I am not a political person but was wondering if someone could explain (unbaised) the most important thing that I need to know about McCain and Obama?  If you could explain on my level like you were talking to a high school Gov/Economics class, lol

Thanks, Madison

If you want democrats to run the US vote for Obama. If you want republicans to run the US vote for McCain.

-- Modified on 10/30/2008 7:56:52 AM

I thought Clinton and Reagan were both excellent President's.

I have a brother in the military that has had three tours to Iraq (1 year on each tour).  Selfishly I don't want him to go back again but I want our country safe.

I don't make $200K a year and would love to have health coverage.  

And I have a liberal view on a woman has a right to choose.

If you don't want either party with complete control vote for McCain.

The Democrats are going to have a super majority in Congress regardless of who is POTUS, the only buffer between the Pelosi/Reid agenda completely dominating American politics is the Executive branch. A vote for Obama is a vote giving Pelosi/Reid/Obama a mandate to enact every piece of idiotic legislation they have proposed.

I also think Clinton and Reagan were both excellent Presidents, I voted for both of them.

I am sure you don't want your brother in harms way, I believe the issue is not where he is, but is he safe? McCain has a much better chance of keeping your brother safe than does Obama, regardless of where he is deployed.

Socialized health coverage is not free health coverage, somebody has to pay. If you are a tax payer, whether you make $50k or $500k  you are going to pay one way or another.

I too believe in a womans right to choose, even if Roe vs Wade is struck down the issue would then revert back to each individual state. The only way abortion could be recriminalized in this country is if each and every state voted to do so.

I hope this helps. Yes I am biased, but that doesn't make what I say any less true.

I actually used to teach HS (and university level) economics and public policy so I may be your man.

I think the most important thing to know about McCain at this point is evidenced by how he has run his campaign. He presents himself as a maverick but he has cowtowed to the base of the republican party so much during the campaign that I think he would find it impossible to display any innovative actions during his first term because it would risk his support from the religious fanatics, racists, and free market fundamentalists who form the republican base. Consequently, with McCain, I think you get 8 more years of exactly what we have now.

Even if McCain were able to display some independence from the republican base, IMHO his record in the senate indicates that he has too little understanding of economic policy to provide adequate leadership for the US in our worst economic crisis since the 1930s. His staunch support for deregulation even in the face of things like Enron and WorldCom indicate that he doesn't understand the market system and the need for appropriate government oversight. He says he does now, but I tend to put more faith in actions rather than words.

Obama, OTOH, has little in the way of a record that we can look at but his rhetoric indicates a very keen understanding of the problems we face and how to best begin to deal with them. First, let;s look at his record, though.

I have tremendous respect for the personal histories of both candidates but I believe Obama has displayed more intellectual curiousity and dedication to public service than McCain has. It's true that McCain fought in the war and survived horrendous conditions at a POW camp. That's a situation he was forced into, though, not one he chose. Obama rose from very modest beginnings to be the first black editor of The Harvard Law Review, an elected position which indicates the extreme degree of respect that some of the better minds in the country have for him. With that feather in his cap, he could have named his ticket at any of the high-powered law firms in the US and drawn a 7 figure salary very quickly.

Instead, he went to work with the disadvantaged in Chicago, helping them to organize in order to exert influence in the democratic process. To me, this demonstrates an excellent understanding of how democracy works best as well as a willingness to sacrifice personal gain for the betterment of society. IMO, he demonstrates more of the personal characteristics that I believe good leaders have in common- intellectual ability, training in the democratic process, and a strong sense of public service. To be fair, I also think McCain demonstrates those traits as well but not to the degree that Obama does.

Obama also demonstrates an exceptional understanding of the rough and tumble game of politics. He defeated the Clintons, one of the more powerful political machines in the US, in the primaries and has apparently beaten McCain handily in the general election. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because one leader is better organized than the other. The loooooong campaigns may be almost intolerable for voters but they present us with a chance to see how the candidates organize thier resources and handle the extreme stress of the campaign trail. I don't think anyone except the extreme right wing apologists will argue that McCain has handled his campaign as well as Obama has.

In terms of policy differences, the biggest difference for me is that Obama seems willing and able to enact policies which will counteract the tendency of the free market to concentrate too much wealth in the hands of too few people which is exactly what has created the current mess. Deriding him for 'spreading the wealth' is like deriding FDR for doing the same thing. That's exactly what the US needs right now. We need for more wealth to be distributed and financial markets won't do it because they don't trust each other and with good reason. They've proved themselves to be incompetent liars who will jeopardize the entire economy just to get massive commissions, salaries, and bonuses. We desperately need both more regulation and more redistribution of wealth right now.

I also think Obama's take on the war in Iraq is correct. We need to disengage there as soon as possible so we can deal with problems here as well as in the real danger zone- Pakistan. Pakistan already has nuclear weapons and is in the middle of a political crisis which could lead to a much more powerful voice by extremists there. While we are bogged down in Iraq and now Afghanistan, we have almost no ability to exert influence in Pakistan or Iran.

McCain thinks we can 'win' in Iraq and that will be the beginning of a spread of democracy throughout the Middle East. That's not going so good.

I'll be glad to continue this in emails if you're interested. Hope this helps you decide.

McCain is for Big Oil and Market Manipulation. A side effect is he is alienating much of todays youth with his blatant trickery and outright lies. McCain will have us in Iraq for his entire presidency.

Obama is inexperienced but very sharp. His He is for revitalizing the economy through Green or environment friendly programs. Obama favors a phased withdrawal plan formulated by Condi and Powell.

if Obama is going to be thier lackey. Which I seriously doubt will happen.

