A voting guideline for the future
Here’s a rule to follow for next time: if you’re hoping a candidate won’t keep his/her campaign promises, it’s really not such a hot idea to vote for that candidate.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
Unless, of course, you don’t like the promises. But I think Barack is something new. He broke most of his firm commitments before the election.
And the refrain was always, “Well. He had to say that stuff to get the nomination; now we’ll see THE REAL Obama.
I think that was the real Obama, and am expecting Jennifer Granholm at Treasury, Angelo Mozillo at Housing, and Bill Ayers at Justice.
Don’t forget the nauseating possibility of Jamie Gorelick as Attorney General.
My hope is that Obama cannot possibly keep his promise to leave Iraq in 16 months (or whatever) if the situation there starts to obviously deteriorate once he does start withdrawing. I’m also wondering what his relation will be with General Petraeus.
No, make that Bill Ayers as Secretary of State… and John Kerry at Defense.
Perhaps he’ll nominate Ted Kennedy to the Supreme Court… if he doesn’t nominate Mrs. Obama first.
(This is juvenile, I admit… but oooh, it’s fun!)
Actually, Obama has the biggest win, if I’m not mistaken, since Reagan. Will he take that as a mandate? Darn tootin’ he will, particularly with a Democrat majority in both the House and Senate. Look for him to be drunk with power on Jan. 20th… and crash & burn on the 21st.
The media will do their best to cover for him… until he makes the mistake of turning on them, at which point it’ll be open season.
trying not to take any of this too seriously,
Daniel in Brookline
“Look for him to be drunk with power on Jan. 20th”
Although that’s a possiblity, I don’t think that will be the case, at least not on January 20th. In time, perhaps, but he’s a little too sane to let himself go that early.
I think the real danger, and a near certainty, is that Nancy Pelosi will be drunk on power on January 20th. She was already drunk on power after the 2006 elections, even when, try as she might, she didn’t have the numbers to follow through with her every whim. Her fiasco of a trip to Syria was a case in point displaying that attitude. I shudder to think what her attitude will be now. I can’t imagine it will be anything less than insufferable.
Further on Obama, I have been disturbed by the extent to which his followers and apologists appear to be, as Michael Medved said today of reporters vis a vis Obama, besotted with him. They seem willing to throw away any natural sense of skepticism that should accompany any politician in a democratic society and could care less about the political traditions that have served to restrain the cult of personality that is a temptation around any president. That sort of thing could go to Obama’s head after awhile. This talk of making Inauguration Day a national holiday is one such example. The Obama campaign’s disturbing tendency to try to silence the opposition, as opposed to counterargue them, is another. Those are the characteristics of a Third World banana republic, which is something I’ve seen up close. I hope these aren’t signs of an emerging pattern in an Obama administration. I’ll be watching very closely on that score.
Pingback:Amused Cynic » Blog Archive » Guidelines for the next election….
It’s difficult to know what to hope for from a candidate when one really knows so little about him.
(Before Nov 4, I thought that was a good reason to not vote for him.)
As usual, Jim Treacher sums it up best…
“Just to put things in perspective
It has been 21 months since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
It has been four weeks since Joe Wurzelbacher asked Barack Obama about his tax plan.
Which man do you know more about?”
Daniel in Brookline: Actually, Obama has the biggest win, if I’m not mistaken, since Reagan. Will he take that as a mandate?
Nope. He has the best margin since GHW Bush vs. Dukakis, and only the 6th-best margin in the past 11 elections (my lifetime).
Election results sorted by date:
2008 (Obama/McCain): 52.6% – 46.1% (6.5% margin)
2004 (Bush/Kerry): 50.7% – 48.3% (2.4% margin)
2000 (Bush/Gore): 47.9% – 48.4% (-0.5% margin)
1996 (Clinton/Dole): 49.2% – 40.7% (8.5% margin)
1992 (Clinton/Bush): 43.0% – 37.7% (5.3% margin)
1988 (Bush/Dukakis): 53.4% – 45.6% (7.8% margin)
1984 (Reagan/Mondale): 58.8% – 40.6% (18.2% margin)
1980 (Reagan/Carter): 50.7% – 41.0% (9.7% margin)
1976 (Carter/Ford): 50.1% – 48.0% (2.1% margin)
1972 (Nixon/McGovern): 60.7% – 37.5% (23.2% margin)
1968 (Nixon/Humphrey): 43.4% – 42.7% (0.7% margin)
Sorted by margin:
1972 (Nixon/McGovern): 60.7% – 37.5% (23.2% margin)
1984 (Reagan/Mondale): 58.8% – 40.6% (18.2% margin)
1980 (Reagan/Carter): 50.7% – 41.0% (9.7% margin)
1996 (Clinton/Dole): 49.2% – 40.7% (8.5% margin)
1988 (Bush/Dukakis): 53.4% – 45.6% (7.8% margin)
2008 (Obama/McCain): 52.6% – 46.1% (6.5% margin)
1992 (Clinton/Bush): 43.0% – 37.7% (5.3% margin)
2004 (Bush/Kerry): 50.7% – 48.3% (2.4% margin)
1976 (Carter/Ford): 50.1% – 48.0% (2.1% margin)
1968 (Nixon/Humphrey): 43.4% – 42.7% (0.7% margin)
2000 (Bush/Gore): 47.9% – 48.4% (-0.5% margin)
D’oh! I mean “He has the best margin since Clinton vs. Dole.”
Obama *has* to disappoint at least one of the large demographics that voted for him – no way around it. I hope it is the ones who were expecting radical leftists change instead of the ones thinking he will not do what he has in the past.
I know of a fairly large amount of people that voted for him because they felt he *couldn’t* be that bad (after all, he is smart and will figure out that will not work) and is more likely to achieve change.
*sigh* As I’ve said many times – people sometimes just need to touch the hot iron to make sure hot still burns – especially when playing with the iron seems to much *fun* if it didn’t burn you.
On the bright side he really only has two years of it ends up the way they have been promising. The current congressional incumbents mostly are not truly incumbents – they were opposition votes. People are also showing a high penchant to get rid of real incumbents for incompetence too. Democrats are now in a put up position – no one to oppose and blame for failure and lots of broad promises.
They did a great job of getting people to believe that congress and the president are responsible for all of this, now that they are (along with their promise to bring us to the Promised Land) – we will see. As I’ve said in the past, were I not a US citizen I would be watching this with utter fascination.
Riverdaughter/The Confluence has an analysis of Newsweek’s first in a series article on How Barack did it… here
Pingback:Amused Cynic » Blog Archive » Wherein Christopher Hitchens wakes up on a park bench and comes to his senses, sort of….
A vote for Obama was the only responsible vote to make. Four years in the White House would have but McCain in the grave, he deserves rest and peace in his last years, and Palin as President would have been beyond disastrous, so, wise tales about how to vote are fine but we should think more deeply than that some times, despite what that might do to our web counter, just a little healthy criticism, come on now.
Pingback:Amused Cynic » Blog Archive » “The Owl Who Was God”