About
Citizen Voices is a blog about election politics, written by people like you. Six San Diegans give their personal take on the issues, candidates and propositions.
» Listen to their interviews on These Days
Categories
Recent Topics
Beyond Electability
"Bored Now." That immortal quote from Willow Rosenberg pretty much completes my thoughts on the state of the race to be president. Voters from two more states voted on Tuesday to decide, or not decide, who might represent the Democratic Party in November.
If it were a fight about issues, I might be interested. If the two remaining candidates had competing visions for the future, the race might earn some attention. Rather, if anything, the primaries have become a battle of electability, and that doesn't serve the country well.
George W. Bush proved to be more electable than John Kerrey and Al Gore. Bill Clinton was more electable than George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole. I wouldn't call either a great leader. But they were both electable, and both became two-term presidents.
They knew how to raise money. They had records absent of major failures, which also seems to mean absent of significant risk.
Hillary Clinton can talk all she wants about her gas tax holiday. Pandering or not, and I think it is, at the end of the day it's still just talk. Until she's leading the fight on the senate floor for the Clinton-McCain Tax Holiday Bill, or the Health Care Reform Act, or the abolition of Don't Ask-Don't Tell, her rhetoric exposes her to no risk of failure. Even voters like to be pandered from time to time, even if results would be nicer.
While I disagree with the presumptive Republican nominee on a number of issues, Senator McCain has been a risk-taker during his career, and I can respect that quality. He seems to believe that some causes are worth fighting for, whether it's campaign finance reform or the torture of prisoners.
President Bush is going to leave many issues unresolved when he finishes his second term in January 2009. Among others, the wars in Iraq will probably be continuing, the disposition of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay will probably be unresolved, and the economic problems caused by the current state of the housing and credit markets will still need correction.
Hopefully we'll have a president taking office that will focus more on resolving these issues than just using them to embarrass his or her opposition.
-Citizen Voices blogger Chuck Hartley is an attorney who lives in Escondido.
-
4 Comments |
Email this |
-
-
-
|
- Permalink:
Comments
Wow, Chuck. It almost sounds like you’re inching ever closer to choosing a candidate. Could it be?
I’m totally with you about this primary season becoming more and more about rhetoric and electability. The more the candidates avoid issues the more annoying it gets.... My husband is reading Ron Paul’s new book where the good doctor talks about this very issue. I’m reading it when he’s done!
Yes, I’m closer to a decision. The more that positions and options become clear the easier it is to make an informed decision. I’m still not certain it will be a major party candidate, and may still end up bring my animated independent, but I’ll have to make a decision sooner or later. Given one party’s presumptive choice, running mates may make a major impact on my decision.
That said, the prospect of Hillary’s withdrawal from the race after this week’s primaries makes me feel all giddy as a schoolgirl. Regardless of who I end up supporting, I never want her and her husband near the White House again.
I agree with both comments that this race is really about “rhetoric and electability” and I am not at all certain about voting for any of the major party candidates as well. I am still hoping for some miracle to happen and bring a new “dark horse” into the political arena. We need someone with some real spiritual insight into resolving so many issues that just keep going unanswered and getting more and more complex. I know the answer is really simple if we can all awaken to a greater vision of what we all want for equality of all mankind. This deeper understanding of our global and domestic problems can be realized in anyone who has the “guts” to stand up and be strong enough against political pressures without resisting nor playing games with politicians but rather just being in touch with a “deeper resolve” feeling in whatever the situation or person happen to be dealing with. It can vary as to what answers come up but the answer is always the same: stop resisting and more understanding, see truth in everyone and stop the “bashing”. Truth shall stand and that doesn’t mean getting religious for a non-religious person can be just as much in touch with truth as a religious person can.
John McCain may have been a risk-taker early in his career, but he certainly sounds like he has bought in to the neo-con (George W. Bush) approach during the past few months. Anyone who really believes in the war in Iraq is almost completely bereft of reason. McCain was correct early in the George W. Bush administration in voting against the tax cut on the wealthiest Americans (which tax cuts have now led to ever-widening deficits for America). John McCain completely reversed his position and now supports making those tax cuts permanent. Where does McCain plan to cut the budget to get the budget back in balance? Since the last three Republican presidents (the two Bushes and Ronald Reagan) have accounted for over 2/3 of the entire accumulated budget deficit since George Washington, does it now mean that Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility?