The first 2008 Election Poll

[Moderator1]

Simple stuff. Yeah, I hate political threads and will do something to consolidate them over the summer.
But, it IS a presidential election and it seems the field is set.
We're going to keep this simple. Vote. Then explain as simply as possible why and note whether a VP choice could change your mind. Keep it short, keep it on topic, DO NOT respond to others here.

I'm first.

Obama. I must admit I don't enough all that much about him but I have no faith in the Republicans after the past eight years and McCain's age is just one of the things that worries me about him. I'm willing to give a relative rookie a chance.
The VP choices will not make a difference for me, though I'd love to see Obama pick Tim Kaine or Jim Webb.

 

[alleyallen]

I say Obama for the simple fact that I fear McCain would represent four more years of what we've already seen since 2000. And, the guy's age really worries me.

 

[crusoes]

I think Webb would be an outstanding choice for Obama as VP.

I believe that McCain's beliefs extend to his wanting to be president, and everything else is for sale. No to any of that.

 

[The Big Ragu]

The two choices make me want to stick needles in my eyes. Can you offer any other choices, Moddy?

 

[Boom_70]

For now McCain but could easily be swayed come November by Obama.

As Charles Pierce wrote "convince me "

I am still haunted by Jimmy Carter as the fresh idea guy.

 

[93Devil]

Obama

Eight years of Republicans is enough.

I like that McCain seems to be apart from Bush's circle, but for our economy to turn around, the starting point could be faith and trust in your leader. I trust Obama a little. McCain, not so much.

 

[kingcreole]

Obama. Things need to change in this country, and in my opinion, things won't change under McCain. If you like the direction this country is heading, McCain is your man.

 

[Moderator1]

The two choices make me want to stick needles in my eyes. Can you offer any other choices, Moddy?

No other choice has a real chance of winning. Our next president will be McCain or Obama. If you do not plan to vote for either of them, please pass on the poll.

 

[The Big Ragu]

The two choices make me want to stick needles in my eyes. Can you offer any other choices, Moddy?

No other choice has a real chance of winning. Our next president will be McCain or Obama. If you do not plan to vote for either of them, please pass on the poll.

I didn't vote in the poll. I will probably make like last two elections and vote for Mr. Whacky Third Party Candidate and feel like crap afterward. I wish there were viable alternatives, though. I don't see it the way Boom did. Carter was an outsider. Obama is an insider. There are no fresh ideas. Everything these guys say is nuanced. We get tailored messages designed to appeal to emotion more than reason. If they have any beliefs -- and I think both these men actually do have core beliefs that define them, which at least is a step up from a lot of candidates we have seen in my lifetime -- they are not what you are hearing in those stump speeches. I just had to find it, but I remember the Atlantic article about Obama from two years ago.

There was this sentence:

A man more suited to the tastes of reform-minded Americans could hardly be imagined: he is passionate, charming, and well-intentioned, and his desire to change the culture of Washington seems deeply held and real.

That was in the midst of a laundry list of things he had advocated and stood up for. Then came this paragraph:

Yet it is also startling to see how quickly Obama’s senatorship has been woven into the web of institutionalized influence-trading that afflicts official Washington. He quickly established a political machine funded and run by a standard Beltway group of lobbyists, P.R. consultants, and hangers-on. For the staff post of policy director he hired Karen Kornbluh, a senior aide to Robert Rubin when the latter, as head of the Treasury Department under Bill Clinton, was a chief advocate for NAFTA and other free-trade policies that decimated the nation’s manufacturing sector (and the organized labor wing of the Democratic Party). Obama’s top contributors are corporate law and lobbying firms (Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden, Arps, where four attorneys are fund-raisers for Obama as well as donors), Wall Street financial houses (Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase), and big Chicago interests (Henry Crown and Company, an investment firm that has stakes in industries ranging from telecommunications to defense). Obama immediately established a “leadership PAC,” a vehicle through which a member of Congress can contribute to other politicians’ campaigns—and one that political reform groups generally view as a slush fund through which congressional leaders can evade campaign-finance rules while raising their own political profiles.

These guys are products, with marketing campaigns built around them, not leaders, in the true sense of the word. Maybe the Mr. Smiths going to Washington never existed. But we will never see them when we get two choices every time, from two corrupt machines that are all rhetoric (that changes from week to week) without the guts to stand behind a defining philosophy.

 

[Barsuk]

Obama, regardless of VP candidates. I did not vote for Obama in the primary, but I easily could have. I think he would (will?) be a capable president. Last Republican I voted for was Bob Dole, but that was because I had been brainwashed by a GOP American government teacher in high school (he had all but about two or three people in our class convinced we were right-wingers; he really should be banned from teaching impressionable high school kids American government).

I've since come to my senses.

 

[Ace]

I vote Obama. The Republicans can go crap in a hat.

 

[21]

I vote Obama. The Republicans can go crap in a hat.

There's a tshirt waiting to be made. Or maybe a hat.

I have this deep dread that 18 months into the Obama presidency, we'll all be saying 'oh, god, what were we thinking'...but he'll get my vote if he's the man.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

I've got Obama as well. More and more as this year has gone on, be it the housing crunch, health care, war, and torture (done by the CIA in this instance), McCain has gone on to take the exact same stance as Bush. There's no reason to think this won't be just a third Bush term of sorts, which stinks considering the McCain who was around in 2000 was the one who I was going to vote for over Bush, Bradley, and Gore. His pandering is so transparent to me.

 

[dixiehack]

McCain as a soft commit, to put it in recruiting terms. If Romney or Guliani had made it this far, I'd definetely be crossing over to Obama. As is, I'm still intrigued enough to pay attention and not make up my mind for certain until fall.

Oh, and if undecided is a good enough category for Gallop, surely we can have that option here.

 

[Boobie Miles]

I vote Obama. The Republicans can go crap in a hat.

There's a tshirt waiting to be made. Or maybe a hat.

I have this deep dread that 18 months into the Obama presidency, we'll all be saying 'oh, god, what were we thinking'...but he'll get my vote if he's the man.

My thoughts exactly. I really have no idea if he's ready for the gig, but he gets my vote under the: it-can't-be-any-worse-than-this, we-need-a-change philosophy.

 

[beardpuller]

I voted for Obama in the primary and nothing has changed my mind.

 

[OTD]

Obama. I'm confident Obama will get us out of Iraq. McCain will keep us in Iraq for years (maybe not 100, but long enough).

I want Obama in the Oval Office when Supreme Court justices start dying off. McCain will nominate right-wing judges who will allow further erosion of our civil rights.

I want someone appointing officials who will not find reasons to torture people.

I'd like a health care plan that will mean that no one goes without needed medical care. Obama will work on this. McCain will just give the insurance and drug industries another big wet kiss like the one they've been getting from the Bushies for seven years now.

I also think it's time to stop this mad deregulation of everything that's taken place under Bush. Everything now is tilted toward big business, leaving the consumer with a big pole up his ass.

 

[zeke12]

Obama.

I've been on the bandwagon for a while now.

 

[expendable]

I'm going to close my eyes and vote for McCain, but if I ink in the wrong circle, then, oh well. A good VP choice might make me open one eye just to make sure I hit the desired circle.

 

[Oz]

Obama. He spoke against Iraq from the start, wants to focus on the economy and jobs at home, seems to favor practical solutions to current problems and keeps a level head despite all that's been thrown his way in this primary campaign. On top of that, I want to see integrity restored to the White House.