Charges of Socialism

 Posted by  Uncategorized  3 Responses »
Nov 122008
 

When I heard McCain label Obama a socialist in the recent campaign, I scoffed at the notion. Sure, Obama was liberal, but he wasn’t in favor of government ownership of the means of production. Or, to the extent that Obama showed socialist tendencies in the financial sector with his support of the bailout, McCain (and Bush) did as well.

But now Pelosi is arguing that we should bailout the Big Three automakers for a government stake in those companies. The idea being that the Big Three are in trouble, and we have to bail them out to save the economy from collapse, but the government should then have some return on its investment. But this argument could apply to a LOT of different sectors; not just finance and automotive. Airlines immediately come to mind, real estate, and manufacturing industries too.

I’m stating to see a slippery slope that I didn’t see during the election, and its getting me a bit nervous….

The Lieberman Question

 Posted by  2008 Election, U.S. Politics  4 Responses »
Nov 122008
 

A debate is raging right now among Democrats about whether or not to punish Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) because he supported McCain, spoke at the RNC, attacked Obama, and campaigned for a number of Republicans (including Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), currently involved in a mandatory recount in one of the closest elections of the year). I absolutely understand why Democrats are upset at Lieberman about all of that. What’s missing, I’m afraid, from the current debate is the fundamental truth about all politicians: a politician’s first concern is always how to win the next election. So if we want to talk about Lieberman, we need to first look at what his position will be in 2012–when he comes up for reelection.
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Welcome to Reagan’s America

 Posted by  2008 Election, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Nov 112008
 

I might get into the Obama transition tea leaf reading some other time, but for now the Republican Governor’s Convention has my attention. Specifically, I’m intrigued (albeit pessimistic) about the GOP’s ability to remake itself into an open, inclusive party. As I said before, I think the country would be better off if the Republican Party can figure out how to make a serious play for minority, urban, and northern voters–categories of voters that they haven’t even competed seriously for since Nixon left office.

But that can’t happen unless the GOP gives up on one of the predominant myths of this campaign season (and which is continually repeated on cable news even now): that the GOP lost popularity because it got away from it’s “core conservative” or even “Reagan” values. In fact, that’s not the problem at all. The GOP didn’t abandon it’s core values at all. In fact, the GOP got in trouble because of those core values.
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Helping The GOP Find Its Way

 Posted by  2008 Election  2 Responses »
Nov 062008
 

The long campaign season showed the country a surprisingly divided GOP. Now that they are a minority party–and continuing to slip–it’s time for the GOP leadership to figure out how to proceed. Here are the options:
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Comparing 2008 to 2004–by County

 Posted by  2008 Election  1 Response »
Nov 052008
 

On nytimes.com right now, they have an interactive feature which compares the 2004 map to the 2008 map–breaking down by county the change in vote from one to the other. I find those two maps fascinating. In particular, here is a list of places where McCain outperformed Bush (or alternatively, where Kerry beat Obama):
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