McCain, Obama grapple over mantle of change

Saturday 06th September, 06:49 AM JST

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Betzee at 04:55 AM JST - 7th September

I do believe there are a bunch of Americans who are for REAL change,

There's no doubt about that (though change will mean different things to different people just as freedom means different things to different folks). But politics is a vocation which requires artful disassembling on the part of those who choose to enter it. Hence all candidates, while out on the campaign trail, will offer large promises while skirting any inconvenient factors that might inhibit their ability to deliver.

The problem is not with proposals to offer everyone health care or the promise of a world made safe through forceful demonstrations of American leadership and military resolve. Rather the problem is the necessity to avoid the obvious, such as the reality that nations, like households, must ultimately live within their means. One would never know that as different tax cut proposals are bandied about after our national debt has doubled over the past eight years.

For the US the pursuit of freedom, as defined in an age of mass consumption, has induced a state of dependence--on cheap imported goods (China), imported oil (Middle East), and on easy access to credit (foreign investors of various nationalities). The primary desire of the American people, whether they acknowledge it or not and self-awareness have never been part of our national character, is that nothing disrupt their access to these goods. As a result, it is politically treacherous to delve into problems such as global warming seriously, since to acknowledge it would require a lifestyle adjustment and politicians know, in order to win, they have to promise us that life is only gonna get better and better.
smithinjapan at 05:08 AM JST - 7th September

Betzee: Agreed. For the first time in ages I got through to a Japanese audience the other day on how American politics can affect the word (for good or bad). They seemed pretty willing and knowledgable on how it has come to be that soy has increased in direct result to Bush subsidies for corn as a form of useless biofuel.
DXXJP at 05:14 AM JST - 7th September

Man this is worse than the star wars trilogy.

Do we really need to keep poking money in that hole in the dam they call Iraq you know the one dubya punched into it. Because Mcsame thinks we do to protect ourselves from the fact that with all the intel and a idiot at the wheel we still end up in the ditch.

Does Mcsame have any answer for how many generations its going to take to pay for it. Does he intend to invade Iran too. Really this sound like the death star is almost online to rule the universe.

BOMB BOMB BOMB

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

yeah sarge et al were really looking forward to your backward plan

NOT
Betzee at 05:26 AM JST - 7th September

SmithinJapan,

The Chinese have simply replaced the Japanese as America's source for consumer goods. The Japanese were able to rebuild their economy after WWII by playing that role. The Chinese have certainly gotten richer as well; it's just that wealth is unevenly distributed in China.

The problem is that nobody in America can stand up and say, "We're at the end of the line here" and expect to be swept into office. I don't know where the jobs are going to come from for the next generation, unless you've had a first-rate education (which is usually only available to those with parents who can pay for it).

As Tom Friedman wrote in a recent column: The next president can have all the foreign affairs experience in the world, but it will be useless, utterly useless, if we, as a country, are weak.

Obama is more right than he knows when he proclaims that this is “our” moment, this is “our” time. But it is our time to get back to work on the only home we have, our time for nation-building in America. I never want to tell my girls — and I’m sure Obama feels the same about his — that they have to go to China to see the future.
yabits at 06:34 AM JST - 7th September

Do you really beleiev that even in these enlightened times, that America is ready to elect a non white man as president.

If Louisiana, the home of Republican David Duke, can elect a person of color as governor, I believe the country is ready to elect a person who is not 100% European-descent as president.
DanManjt at 07:35 AM JST - 7th September

Grapple?

There is no contest.

John McCain voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time in 2007 and 100 percent of the time in 2008 -- that's no maverick.
Nessie at 09:52 AM JST - 7th September

Real change. Does that mean banning books in the Library of Congress?
goodDonkey at 09:56 AM JST - 7th September

BOMB BOMB BOMB

-

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Unbelievable that people want to hire a man whom we actually have recording of him singing/chanting such words to inspire them. I do find humor when he has that glare in his eyes and he is shaking his little fists. But it is a sad humor - how pathetic. Asking many of these American voters to see McCain for who he really is and pointing out that Palin is a corrupt liar and a hypocrite is like like trying to convince kids from the ghetto to finish high school or go to college. You must have a certain level of understanding to absorb the options being offered. Part of what made our economy so successful during the Clinton administration was that the world liked the U.S. much more. How do you teach that in Economics? If it were a corporation instead of a country it is called "good will" and there are really no metrics to measure such a valued asset. Bush has destroyed so many things that cannot be measured and McCain cannot or will not be able to restore the good will we once had with so many other countries. Obama can!
mar4eO at 11:51 AM JST - 7th September

I do believe there are a bunch of Americans who are for REAL change, and I think they care more about the reality of it and what it could bring rather than the colour of the person who brings it...,

Personally, and I think I speak for some of the other Americans here, you couldn't possibly believe that and this

I think if you covered a chair with chocolate icing, and some old man said it was cake, a majority of Americans would try to eat a chair. But that's me.

at the same time.
WhiteHawk at 02:40 AM JST - 9th September

adaydream:

Well WhiteHawk, I was refering to this election. McCain's so old you could find things to refer back to him 25 years ago I'm sure. This election. < :-)

DanManjt:

John McCain voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time in 2007 and 100 percent of the time in 2008 -- that's no maverick.

Looks like some people can't see outside their lifetimes. :-P

aday, moving the goal posts again.
adaydream at 02:49 AM JST - 9th September

WhiteHawk - Nah, not moving the goal posts. Just defining them. (Kinda similar to george bush redefining his reasons for attacking Iraq for the first couple of years.)

Like I said, McCain's so old you could find things to refer back to him 25 years ago I'm sure.

Hell, if you try hard enough I'm sure you could find quotes attributed to McCain even before Barack was born. You going to tell me he was talking about change before Barack was born then?

Have a good day. < :-)
WhiteHawk at 03:03 AM JST - 9th September

Nah, not moving the goal posts. Just defining them.

No, you're trying to limit your debate opponent's ability to prove you wrong. It's a nasty habit of yours, and doesn't mean you're right, it just that you're controlling. You've been proven wrong by both me and a fellow Obama supporter, and he exposed your pathological partisanship in the process. No wonder you're being so snarky: You've been backed into a corner and wounded.

Like I said, McCain's so old you could find things to refer back to him 25 years ago I'm sure.

You say that like it's a bad thing.
adaydream at 03:25 AM JST - 9th September

No, not a bad thing. Just fact. If you drift back a few more years I'm sure you can find references even older that you had before.

But I'd rather have a younger president. Remember that alzhiemer president we had a few years ago. I don't want that.

And I don't like McCain's politics. < :-)
WhiteHawk at 04:20 AM JST - 9th September

If you drift back a few more years I'm sure you can find references even older that you had before.

Which would only further prove you wrong. Look, you tried to claim that Obama talked about change first, you were proven wrong, and then you tried to limit examples to just this election. Buh-bye.

We had a president who had Alzhiemer's while in office? When?

Besides, Obama has to know something before he can forget it. Every time he speaks without a script on a teleprompter, he shows how little he has to forget.
Nessie at 06:10 PM JST - 12th September

Interesting one here. Change from Republicans has recently meant lower revenues with higher spending.

Carter - spending slightly up, revenue greatly up Reagan - spending slightly down, revenue slightly down Bush I - spending up, revenue down Clinton - spending sharply down, revenue sharply up Bush II - spending up, revenue down.

http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-thought-it-was-democrats-that-were.html

Borrow and spend, the new Republican mantra of fiscal responsibility.