The ongoing race
I'm supposed to be doing other things today (as ever), but I saw this comment (which the poster admittedly lifted from somewhere else) and I rather liked it:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/05/polls_hint_at_c.html#c090241
And I really do think that the "elitist" label that has been applied to Obama is bullshit. He's certainly less wealthy than his competitors, has demonstrated (as a community organizer) that he's willing and eager to use the skills (education) that he has gained (presumably through hard work) to help those who have perhaps not had the same opportunities.
If anything it seem to me that it's more of an urban/rural divide than an elite/the rest of us divide. I really am not convinced that either Hillary or John has any more claim to be a part of rural America, they are perhaps just much more practiced at faking it. And, I would argue, Barak has more credibility with respect to learning the issues and finding people who understand them and then working to lay the groundwork to actually make peoples lives better. This in contrast to the populist pandering of the other two as in the case of the gas tax holiday plan which I just can't see how it would help anyone except the oil companies. (and, it seems, politicians.)
Which leads to one last thing: Barak Obama has shown that he is willing to say "I made a mistake. Now we're going to fix it." The examples are legion but since I've already broached the gas tax holiday, let's start with that. He supported a similar program in Illinois. It didn't really work the way it was intended to. Now, having learned from that, he opposes the plan supported by McCain and Clinton. Likewise, for this whole preacher-gate thing. He gave his long time friend the benefit of the doubt, but once Wright continued to say these things (which even once they were put in context still felt crafted to create strife rather than seek solutions), in some respect violating the trust that Obama had in him, then Obama stepped up again and said that he perhaps should have spoken out more forcefully.
This flexibility and ability to admit "Whoa! That didn't work quite the way we expected. Let's not just keep going with the same approach, hoping that more of the same will somehow produce a different result. Instead, let's stop what we are doing and use what we have learned to try to get to the end result that we want." Which, I just want to make clear is exactly what I feel the Bush administration has failed to do over and over again.
(Yes, I also like Obama's preference for the collective first person plural."
I could probably keep going.. and I'm sure I had a few other thoughts that got sidelined but... As I said... other things to do.
--
It's like chemistry, I do it to get a reaction.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/05/polls_hint_at_c.html#c090241
And I really do think that the "elitist" label that has been applied to Obama is bullshit. He's certainly less wealthy than his competitors, has demonstrated (as a community organizer) that he's willing and eager to use the skills (education) that he has gained (presumably through hard work) to help those who have perhaps not had the same opportunities.
If anything it seem to me that it's more of an urban/rural divide than an elite/the rest of us divide. I really am not convinced that either Hillary or John has any more claim to be a part of rural America, they are perhaps just much more practiced at faking it. And, I would argue, Barak has more credibility with respect to learning the issues and finding people who understand them and then working to lay the groundwork to actually make peoples lives better. This in contrast to the populist pandering of the other two as in the case of the gas tax holiday plan which I just can't see how it would help anyone except the oil companies. (and, it seems, politicians.)
Which leads to one last thing: Barak Obama has shown that he is willing to say "I made a mistake. Now we're going to fix it." The examples are legion but since I've already broached the gas tax holiday, let's start with that. He supported a similar program in Illinois. It didn't really work the way it was intended to. Now, having learned from that, he opposes the plan supported by McCain and Clinton. Likewise, for this whole preacher-gate thing. He gave his long time friend the benefit of the doubt, but once Wright continued to say these things (which even once they were put in context still felt crafted to create strife rather than seek solutions), in some respect violating the trust that Obama had in him, then Obama stepped up again and said that he perhaps should have spoken out more forcefully.
This flexibility and ability to admit "Whoa! That didn't work quite the way we expected. Let's not just keep going with the same approach, hoping that more of the same will somehow produce a different result. Instead, let's stop what we are doing and use what we have learned to try to get to the end result that we want." Which, I just want to make clear is exactly what I feel the Bush administration has failed to do over and over again.
(Yes, I also like Obama's preference for the collective first person plural."
I could probably keep going.. and I'm sure I had a few other thoughts that got sidelined but... As I said... other things to do.
--
It's like chemistry, I do it to get a reaction.
Labels: politics
posted by Syrrys |
12:29 pm
1 Comments:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/05/polls_hint_at_c.html#c090328
is another well reasoned comment from the same article thread.
I really need to stop reading comments. People make me both angry and sad.
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