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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (430087)	10/25/2008 12:44:37 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573433

Palin was a poor choice, even you have to admit that. Palin is far more qualified to hold the office of VP than Obama is to hold the office of the presidency. She has a meaningful track record; he doesn't. She is nearly as good a communicator -- as exemplified by her recent CNN interview (except where the interviewer lied about a quote from National Review in an effort to bash her). She has run a government. She has shown herself willing and able to make hard choices and take on opposing politicians, which Obama has done neither of. And like Obama, she has shown herself to be a quick study. I just couldn't disagree more with you. Like Obama, on day one, Palin was weak on foreign policy. By now, she is pretty close to being as knowledgeable as Obama is. It isn't rocket science. Foreign policy is not as much about "knowledge" as it is about "judgment". You can hire the knowledge, you can't hire the judgment. Palin has shown far more judgment on these issues than Obama has. For example, you would never have heard Palin suggest that a president should sit with the leadership of Iran -- not even on day one. Yet, Obama foolishly endorses such an action. You would never have heard Palin present an inconsistent message WRT Israel as Obama has. Having a clear, consistent message is far more important than having an absolute command of whether Mosul is primarily Sunni or Shiite. Every one of the Republican defectors have cited her as one of the reasons why they have endorsed Obama. This is nonsense. There have been two really important "defectors". Two. The most important, Ken Adelman, clearly made his mind up months, if not years ago -- to leave the Republicans behind. When he confronted one of his best friends, Don Rumsfeld, criticizing his decision making privately, face-to-face, in the most harsh terms, he already knew where he was heading. Powell obviously had a significant racial component. Blood is thicker than water. Powell had many excuses for his flip, but there was a great deal of inconsistency in his excuse list. Perhaps he sees it as some kind of atonement. I've seen no other "defections" that are surprising in the least. McClellan had already flipped before Palin entered the arena. Krauthammer (easily one of the smartest political commentators in existence) made a very strong case for supporting McCain versus Obama, and his position is inarguable. Had McCain been making the same argument on a consistent basis he would be ahead today. My daughter emailed that Krauthammer article to one of her 28 year old friends who had been an avid Obama supporter and she flipped to McCain on the spot. It is a compelling argument. I will not deny that McCain has run a lousy, lousy campaign. To a large extent, I believe it is because he didn't want to use harsh negative attacks, but was forced to when Obama came out with them. Even today, he refuses to use the Wright relationship, among the most damning of Obama's extremist relationships. And while you can argue, as you have, that Obama's better campaign means he would be a better president, the absurdity of that position is apparent: Such an inference does not do away with the total lack of relevant experience Obama possesses. Time will tell whether Obama is up to the task. I have not claimed he isn't, only that the risk is immense because he has no discernible track record. And I have differed with him on ideology, because he has deceived the voters on what his ideology is. McCain had a very difficult task in following an unpopular president and even today, that Obama isn't showing a stronger lead is astonishing given political party considerations. I believe Obama is the price we are going to pay for the next four years for Bush having taken unpopular actions to protect America. Shortly after 9/11 I posted in this thread that the biggest problem faced by the Bush administration was that of keeping 9/11 fresh in the memories of liberals. I was wrong, in that he failed miserably to keep it in the memories of many conservatives and independents, as well.