Watching the convention so far, I've found my feelings torn when listening to speeches that willfully mischaracterize the Republicans' positions. For instance, Hillary's speech tonight that indicated that McCain would "give oil companies windfall profits" and that Obama would somehow lower Americans' bills.
On the one hand, as a partisan, I like the fact that Dems are hitting back at the GOP in a way that will resonate with voters. On the other hand it's a bit sad that we have to resort to ridiculous distortions in order to make our points.
Hillary's speech also continued the transactional type of politics that her campaign featured, and implied that Obama would carry it on as well- that electing Democrats results in some kind of handout or wealth transfer to "the people." This is one of the things that most annoys me about the Clintons specifically and many Dems in general, and is a theme I hope Obama's campaign doesn't begin to echo.
3 comments:
Wait - so Obama isn't going to pay off my credit card?
J-Dubs... as usual, so spot on with your analysis and commentary. I'm behind the Dems this time around, but damn if their self richeousness and hypocrisy doesn't irk me. And the party's constituents are as bad, if not worse, than some of its leaders. I want more of the earnest diologue and vision I saw in TAOH that recognized challenges, respected dissenting opinions and articulated a long term vision. That's why I'm voting Obama and hope more of that message plays out over the next few months.
Agreed. I thought parts of Michelle's speech provided an excellent message: hard work, perseverance, and all-American "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." That should be the Democratic Party's message. The raison d'etre of government--a government led by democrats--should be to give people that extra push that they need to achieve the American dream: lowering healthcare costs, stimulating an economy that lifts all boats in the same tide, working on infrastructure that lowers the price of energy (see, e.g., http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/business/27grid.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin) and decreases the amount of environmental damage that our generation bequeaths to the next. Sometimes that function necessarily will have to involve extra help in the form of handouts or small market inefficiencies (such as raising the minimum wage), but that should not be the primary focus.
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