I’ve told people that I support Obama in part because I’d rather gamble on someone who wants to lead 60% of the country than to be certain of another four years of someone who can at best lead 51% of the country. Cass Sunstein has some similar thoughts that may be worth reading if you’re a Hillary or Edwards person trying to understand the Obama appeal.
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[Comment nuked. Disagreement welcome, but if you can’t say it with substance, argument, linkage, etc., don’t say it at all. –Ed.]
I consider myself an independent, with Libertarian and Republican tendencies. While I like Obama better than some of the Republican field, his repeated calls for “change” don’t seem to match up well with his “more of the same” plans and stated goals. He sounds to me like most other Democrats (and like the non-Republicans currently calling themselves Republicans).
So, in the spirit of fairer voting, inspired by Debian’s use of Condorcet, my ranked choices for president:
1) Ron Paul
2) Fred Thompson
3) Barack Obama
4) None of the Above
5) Mitt Romney
6) Mike Huckabee
7) Rudy Giuliani
8) Hillary Clinton
Approximate explanation: my preferred candidate by a long shot, then a decent Republican, then a Democrat who sucks less than the other Republicans and wouldn’t screw things up *that* badly (apart from his Universal Healthcare plan), then (below the line) a religious nut with a slight outward appearance of sanity, a publically religious nut, a warmongering Bush clone with a grudge, and a “mommy knows best” Dictatorcrat.
My problem with an argument liek that is when you have republicans that drift right and democrats that try to take a reconciliatory centrist position, you get the center in this country drifting increasingly rightward of the rest of the first world. IMHO, that does far more damage than someone who only wants to lead 51%.
Exactly. Reconciliation by tacking to the centre certainly improves personal favourability ratings (contrary to everything you hear on the press, the Clintons are still broadly popular amongst the non-insane), but it doesn’t actually pass policies which would move the country in the right direction.
@anonymous:
Most of the least informed members of the voting population consider themselves to be independent.
– Chris
@Chris: Care to back that statement up, rather than just sniping? I vote for candidates, not for parties. I refuse to blindly vote on party lines. Thus, I registered as an independent.
And in my opinion, the *least* informed members of the voting population consist of those capable of voting who either refuse to do so or neglect to do so. The next least informed consist of those who answer any of the numerous polls that ask “will you vote Republican or Democrat in the next election” with anything other than an “it depends”.
@Chris: I do agree entirely with your statement that “centrist” policies end up making politicians useless. That same trend has led to Democrats and Republicans becoming essentially clones of each other on all the issues that really matter, and only differing on a handful of irrelevant issues that get disproportionate levels of coverage. Many issues that really need good solutions by someone willing to stand up and deal with them end up completely ignored by fearful candidates that don’t want to annoy the fraction of the public that either doesn’t know about those issues or depends on the current broken system.