Yes, I voted for Al Gore and was sorry that he didn’t win the Electoral College. But I thought to myself “we are still in good hands.” How wrong I was.

But the younger Bush seems ok enough; I liked his campaign message about working with people of different ideologies and of having a less arrogant foreign policy. I suppose that I thought he might be something like his dad: I didn’t vote for him but I respected him and still think that he is a smart guy.

My Texas family warned me about him; how right they were! But I didn’t become a “Bush hater” until the State of the Union address in 2003 when he all but declared that he was going to war with Iraq.

I softened toward him a bit when I heard “Bush at War” on audio; evidently Bush wasn’t so much as evil as he was a guy with average abilities who was in over his head.

I still think that he is a lousy President, but let’s face it: 99.99 percent of all of us would be lousy Presidents.

Bill Clinton: when I first saw him, I didn’t like him at all. “Dishonest and slick; kind of like a used car salesman” I thought. I really didn’t want that bumpkin in charge of the country, I thought.

It is only after I got to know something of his background and of his “out of this world” caliber intellect that I began to like him. Yeah, he lies a bit too much and has some human weaknesses (how would I do if “the babes” threw themselves at me as much as they did as him) but I am still miss the way he ran the country.

Hillary Clinton On a personal level, I never cared all that much for her. She sounds so, well, phony on the stump, though I liked some of her talks when she was explaining stuff rather than campaigning. Her political positions are fine. She reminds me of the student who does every bit of the work, studies hard, is successful, but lacks that natural spark to “take it to the next level”; sort of a Salieri character (good, but a notch away from being truly elite).

Here is what I like about her; I didn’t see this out of her on the campaign trail:

However, this year, I would have backed her in a second over anyone except Barack Obama.

So what about this year’s ticket?

John McCain: I still like the guy though I am sorry that he sold out his “Straight Talk Express” to lie repeatedly and I still think that he simply isn’t up to the job; he just isn’t smart enough to be effective. But I like him personally.

Joe Biden I’ve always kind of liked him; he is an excellent debater and I usually learn something when he speaks.

Sarah Palin Instant dislike; she reminds me of the college student of mediocre intellect who tries to charm and BS their way to a higher grade; the kind who will smile in your face but complain about you to your chair or dean. But my reaction is hardly universal; check out this liberal’s reaction to her. No, the title is NOT a snark; it is genuine.

Here is yet another article by fivethirtyeight.com. It points out that many voters LIKE Sarah Palin; our argument must be: “it is ok to like her; just don’t vote for her.” These are very wise words.

Barack Obama Actually, I didn’t much care for him at first, though I didn’t dislike him either. My reaction was “ok, good policies, but I don’t get all of the swooning.” I began to become a supporter when I studied his positions and his writing (e. g., when he addressed the Daily Kos here to politely dressed us down) and I began to understand that this guy is brilliant. In fact, I still think of him as a Bill Clinton (pre heart surgery) with a different style: a smart man who likes and understands people

Republican Cry-Babies Pwned by Debbie Wasserman Schultz

I always thought that liberals were supposed to be the whining cry-babies? Let’s see how this works: the Republicans lie and throw mud. Then we respond and they whine.

Reporters ask them what they know, and they cry “unfair”. McCain makes a gaffe and he exclaims: “but I was a POW.”

This is truly pathetic.

Now for a quote from the Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) steak fry:

Though Gov. Schweitzer gave an excellent, rousing speech, Iowa’s own small-town-girl-done-good, Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge (former Iowa State Senator and 2-term Iowa Secretary of Agriculture) may have stole the show when she brought the crowd to its feet for a standing applause with the following quote about the frivolity of McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin:

“Sarah knows how to field dress a moose, but I know how to castrate a calf. The thing is, neither of those things have anything to do with this election.”

Lt. Governor Judge mentioned that despite the fact she has more practical animal husbandry credentials than Palin and more elected office experience, Senator Obama didn’t call her to be VP.

Update: by Republicans for Obama