Every time I hear that someone's thinking of voting for McCain, I immediately think "Why? What could their reasons possibly be?". But then the last time I had this reaction, I thought what if someone asked me "Hey, smart guy, why are you voting for Obama?", and I realized I didn't have a great answer. So I figured I'd take some time to organize my thoughts on it -- something that everyone who's voting should really do, whether privately or publicly, regardless of who they're voting for.
To begin, let's think about the election as a whole. I know this is the kind of thing you hear every four years, but I really believe it's true this time: this is a supremely important election. 2000 might have been more significant because of the direction we took as a country, but we didn't really know it at the time. This time, we know. The economy is dire. We're fighting two hot wars and have a couple cold wars smoldering. Our standing in the world, both morally and economically, is badly in need of repair. This election could affect the future of the country for decades to come.
So, given all that doom-and-gloom....who to vote for? I've decided Obama, but there are really two sides to that coin: "Why Obama?" and "Why not McCain?". I'll start with the latter.
Why Not McCain?
I admit, I liked McCain a fair amount back in 2000. I thought he was a good guy who didn't toe the party line, and that impression didn't change much throughout the Primary season. My, how a few months have changed things. Let's get to the reasons:
- First and foremost, I don't think he's demonstrated the temperament or decision-making ability that I'm looking for in a leader. Many things have led me to this opinion:
- His campaign is schizophrenic, veering from promising a clean campaign, to horribly misleading attack ads, to a largely civil Convention, to campaign events that claim Obama is pals with terrorists.
- His selection of Palin as VP.
- The "suspension" of his campaign to return to Washington to "help" with the bailout debate -- when by all accounts his presence was more disruptive than helpful.
- Overall he just doesn't seem to have a plan, and rarely seems to be able to come up with one. It feels like he makes decisions capriciously, and that can be a very dangerous thing.
- Secondly, his ties to the Bush administration. It's hard to argue that Bush has been anything other than a disaster as President. Huge debt. Four thousand American soldiers dead and almost one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians confirmed dead. Massive economic collapse. And so on. All too often, McCain has been right there with Bush, particularly in the last few years.
- Thirdly, Palin. Never before have we had such a wildly unqualified candidate. Her selection was utterly inexcusable, for many many reasons:
- It's incredibly dangerous. Given the enormous challenges the country has to overcome, to put someone in the VP position that is so blatantly unqualified is beyond irresponsible. McCain is fond of saying that he puts Country first -- but in the seleciton of Palin, he quite clearly has put his own campaign ahead of the wellbeing of the Country. If there was ever an act that should disqualify you from the Presidency, this should be one.
- She's utterly unqualified -- she's yet to have a press conference and every single time she's granted a one-on-one interview it's been a disaster. Couric wasn't asking difficult questions ("Name a Supreme Court decision you disagree with", "What newspapers do you read?"). These weren't "gotcha" questions. Any candidate should be able to answer these questions -- hell, I could answer those questions. She's never expressed any foreign policy opinions. And on and on. At some point, with some study and debate and thought about national-level issues she could be a formidable candidate. But she is very clearly not one right now.
- She really could be President. I know, I know, "heartbeat away" is totally overplayed, but look at the actuarial tables -- there's a one-in-four chance McCain doesn't survive a second term. Flip a coin twice. Heads both times? Welcome to a Palin Presidency. That should be terrifying to anyone who's paying attention and isn't blinded by partisanship.
- She's fake. That "betcha don'tcha know aw shucks" schtick? It's fake. Go back and watch her debate for the Governorship of Alaska -- she displays none of it.
- It's crass and cynical and insulting to women. Her selection is an attempt to win the vote of women simply because she's a woman. It's sad that he thinks women are that shallow. I sincerely hope they prove him wrong.
- Fourth, the Republican Party itself. As I said earlier, based on the disaster of the last 8 years, the GOP clearly deserves to be removed from power. But even ignoring that, there are simply too many issues on which I fundamentally disagree, but foremost are the intentional entangling of religion and politics and the ugly treatment of gay issues.
- Fifth, the fact that he doesn't seem to have been very impressive anywhere in his career. He's coasted on the coattails of his father and grandfather his whole life, never really applying himself. He graduated at the very bottom of his class (894 of 899). He was an unaccomplished pilot. He was unfaithful to his wife. He's a man of privilege who's never really had to work for much of anything in his life. Way too many echoes of Bush Jr.
Add all that up, and I find McCain utterly unfit to be President. Of course, that doesn't do me much good if the alternative is just as bad. So...
Why Obama?
Like many, I've been watching Obama since the 2004 Democratic convention. He was striking -- young, articulate, passionate, and most importantly, relentlessly upbeat. He talked about how were alike, rather than how we were different. It was the polar opposite of Rovian politics, and it immediately appealed to me. And throughout the campaign, I've seen a lot more that I've liked:
- First and foremost, I think he's demonstrated the calm, even-handed pragmatism necessary to be President, particularly one facing the challenges ahead of us. He's almost impossibly calm even under enormous pressure. And he's demonstrated his pragmatism time and again -- he even seeks out those on the other sides of issues because he wants to understand them more fully.
- He's incredibly smart. Magna Cum Laude at Harvard, President of the Law Review. Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago. It's hard to find anyone who doesn't describe him as brilliant. Read some of the interviews he's given on a wide range of topics. Read or listen to his speeches recently on the economy. Talk about elitism all you want, I want someone who's smarter than me running the country.
- He's organizationally impressive. He went up against and beat Hillary Clinton, who was probably the most sure-thing lock for a Democratic Nominee ever, and he did it not through some gimmick or scandal or negative campaigning, he simply understood the themes of the race, built an organization, and executed better than she did. He doesn't have a lot of excutive leadership, but what he's done has been extremely impressive.
- He surrounds himself with good advisers, not ideologues. For example, his economic team is top-notch (just ask The Economist, a fiscally-right-leaning magazine).
- He's run a fairly clean campaign. He'll run negative ads, sure, but there's nothing wrong with negative ads, per se. If your opponent has a policy that you think is bad, you should absolutely run ads to that effect. But by and large, Obama's negative ads have been fair. McCain, on the other hand, has used negative advertising to advance ridiculous assertions about Obama being "pals with terrorists" and claim that Obama wanted to teach full sex ed to kindergartners. Obama's campaign, both against Hillary and McCain, has never made me cringe.
All that said, I don't agree with everything Obama says or does. Of course there are issues where we differ, or decisions he's made that I think were wrong.
But given the options in front of me, I feel like the choice is clear.
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