Tuesday, September 18, 2007

About Time

I like Obama, mainly because he's spent the least time in Washington of any of the front runners. Washington is a corrupt place so the longer someone is there the more corupt they will likely become. Obviously this is a generalization not to be taken as fact in every case, its more like a stereotype. So Obama isn't perfect he has plenty to learn but the truth is no single person has the knowledge to be president anymore, thats why we have the cabinet, and other advisers. Besides the lack of experience that I see as a plus Obama's biggest selling point is that he's as close to inspirational as I've ever seen in a presidential campaign (admittedly I'm young the first time I voted was 2000, for Nader) and thats important. We can't expect anyone to really unite this country, but if we can get someone who will really do some good then maybe we will start moving in the same direction as a country. And this brings us to the important part. Is Obama willing to show his cards, will he be the strong leader or the calculating politician that only follows trends ala Hillary? I realize that he's the new guy in town and while he's the media darling he doesn't have that much clout in town. All the more reason to lay it on the line. You don't speak for the party, so just speak for Barak, and say it loud. It looks like he's finally doing that. In his words, “No timetable, no funding. It is time to bring this to an end.” Thats all we've been asking for. Plus its actually good politics if you have the least bit of control over your own image. The critical thing is to push forth legitimate timetables with consequences. If the president veto's it then you get every Dem on the air saying that you did your part you passed a bill to fund the troops, the president has now vetoed that funding. Then I would start drawing up and even stricter set of timetables, then you've got the presidents nuts in a vise. There just two problems with this whole thing, for one the republicans are still much better at controlling the media debate, so they need to be ready as soon as the bill passes saying that its now up to the president if the troops get paid. The second major hurtle is simply known as Joe Lieberman. And I'm in too good of a mood to discus that problem, which you probably already know all about.

2 comments:

Byshop said...

Remember though, that Reagan ran as an "outsider".

Kilgore Trout said...

Wow, buzzkill.
Then again for the right-wingers Reagan is god, maybe Obama can be the Reagan of the left, so rather than helping the rich he'll help everybody. A man can dream right?