McCain, Obama offer contrasts, appealing choice

[AZhitman]

Great article from USA Today... Especially in light of the "both candidates suck" attitude we've been seeing:

With Democrats having brought to an end their grueling primary battle, it won't be long before the presumptive presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama go into full combat mode. Nor will it be long before independent groups of the far right and far left start up their attack machines, damaging both.

Before these men are cast as sinister, inept and dangerously misinformed miscreants, let's pause long enough to say this: These are excellent candidates — at least by our centrist lights — and they give voters a crisp, clear choice.

Each man offers a compelling personal narrative. McCain is a war hero of the first order, while Obama has lived the only-in-America tale of a mixed-race kid raised by a single mom who went on to great things. McCain has the better résumé, yet Obama inspires as few before him.

They share a status as dark-horse candidates who pulled off major primary upsets that left some in their parties angry, bewildered and unconvinced. Both promise to work across party lines, and each has found supporters in unusual places across the ideological spectrum.

But make no mistake: McCain and Obama are worlds apart when it comes to the issues. On matters ranging from Iraq to health care and taxes, they have little in common and track very closely to party orthodoxy.

The combination of substantive differences and cross-party appeal is highly intriguing. It could scramble the conventional battle lines in this election and prompt an unusually intense and substantive debate about the direction of the country. Based on the historic turnout in the primaries, Americans are eager for such a conversation.

This election could be like no other, in that it pits perhaps the Senate's best-known maverick, McCain, against a youthful newcomer who has staked his identity on creating a new political approach.

Neither will be able to rely much on a bring-out-the-base strategy to win the election, a standard tactic in presidential politics. The Republican Party is too small for that, and it appears to be contracting after seven years of George W. Bush. McCain will need Democrats and independents in his coalition.

The Democratic Party is big but full of fissures and divides. If Obama's poor showing among working class voters and seniors is any indication, he could face at least the normal amount of defectors this fall. That means he, too, will have to reach beyond his party — to independents, Republicans, and erstwhile non-voters.

All this makes McCain-Obama a dream matchup for the independent voter, the independent-minded voter in each party, the young and the previously unmotivated. These constituencies are unencumbered by preconceptions or prior voting practices. They are thoughtful political free agents.

And these two men can appeal to them. McCain's past tensions with his own party on issues from taxes to campaign finance are now an asset. Obama's calls to change Washington are convincing to voters wary of the war and a struggling economy.

With both candidates, however, we have concerns. Obama's rhetoric is expansive and inspiring. But his positions as a U.S. senator are almost universally liberal. And he overpromises in the extreme. Among his offerings are universal health care; a Social Security fix; major investments in education, infrastructure and renewable fuels; and tax cuts for modest-income workers. He prioritizes little and offers no credible way of paying for these promises.

McCain, for his part, is doing his best to denounce his past efforts at pragmatism. He now says he would extend the Bush tax cuts that he once voted against and would add other tax cuts as well. He has abandoned his centrism on immigration while all but promising the GOP base that he would nominate only reflexively conservative judges and justices.

The time for pandering to the base has passed, as both McCain and Obama will soon realize. The sweet spot in this election appears to be the middle, where pragmatism is a virtue, ideological purity is a handicap and the attack machines are best left as rusting hulks in the political junkyard.

[rn79870]

What really scares me is that one of the two, Obama or McCain, might become president.

[HashiriyaS14]

I like the article, and I do agree that this is an election that will be fought in the middleground.

The traditional base of neither party is really crazy about their candidate, but they'll still vote for them as the lesser of two evils. Both candidates are fairly centrist however, and thus will be battling fiercely for that centrist independent or crossover vote.

[rn79870]

I hope that the proposed 10 town hall debates are going to happen. After the 10, I'll have a much better idea of which way I'm going.

[OriginalWheelman]

I hope that the proposed 10 town hall debates are going to happen. After the 10, I'll have a much better idea of which way I'm going.

At the very least we should get a halfway decent turnout for this election. It makes me sick to think of how many Americans simply DO NOT VOTE. WTF people?

[AZhitman]

At the very least we should get a halfway decent turnout for this election. It makes me sick to think of how many Americans simply DO NOT VOTE. WTF people?

Exactly.

I, for one, am enjoying NOT being pummelled by MTV's retarded "Rock The Vote" nonsense.

It didn't work then, and no one's interested now.

Democracy is great - Those who care enough to participate, make the rules.

Just like serving on a school board, a homeowners' association, or a town hall: Those who invest in their communities have a say in how they're run.

[OriginalWheelman]

Exactly.

I, for one, am enjoying NOT being pummelled by MTV's retarded "Rock The Vote" nonsense.

It didn't work then, and no one's interested now.

Democracy is great - Those who care enough to participate, make the rules.

Just like serving on a school board, a homeowners' association, or a town hall: Those who invest in their communities have a say in how they're run.

You know, thats a damned good way of looking at it.

[AZhitman]

You know, thats a damned good way of looking at it.

The Founding Fathers seemed to think so.