Nathan Scandella (personal)

The Next "Most Important" Election of Our Lifetimes (Part II)

Earlier this week, I blogged about the presidential election, and argued that McCain-Palin is sorely lacking in intellectual mettle, an absolutely critical quality for the leader of a superpower. I also contend that they share our current President's stubborn streak.

Politicians these days have an endless array of issues they need to make informed decisions on. Surely, none of them enter office having a command of all these issues (or in Palin's case, any of these issues) Additionally, the issues constantly change, and we continually get new news (isn't that why they call it "news"?) that should affect how we look at an issue.

The problem is, the GOP ticket doesn't look at news. Aside from Governor Palin's inability to name a news source she prefers, it's clear that both of these Mavericks have long since formed their views on everything. Why read the news if you already know how you're going to react? It's fine to let your staffers search the news for updated ammunition for your steadfast philosophies. But, for McCain and Palin, there is no curiosity. No learning. No flexibility. While many Americans are comforted by stubborn, steadiness, because they think it makes a candidate more predictable, this is just a safety blanket. It may make you feel warm and cozy, but if you wear it over your head, you can't see very well.

The unpleasant reality is that our next president won't know what's coming at him, until it arrives. He'll have to determine an appropriate response to the situation by using his problem solving skills, and the data available. And we're going to have to trust that this is the best we can do. We can't afford another leader whose ingrained ideology doesn't allow him to see what's happening around him, and adjust his actions accordingly.

Bless McCain's heart for being so pissed-off about earmarks. But, when the economy is melting down and we're trying to understand why writing a $700B check is the way to fix it, we need him to put his pet issue aside and focus on the crisis at hand. It would also be great to be able to strongarm dictators by not talking with them until they'd already complied with our demands. But today, our diplomatic reputation is tarnished, and those dictators are still dictating without us. McCain needs to bite the bullet and talk to a few people he doesn't like. Maybe sending him to New York City to converse with a few unpatriotic liberal elitists would be good practice for him. And I understand that Palin comes from Alaska, and they have oil there, but Project Drill-Baby-Drill needs some rethinking.

Of course, these all pale in comparison to the monumental stubborn blunder that is "The Surge is Working". Working at what? Reducing US troop casualties? We could achieve that by bringing our troops home. We didn't go to Iraq to reduce US troop casualties. We went there to establish a functioning democracy. All the military police in the world doesn't seem to be enough to force-feed the Iraqis democracy. At some point, we have to admit that it was a bad idea. Nobody wants to tell the troops that their time spent was in vain, but you can't occupy another sovereign nation just to avoid hurting your own soldiers' feelings.

I know the tradition in American politics is to expose the "flip-flopper" as weak, and un-leaderlike. But, sometimes things change. Leaders need to be able to change, too. Obama has convinced me that he's thinking and learning for himself, and not simply acting upon the programming he received 20 years ago. McCain and Palin are mentally stagnant. And the world keeps on spinning.

Posted at 12:11AM Oct 24, 2008 by Nathan in Politics  |  Comments[0]