Comments | ethanator: Super Tuesday build-up, decision

ethanator

Super Tuesday build-up, decision

Feb 02, 2008 23:44

In the last few days I have seen Bill Clinton (Thurs. on campus), Barack Obama (very briefly before a bigger rally on Fri. I couldn't get into due to overcrowding) and Hillary Clinton (at a rally tonight at Highland High - and since Mike Judge grew up in Albuquerque, this is probably THE Highland High of Beavis and Butthead. Awesome.). I saw ( Read more... )

Comments 8

stopityoumonkey February 3 2008, 20:05:28 UTC

Can you imagine how awesome our government would be if everyone put as much thought as you do into voting?

ethanator February 3 2008, 23:35:38 UTC

After teaching Critical Thinking seven times in the last two years and telling several hundred students that they have to have reasons for their beliefs, I'd feel like a hypocrite for voting without having some reasons. Maybe everyone should teach Critical Thinking.

stopityoumonkey February 4 2008, 18:53:53 UTC

My coworker told me today that her husband wants to vote for Obama because his name sounds like The Rock, as in "Do you smell what Barack is cooking?" and that he won't vote for Franken "because of Stuart Smalley." That's what you're up against.

ethanator February 5 2008, 04:38:08 UTC

Ha! Today I suggested to my students that they try asking people they know why they support certain candidates and to see if they give good reasons. I also warned them that doing so will probably make them unpopular. I'll be interested to hear if they have any stories as good as yours.

michaellee February 3 2008, 21:09:28 UTC

I've come to a different conclusion -- while I like Clinton generally, I think she's the opponent that the Republicans have been preparing against for 16 years. They'll know what to throw against her, and what will stick -- and she's red meat for their base, which is otherwise uninspired.

And while I think it'll be difficult to do anything about Healthcare in any case -- Hilary wasn't able to do it in 1992. I'm not sure she'd be any more successful next time.

But if she does win, there will be no problem supporting her in the fall.

ethanator February 3 2008, 23:54:58 UTC

This is a good point and was why I was initially hoping she wouldn't run. I've changed my mind, though, because I think everyone hates Bush so much that even John McCain will have a hard time convincing moderates to vote Republican. A good thing about McCain is that he won't get the religious right part of the base out to vote like they did for Dubya, unless of course they turn out just to stop Hillary, which is possible. Democrats are so hungry for the White House that OUR base will turn out in huge numbers (I hope). Obama may have some drug use in his past (easy picking for Republicans), has little experience (which would be a huge contrast with McCain) and probably has other skeletons in his closet nobody knows about. At least the Clinton closet has been thoroughly inspected and she's prepared to deal with it. I'm not convinced either Obama or Clinton can actually deliver anytime soon on universal healthcare given the rhetoric of "socialized medicine" and the pharmaceutical lobby, but it's a lot more likely now than in 1993, ( ... )

mar1nka February 4 2008, 04:05:01 UTC

Interesting; I just read these articles today ( ... )

ethanator February 5 2008, 04:34:50 UTC

Thanks for the articles. I just read them (even the long one). The long one was the most interesting in presenting some of the big contrasts. I guess I think getting lots of specific things done is more important than trying to generally inspire people, which perhaps makes me cynical or maybe just realistic (I'm getting old, after all). Sure, Obama is inspiring to young urban leftists (including myself and many of our friends), but at the end of the day I'm not as sure he could inspire everyone the same way or really work with everyone to get stuff done. He's a great inspirational speaker, yes, but do we need a great speaker right now? There are lots of people with a completely irrational hatred of Hillary, but as you said, this has made her tough. She would have a difficult time getting some things done due to her past, but I don't believe this by default makes Obama magically able to get anything done just because he makes nice speeches about it. But who really knows? It's a gamble. I guess I should get ready for all the ( ... )