Re: The Candidate We Still Don’t Know

On Aug 19, 10:32 am, "richer...@xxxxxxxxxxx" <richer...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


On Aug 19, 10:32 am, "richer...@xxxxxxxxxxx" <richer...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Pat



The issues aren't all gay by any means, and I've been completely clear
about that in years of writing. I have no faith that he will support
Israel, or other American interests. As you say, he is a man who sees
things in grey, and if that's good sometimes, well, there are some
things that any executive has to see in black and white, and I don't
know which of those things he sees that way, or which of those things
he will really take charge on. Frankly, I don't think anyone does, and
that's what's worrisome.

===================================

That's certainly a fair comment. I think Obama is very open to new
ideas and to other people's ideas. To some this can
look like a lack of conviction, or a possibly worrisome hesitancy
about making decisions. Or, when he adjusts his prior thinking, it can
appear to be the dreaded flip-flop.

President Reagan wasn't too interested in other people's opinions
about basic issues -- he was sure about his beliefs, and had no
compunctions about acting on them. His self-assuredness, his
confidence in the rightness of his course of action (no matter how
misguided in the eyes of some) really 'clicked' with America. Bush Jr
is perhaps even more certain of his own convictions and less willing
to listen to opposing views, and for a year or two, up until the time
when it was clear that the "mission" had not quite been accomplished,
he too commanded the reins of authority commensurate with his office.
But while Reagan's judgment, more often than not, seemed to succeed,
as least in the eyes of most Americans, in recent years it has become
more and more clear that Bush Jr has not been not quite so fortunate
in some of his choices.

I'm somewhat worried about Obama's decision-making too. Perhaps as a
result of playing chess for many years, when confronted with a
difficult problem, I have a tendency to consider every possible option
at some length -- but I'm often fearful of making a decision that
might turn out badly and quite often I end up doing nothing. In chess,
over-analysis can get you in trouble with the time control at the risk
of disqualification; in life it can be much worse. Hesitating,
waiting for more information, isn't always wrong, but obviously at
times an executive has to act on imperfect information. It's probably
the choices he {or she} makes in the metaphorical fog of war, that
determines whether he will be judged successful by posterity.

But recent years have shown us the danger of hasty reactions and knee-
jerk thinking, as well. A better-rounded view of the world, a more
internationalist view of the world, a less 'black and white' view of
the world, is something that I think we need. As usage of 'the
internets' continues to expand, there will be more and more
opportunities for people around the world to learn about each other,
and to see that, au fond, the peoples of the earth are a lot more
alike than we are different. When their leaders don't get in the way.

And that's why the GOP attempts to brand Senator Obama as 'the other,'
as someone not quite to be trusted are disappointing to me. Talk
about his inexperience all you want. Talk about his tendency to
equivocate all you want. But please don't suggest that he has entered
this marathon of merde-slinging for ulterior purposes. I think he
wants to build America into a better, safer, and more prosperous
country, every bit as much as McCain does. It's only a question of
'How do we get there'?

McCain deservedly won a lot of kudos for his success the other night
at the Rick Warren affair, particularly for his directness. Once of
his most-applauded lines came when he was asked something like, "How
should we deal with evil when we find it?" And McCain rocked when the
house when he unhesitatingly replied, "Defeat it!!"

But should we really try to defeat every evil in the world? Should we
really try to unseat the several dozen heads of state whose methods
most fair-minded people find deplorable? It seems like our experience
in Iraq should have taught us that the benefits of defeating some
evils can be outweighed by the costs. Is a two-word answer, really an
appropriate answer to that question? The answer is apparently, "Yes,"
if one is running for president.

More to the point, shouldn't the question really have been, "How can
we better learn to recognize evil when we find it -- when it's a
little closer to home?" I think the white collar crime perpetrated on
the elderly, the uneducated, the unsophisticated, is absolutely
unconscionable -- but it usually draws considerably lighter sentences
than a street robbery or a burglary, even though the former can cost
the victim their homes, their life savings, their credit, their
security, and the latter rarely so much. But we've lost our ethical
compass; the oceans of questionable advertising to which we're
exposed, the sea of political commercials which so distort the truth,
have given most folks the idea that it's OK, to lie, to cheat, to
chisel, because "That's how the world is."

'Change we can believe in' --- sounds good to me.


Pat of the slanted views
.

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