"I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues.  I still need to be educated."
-McSAME interview WSJ 11/26/05


"The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."
-Boston Globe 12/18/07


"I might have to rely on a VP that I select for expertise on economic issues."
- GOP Debate, 11/28/07

His Choice?


FAILIN, I mean Palin.

Yeah, she knows A LOT about economics (let alone Foreign Policy).

RIIIIGHT.

Great job there McSAME.

-- Modified on 10/30/2008 9:13:15 AM

Wormwood explained it well.

I offer this link from 'THE ECONOMIST' magazine:
(credit to ROTU for posting the link in a different thread)

'The Economist' is a publication that is highly respected all over the world.  I hope this helps your information gathering.  



-- Modified on 10/30/2008 10:26:30 AM

The Republican Party in it's current incarnation has had unfettered control of the country for the better part of the last decade. Give it to the Democrats for a while and see what happens - it damn sure can't get much worse. Of course, what the cons are afraid of is the likelihood that it will get better and show them for the failures they are.

Regardless of which way you vote, you must set aside the short term impact to you personally and decide which candidate/party is going to right the ship and make our country prosper and afford our children and their children the best opportunities. There are compelling cases to be made for both candidates and their platforms.

and it's what I voted for when I voted for Bill Clinton as well.

You are sorely mistaken if you think it can't get any worse. You must not remember the 70's and early 80's, it was much, much worse. I have always been afraid of either party having too much power. Nothing has happened during this election cycle to change my mind on the subject.

I can't say what other business owners are doing or planning, but I can say that my business is doing quite well right now. I planned on making several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment purchases next year and adding at least 3-4 employees. I still plan on buying the equipment, but if Obama is elected I plan on scrapping my plans of adding any new employees. There are thousands of business owners just like me making plans for the upcoming few years, I guarantee you there are a huge percentage of them who will reach the same conclusion.

Very good point, You should be a communist!

I would be voting for Obama. I am not saying Obama IS a communist, but he and the Pelosi/Reid contingent are much closer to communists than anybody in national politics that I can think of in recent memory.

Read this. I don't endorse these people but they do present a different perspective and if you look at US politics from their point of view it might help you make a decision.

-- Modified on 10/30/2008 12:01:28 PM

Its there now, thanks.

Thank god you are no longer polluting the minds of our nations youth with your drivel.

Ignore the political ads and speeches and look at how each individual has voted for in their recent past. This will give you a true-er picture of what they will do in the future.

is you will find "Candidate Obama" to be much more moderate than "Senator Obama" but you will find "Candidate McCain" to be much less moderate than "Senator McCain".

If Obama wins this election, which he very well may, it will be because he reinvented himself. If McCain loses it will be for the same reason. McCain had no reason to reinvent himself. He can blame the MSM for many things, but this is one thing he brought on himself, and the country will be the worse for it.

On the Internet, there's always somebody who has done it already, and probably better than you can.

Nothing useful for the country or the people.

Tax hike, handouts and more taxes and more handouts. Both are worthless politicians and hope both get booted next time. Only thing know is partisanship, regardless of anything is good or bad!

Especially for somebody like Obama who has had his eyes on the Presidency since he was a teenager. Like his yes vote on the FISA bill. How do you know he didn't vote that way because it would appeal to the center, and that possibly, he plans to have it reversed it once he was President with an Democratic Congress?

Of course, that also means that Obama had no doubt he'd become President.

That's just one possibility, but I do think we haven't seen the likes of him before, and it's difficult to figure him out in any conventional way. Look at the way he's voted all through his career, and then think to yourself how would I vote if I'm going to become President? Then you might get a sense of him.  

I'm also not saying he's purely about ambition and power, that's not what I think about him. Only that he's an expert on how to build power. Also, he doesn't do it in a way that scares me. He isn't ruthless.

-- Modified on 10/30/2008 3:01:53 PM

McCain has too little experience on the economy? You must have got that talking point from ?

O'Bomb has more experience in Economics than McCain? He hasn't run budget, or had to balance the budget in his entire life. As matter of fact, he hasn't managed a fucking thing.

From rather long diatribe, you are a socialist in free market economy.

Let me postulate another theory on free market. When you raise taxes on businesses and enact onerous regulations and they can't make profit, they go where they can and will. The stand on free market economy is hoax. Keep in mind, US is no longer net creditor but net debtor. If you don't the those terms, you know as much about economy as your messiah does.

Guess what? When you are net debtor, you don't have enough money to pay your bills and you are borrowing form other countries and you are going to cut off trade with rest of the world. There is bullshit and there is new and improved BS.

That doesn't have a clue.

Green, environmentally programs, O'Bombi voted for Ethanol subsidies and McCain voted against it saying it is a waste and it has proven to be multi-billion dollar boondoggle. If you had taken that billions and built Nuclear plants, environment would have been better off.

Wormwood said McCain doesn't know as much as O'Bomb about the economy. This proves McCain has pretty good understanding of rational economics that voodoo economics postulated by O'Bomb.


Give me $1.25 and I will give you 0.70¢ back any day all day, that is what Ethanol subsidy is all about.

McCain has said, he will cut out the Ethanol subsidy, a waste, billions saved a year.

One voted and the other one voted present.

How about that?

The senator has been a critic of ethanol. That doesn't play in Iowa. So the Straight Talk Express has taken a detour.
By Jon Birger, Fortune senior writer
October 31 2006: 12:42 PM EST

"In a flip-flop so absurd it'll be a wonder if it doesn't get lampooned by late-night comedians - not to mention opponents' negative ads - McCain is now proclaiming himself a "strong" ethanol supporter.

"I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects," he said in an August speech in Grinnell, Iowa, as reported by the Associated Press. "    (notice this was in 2006)

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/11/13/8393132/index.htm





-- Modified on 10/30/2008 4:40:12 PM