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May 5, 2008
Too early
In McCain Jindal, William Kristol sounds some caution:
Still, Obama is the likely Democratic nominee. Some conservatives are giddy at the thought — kidding themselves that the general election will therefore be easy, that Obama will be another Dukakis. I was struck, though, in several conversations this week with McCain campaign staffers and advisers that they’re pretty sober about the task ahead. About the Dukakis analogy, for example, one McCain aide said: If in 1988 Ronald Reagan had had a 30 percent job approval rating, and 80 percent of the voters had thought we were on the wrong track, Dukakis would have won.
Still I'm not at all convinced by his recommendation:
Maybe that’s why, in separate conversations last week, no fewer than four McCain staffers and advisers mentioned as a possible vice-presidential pick the 36-year-old Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal. They’re tempted by the idea of picking someone so young, with real accomplishments and a strong reformist streak.It might also be a way to confront the issue of McCain’s age (71), which private polls and focus groups suggest could be a real problem. A Jindal pick would implicitly acknowledge the questions and raise the ante. The message would be: “You want generational change? You can get it with McCain-Jindal — without risking a liberal and inexperienced Obama as commander in chief.” I would add that it was after McCain spent considerable time with Jindal in New Orleans recently, and reportedly found him, as he has before, personally engaging and intellectually impressive, that the campaign’s informal name-dropping of Jindal began.
Jindal's got to be tempting. And I'll acknowledge that he's accomplished more than most politicians have in entire careers. (He reformed Louisiana's health care system.) Still I think that Baseball Crank is correct:
No Rookies: On the other end of the spectrum, a large part of McCain's argument, especially against Obama, will be that McCain is experienced, battle-tested, and ready to take the now-proverbial 3 a.m. phone call. But as I noted above, given his age, he'll be undercutting that argument if his running mate doesn't also clearly pass that 3 a.m. test - and that means no first-term Governors or Senators, no Lieutenant Governors or state legislators, no business people without government experience. It has to be someone who has more experience and credibility than the Democrats' presidential nominee.
(Read the whole thing.)
Posted by SoccerDad at May 5, 2008 6:02 AM | TrackBack
john mccain
Juggling carnivals 07/06/08
Celine dion on the middle east
Il-libertarian
Booting hersh
Israel considers bulldozing house, builds cute bomb-shelter for Sderot children
Fine arabian chargers
Interesting euphemisms
More on the Jewish Refugees . . . er . . . um . . . Immigrants to the Zionist entity
Not the worst politician
Never the twain shall meet
I agree with the No Rookies view given McCain's age, melanoma history, and recent incoherence; so looking at those with experience, I'd be most alarmed if McCain would pick Gen. James Jones, and most pleased if McCain would pick Mike Huckabee, which is probably the only way I'd give McCain a second look over voting for Obama.
Posted by: Cindy at May 5, 2008 11:45 AMI still don't believe hussein will wind up getting the nomination.
He needs to be stopped by any means possible.
Posted by: Laura at May 5, 2008 12:05 PMWhy the hell would you vote for hussein? That is mindboggling.
Posted by: Laura at May 5, 2008 12:07 PMLaura, please find a copy of Obama's first book Dreams From My Father, it's essential for background--very clarifying on understanding Obama's position on Black nationalism and Islam, which is not at all the position being portrayed on blogs that are conservative, pro-Israel, or J-blogs. Both that book and Obama's subsequent comments clearly show he views the syncretistic Islam of the type found in Africa or in Indonesia during Obama's time (Sufi-influenced, not the Wahhabi, nor even the more orthodox kind of Sunnism) as the good and tolerant kind of Islam. Now, while I do not agree that that Islam is so good, I agree that it is the non-threatening type and the type that constitutes the overwhelming percentage of Muslims today--but that it is seriously threatened by the cultural/ideological Arab imperialism exporting more fundamentalist, less tolerant, more textual Islam. And the exporters of this fundamentalist Islam are the very nations that John McBush would support.
Obama would deal with the energy dependence crisis by heavy focus on alternative energy, McCain by listening to his close pal Gen. James Jones (current Mideast Envoy and Energy CEO).
Obama gets the players and their relationships correct when discussing the war on terror, McCain is totally clueless and is a product of handlers.
It is true Obama has empathy for Palestinians, but it's not the same sort as Condi Palestinians-are-victims-like-U.S.Blacks-in-the-South Rice.
Obama will buy us some time, can reverse some perception damage, and that matters when it comes to diplomacy. McCain will advance the Arab League driven ummah and destroy our economy.
All that said I don't think Obama is as tough against infiltration jihad as I'd like, but not only would McCain be worse with that, with an Obama election the populace would likely decide they better self-educate about Islam and so would be more likely to call for protective measures, whereas with a McCain election, the populace might make the false assumption that a former POW surely has it all in control and so stay ignorant and thus let our nation be infiltrated.
There are so many reasons, but first read Dreams From My Father.
Posted by: Cindy at May 5, 2008 2:44 PMANY kind of islam is evil. You are delusional, hussein is a dangerous radical who hates America. Nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. His actions prove what he really believes. Hillary should have crushed that monster hussein months ago.
Posted by: Laura at May 5, 2008 8:07 PMI do agree with you about Islam being evil.
Posted by: Cindy at May 6, 2008 3:17 AM