Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Never thought I'd Say This

I'm pulling for Clinton.

Certainly one reason is that she is more beatable than B. Hussein Obama, but frankly I am starting to get pessimistic at any Republican winning the White House. The economy is likely to be the primary issue of the election, but McCain's focus is on foreign policy. McCain's economic policies (free trade, tax cuts coupled with spending limits, deregulation) are all great, but they aren't sexy. They won't quickly fix anything. We (by which I mean Americans--I am using the nontraditional meaning of "we" that doesn't include me) want our government to meddle right now, to give us money we haven't earned by taking it from rich people we don't like anyway. Never mind that we bought houses we couldn't afford (or conversely made unnecessarily risky loans--both sides of the transaction want bailouts, and neither deserve them).

So why am I pulling for Clinton over Obama--didn't I just say here that there is little difference between the two? A few Reasons:

First, she's beatable...if not in 2008, then in 2012.
Second, she's highly criticizable until then.
Third, her policies are, unexpectedly, like 10% less socialist than Obama. Right now, I'll take whatever crumbs I can get.

Don't get me wrong. I'll campaign and vote for McCain, and I have already given him money. I'm just afraid I'll need a lot of wine over the next four and a half years.

Maybe I can borrow a little vino from those of you who felt the same way for the last 8.

5 comments:

Tim in the South said...

Are you on crack? And I'm referring to the wine issue. You never had any qualms over the past 8 years about where the country was headed? Anyway, you're welcome to all the wine you want and/or need. I'll even pay for your flight.

And I don't mean to sound smug, but I am quite happy with the way I've managed to get picked up by our headquarters company so that I'm paid in Euros and pay what scant bills I have in dollars. I feel like Uncle Elliot in "The Razor's Edge".

I've heard this backing Hillary strategy before. With McCain's solid hold on the nomination, clever Republicans feel free to meddle in the Democratic nomination. It's a good plan. And, hey, it's just politics, right? I wonder when people in the US will begin to put the nation first instead of their parties, or even themselves. But who am I to judge? I don't even live there anymore. And, God knows, you've all been doing a bang up job the last 8 years.

Pink Elephant said...

Tim, I'm a little envious of your currency exchange coup.

Pete said...

And it will still be a shock if the left takes over. I know the feeling. We had a pretty decent if uninspiring centre-right government up to the beginning of 2007. Since then, the left has taken over. We got former communists in government, multiculturalism, sympathy for Islamic radicals, an unconstitutional attempt to quash free speech, an obsession with CO2, a fascist smoking ban in pubs and 18 taxes were raised or increased. The cost of living keeps rising, and nobody, not even the poor, is better off. Except the socialists in government, of course. Their wages went up by 30%.

That's socialism in practice: nanny staters, busy-bodies, grabbing your money and a "daddy knows best" attitude.

So my advice is to stock up on the vino, because they're gonna make that more expensive too.

Pete said...

Sorry, read "introduced" where I wrote "increased".

Anonymous said...

dear pete,

you are an idiot.

that is all.