Nathan Scandella (personal)

The Next "Most Important" Election of Our Lifetimes

We're now two weeks away from the 2008 US presidential election. Once again, the race is being touted as the most important one of our lifetimes. As much as it seems like we've heard that before, it continues to be true every four years. Unfortunately, the US has recently become like a blackjack player who keeps doubling their bet every time they lose. A string of losing hands will make each subsequent hand more important than the last (by a factor of two). Unfortunately, the analogy is also applicable in the sense that even with one big winning hand, the net result will only bring us back to barely better than breaking even.

In 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush represented the losing hand(s). Bush The Junior is undeniably the worst president of our lifetimes. He may be spared the title of All-Time Worst President only due to the relative lack of well-rounded, objective, heterogeneous historical accounting in the ages preceding modern media. As much as liberals love to bemoan the corporate control of major media, and conservatives believe the media to be comprised almost entirely of liberals, an inquisitive mind now has an enormous wealth of information to be able to render their own judgments about how history should be viewed. Sadly, as appalling as a President with a 24% approval rating is, the perspective of time will surely render Bush's legacy even more tainted than it seems now. The extent of the environmental, economic, and social damage the last 8 years has done to this planet will become more evident with the benefit of hindsight.

I'll refrain from touting the fine qualities of Barack Obama in this post, partially because there frankly aren't that many of them. It's unfortunate that Obama has achieved his position largely on the basis of misconceptions about who he is, and what he'll do. Nonetheless, Obama shares precious few of George W's shortcomings, and the hybrid of McCain and Palin possess nearly all of them.

Heading the list of causes for the disaster of our current presidency is the lack of intellectual prowess. In order to be a successful leader in any complex field, one of two dispositions is required: either an outright affinity for problem solving, or the humility and social wisdom to recognize others who are better equipped to make the tough decisions (and the willingness to delegate power to them). Arrogance can be an asset when paired with superior problem solving powers, but in the hands of a simpleton, it's catastrophic. McCain doesn't have the swagger Bush does, but like most fighter pilots I've met (there have been a few), he has the G-force-induced tunnel vision that only allows him to see the validity of his own ideology. To say that Palin suffers the same disease would be an understatement. And the fact that these two are such dim bulbs makes the closed-mindedness really dangerous. Most folk harbor resentment towards those who are smarter than them, and that's not likely to ever change. However, most of those same people would still tell you that when it comes to their stock broker, their CPA, an agent, or a detective, they'd want the smart guys working for them. Why not a president? Their job represents a superset of almost every other service you need. You rely on them to protect your money, your safety, and your freedom. You need them to direct an army of public servants who do for you what you don't want to have to do for yourself. Our president is not just a figurehead, not just a roll-model, and not just a bureaucrat. They are the most important person in the world that you've never met. They need intelligence to determine what's best for the country as a whole.

In my next post, I'll describe the GOP ticket's other fundamental flaws.

Posted at 12:56AM Oct 21, 2008 by Nathan in Politics  |  Comments[0]