Andrew responds to my post on Obama:
No he will not transform politics. He won't abolish our problems. He won't eliminate our enemies. He won't disappear partisanship. That's not the point. He's a decent, reasonable human being prepared to tackle these problems outside the depressing template of Morris-Rove politics. One way he can begin to do that is to bring a wave of support with him, to appeal beyond Washington to Americans who know this country is in a terrible mess and want to fix it. That's what Reagan did. He wasn't perfect. But we still remember the difference.
Look, I support the guy. He's the only major presidential candidate in the field that I'd even consider voting for, and that's been true since the inception of the race. That wasn't a criticism of Obama as much of a criticism of a political system that relies at least as much on completely empty promises as on actual likely policy prescriptions to choose its leaders--which is to say, all of them. The American system is not special in this regard. Nor is Obama. Everyone is going around promising that the transformative action of their posterior upon that big chair in the Oval Office will in some way bring about a New America. I wish they wouldn't. I pick on Obama precisely because as of now, he's my guy, so I'd like to hear something less fantastical.
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For once, I totally agree with you. I like Obama but all this hope and change stuff is making me uncomfortable. We don't need Moses. We need a competent President that has his/her priorities straight. I hope it is all an act to get elected, which is an extremely cynical view. But then I am a cynic.
Posted by 2cynicalbyhalf | February 14, 2008 8:07 AM