Notes On The Candidates

[poliphilo]

They say old soldiers make peace-loving politicians because they know first-hand how horrible war is, but this doesn't seem to apply to McCain, who has already- and he's not even in the White House yet- threatened to go to war with Russia.  Maybe this is because his military service involved flying above battlefields, not slogging accross them.

I'll say this for Palin: she hasn't pulled strings or called in favours to keep her son out of her holy war.

As for Obama, he's supposed to be hugely intelligent, right? So why in the world did he make that crack about the pig and the lipstick when he- or his minders- should have known that the GOP attack dogs would be all over it? The more I see and hear of him, the flimsier he seems to be.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Why would McCain choose to stay in prison for five and a half years when he could have been out in two?

This seems to be gearing up to be a very nasty election.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Good question.

McCain has claimed, if I remember correctly, that he personally refused the offer, not wishing to leave other prisoners behind. Other accounts say that his US POW commander ordered him to remain and he obeyed. There has been speculation, which you may take for what you will, that McCain turned down the release for political reasons. Given his cooperation with his captors, coerced though it was, an early release of the admiral's son would likely have been an embarrassment for both his father and himself.

I don't know. I always liked McCain, until he spent the past eight years sucking up to the Bush administration and tirelessly cheerleading the worst strategic blunder in US military history. It's impossible to see his campaign against Barack Obama as honorable, and by reflection, it's difficult to still see McCain as an honorable man. I've watched him spinning and outright lying without shame on the campaign trail for weeks, now, and at this point I honestly wonder whether anything he's said, then or now, is credible.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Who knows? Politics is a mirror-maze.

It's difficult, I would suggest, indeed, almost impossible- for an honourable man to keep his honour on the campaign trail.

My impression of McCain is of a bad-tempered, not particularly bright, old man. Strong-willed, easily led- not a good combination.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree. Not a good combination of traits at all.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

And yes, I think this is indeed going to be nasty. I doubt we've seen the half of it, yet. Here's a taste of what Obama's up against this season.

I also worry that whether Obama wins or loses, the country may well be left almost ungovernable as a result of this campaign. I don't think the Republicans are going to go quietly and with Democrat's political power on the rise, I should be very surprised if they take such a loss lying down.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe what we're witnessing is the close of the American century. Obama might be able to slow down the process of decline, McCain would probably speed it up.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

"The close of the American century" is a good way of putting it, yes.

At this point in history, the US as empire in all but name is like one of those bubbles economists are always talking about. It cannot sustain itself much longer and has only lasted this long through exuberance, a collective belief in what is now an obvious unreality. This bubble must deflate, eventually. The only question is whether it does so catastrophically or in a controlled manner that minimizes damage on all sides.

If I could demand anything of Obama, I should wish for an orderly climb-down from the past few years in particular and the US's decades-long bid to rule the world, generally. What I fear most from McCain is that he would either slow the natural decline of this country as world power, thus making the inevitable collapse just that much worse, or else act so recklessly that he inaugurates that catastrophe himself. He's already clamoring for a proxy war with the Russians. Goddess only knows what he'd get up to, if given executive power.

Empires do this sort of thing, historically. Sometimes they settle down gracefully and return to minding their own business. Sometimes they see the inevitable approaching and make one last bone-headed attempt to reclaim their former glory. I fear John McCain is just such a bone head.