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]

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.