Go O!
It was like Christmas, the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve all rolled into one when I refreshed 538 and Intrade last night before going to bed. McCain, as can still be seen today, is down to less than a 4% chance of winning this thing. I am still hoping to see McCain pick up under 100 electoral votes, as I think that would be an awesome repudiation of the hate, dishonesty and just plain evil that he has chosen to represent and display this election. Even better would be Obama winning Arizona. It’s still a little early to break out my party hat, but not too early to get a bit drunk on hope.
My local paper, which recently laid off most of its editorial staff in anticipation of a loss in revenues (thereby guaranteeing that I will cancel my subscription in anticipation of a lost in actual reporting and news quality), came out in support of McCain a few weeks back. They felt that McCain’s experience made him the better candidate, regardless of what he might have become lately. While that might have been a halfway decent argument eight years ago, it is indefensible now.
Both Obama and McCain are highly intelligent people, but only one has a temperament to lead. Obama has been consistently level-headed, McCain not so much. McCain has been willing to abandon his principles and integrity to attack Obama, spreading a message of fear and hate, Obama not so much. Obama has shown a willingness to look at things from all sides and make a reasoned decision. McCain has shown a willingness to emulate the old man shouting at clouds. I am not generally angry with clouds, so I hav to call this one for Obama. As shown by the constant fuckupery (no, I haven’t trademarked that word, so feel free to use it, with or without attribution) of our current administration, an inability to deal with nuances is vital in our leadership. Another four years of blind adherence to a belief in black and white is just going to make things worse. Given that we are heading for, if not already in, a recession or even depression, do we want to spend another four years making things worse? Or should we start trying to fix things now? I’m thinking now might be the time to start.
