Obama versus McCain...

The 2008 Presidential race is starting to firm up as being a Obama versus McCain faceoff. Early in the race (I'm talking about, oh, four whole months ago!), I'd have estimated the probability of this particular ballot as vanishingly small. Now it appears to be our reality.

From where I sit, that looks like a race with little to recommend either candidate. The overriding issue for me remains the war on terror (meaning, more precisely, the worldwide struggle between secular free democracies and radical fundamentalist Islamists). On this issue there is a clear difference in the candidates' articulated positions, though I'm not so sure they'd be much different in practice.

McCain has consistently advocated a robust reaction to any affront by the terrorists, and has shown zero inclination to appease them. The only concern I have about him is his apparent squeamishness about aggressive interrogations, but this is a small nit in the grand scheme.

Obama, on the other hand, has consistently advocated withdrawal from any foreign entanglements, the use of international organizations (especially the U.N.) in consensus actions, the treatment of terrorism as a police problem, and appeasement on nearly all fronts.

From my perspective, Obama's stated positions are, in effect, a set of blueprints for moving the United States from a superpower and a force for good in the world to a second-rate, overwhelmed power and a beggar for the world's help. But would Obama actually behave the way he talks? First of all, his ability to actually effect the positions he espouses are constrained rather tightly by this document we have called the Constitution. All Presidents have, actually, very limited power. President Bush didn't go into Iraq on his own -- people forget, but he actually had the backing of an overwhelming majority of Congress. Then, perhaps even more importantly, once a President Obama was in office, his political calculus (and I'm certain that's what drives both he and McCain) would change dramatically. Now he's trying to get himself selected as the Democratic candidate, so his rhetoric is tuned to that left-leaning group. Once he was in office, his actions are more important than his rhetoric, and he'll be trying to gain the approval of the entire United States electorate, not just the Democrats. It seems unlikely that he would even want to match his future actions to his current rhetoric, even if he was permitted that luxury by Congress.

Once I get past the war on terror, the articulated positions (and track record, in the case of McCain) would have me lean toward McCain -- if it wasn't for my impression of the man's personality and power hunger. He strikes me as borderline insane and profoundly corrupt in the normal political sense (that is, his positions are held less from an actual belief in something than from a belief they'd get him votes). Obama, on the other hand, seems to be practically all talk and almost no substance. And what little “substance” we've been allowed to see is of a socialist nature, somewhere off to the left of Teddy Kennedy. I suspect it's entirely insincere and almost entirely impossible to pay for. In other words, it's the same profound corruption in the normal political sense: he says whatever he thinks he needs to say in order to get elected.

So what will I do when faced with a choice between McCain and Obama? I'm not 100% sure yet, but my inclination at the moment is to stay home and play my favorite music as my country takes a step off the path of greatness...

Anyone Still Having Blog Problem?

It's been working reliably for me now, for about four days straight. I haven't had any reports of problems since Monday. My reader statistics are back up to normal (they were almost zero for two weeks). If anybody has had problems since Monday, please let me know in the comments.