The Devil's Advobama
Filed under: US Elections
Being that it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, I have to say I'm starting to feel rather sanguine about the prospect of an Obama presidency, not that I still wouldn't prefer to see McCain trounce him. Here's why.
First, there was Obama's recent savaging of Vladimir Putin's Russia. I think McCain would be plenty tough on Russia, but who knows? Maybe once Obama realizes how racist Russia is, he'll be tougher still. Maybe, with McCain still in the Senate and cooperating with him on Russia, galvanizing the Republicans (or, be still my heart, as Ambassador to Russia), Obama could unify American policy even more sharply than McCain. Gives me butterflies just thinking about it.
Second, it's now being reported that Obama has plans to fill his cabinet with conservatives and govern from the center. Remember the last time Democrats got all excited about winning the White House? Their candidate's name was Bill Clinton. In short order, he'd enacted a whole litany of Republican pipe dreams, including free trade, welfare abolition and the balanced budget. Then, to round things out, he delivered the House of Representatives back into Republican hands for the first time in a half century, and he was followed by a two-term Republican president. Guarantee me that all over again, and I'm an Obama Girl this minute!
Third, some folks are predicting that the U.S. is on the brink of entering a recession, which does seem to come along every ten years or so and is therefore just about due. I'm not convinced, but if it happens then it would be quite convenient for the Democrats to shoulder the blame. Reminds me of Jimmy Carter.
And fourth, there's his race. It really would be kind of cool to throw him up in the face of all those folks who pour hatred and scorn on America (including a whole host of America-hating Americans), it really would seriously take the wind out of their sails.
Now I'll grant you, there are two pretty nasty, smelly flies in this ointment (apart from the fact that I might be overstating the foregoing merits). One is the danger that Obama's inexperience will allow him to be duped by the Medvedev facade of the Putin regime just as George Bush was made a fool by Putin himself. There's no chance that McCain can be suckered by Putin's Medvedev mask. He certainly hasn't spoken out often enough on Russia to be at all sure of his policies. The other is Obama's weird personality cult (aptly documented and satirized by the great ObamaMessiah blog -- if you read the shocking litany of public statements likening Obama to a religious savior, you can't but be deeply disturbed). All by themselves, the recent statements of praise for Obama by crazed racist lunatic Louis Farrakhan should be enough to give any thoughtful person serious qualms about voting for him.
And yet, these two things make Obama curiously vulnerable. There's simply no way that Obama could maintain a personality cult as a lever of power once he became president, and if he relies on it to become president he would set himself up for a big fall and be all the more likely to cooperate with the right. And if he lets himself get played by Russia just as Bush did, won't he suffer the same fate Bush has? Even worse, in fact, because Bush has some protection from conservative wrath because he's one of us (maybe).
In short, it's pretty clear that it would be better for the country if McCain was elected, but it wouldn't necessarily be the best thing for the Republican Party, and maybe having Obama wouldn't be all that bad. Conversely, though, Obama could be the worst thing for the Democrats since Bill Clinton -- which would mean he could be one of the great Republican presidents of all time.
What do you think?
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