Thursday, February 07, 2008

Quick Political Commentary

I was reading ESPN the magazine and saw this quote from Houston Rockets guard Mike James regarding his support for Barack Obama, "when you see a black man with a legitimate chance to be president of the United States, ho can you not be excited?"

Maybe I'm the only one, but I found this a little disturbing. Are there really voters out there who's only concern when selecting a president is race? Doesn't it matter where he stands on any of the issues? I guess they just balance out all the white supremacists who do the same thing and it doesn't end up making any difference. Still, I would hope that everyone would put a little more scrutiny into their selection process.

Moving on, I find myself surprised at John McCain's success. I like him on some levels, but I really thought that his repeated statements regarding extending the war in Iraq indefinitely had rendered him un-electable. Granted, none of the Republican candidates is very intriguing, but I really think McCain is going to get blown out by either Obama or Clinton.

2 comments:

W&MGrad said...

Not only are there voters out there whose only consideration is race, there are also voters out there whose only consideration is gender. Frankly, I think that Barack Obama (I'll leave Hill the Pill out of this) does have some qualities that make him a wise choice of a presidential candidate, but his race doesn't come into account for me.

Anonymous said...

Obama is an empty suit at this point to me, a candidate that voters project what they hope and feel they believe he stands for into. His entire schtick is 'hope' and 'change' and last time I looked you can't run a country based on 'hope' and 'change'. The man has not done or said a thing that convinces me he is made of presidential timber...but he seems like a decent enough person.

His race is not a factor for me, and should he win the presidency I feel he'll be Jimmy Carter 2.0 - ineffectual and hamstrung by empty promises he made to his left leaning supporters.

Still, I feel he may be what is best for the country right now - his presidency will be so disappointing to both sides of the political fence that by the end of his first term the country will be ready to put aside ridiculous notions of race, red/blue, left/right, and concentrate on issues that actually matter...and then select candidates that stand for more than 'hope' and 'change'.