New Voter - I'm Split

[ElementalFiend]

Little backstory:Was too young to vote when GW jr. went into office for his first term, but I followed the election closely in high school. I was pretty interested at the time, feeling like a vote could actually make a difference. But since I was too young I just did a lot of watching and reading.

Then voting time came and it was a big dissapointment to see the candidate I had vouched for win the popular vote and lose the electoral vote. That pretty much killed all interest I had in politics. Why bother if my vote doesn't really count right?

Well now Bush is leaving office and it "feels" to me like things could be back to normal. Meaning whatever influence there was to sway electoral votes towards a candidate whose father has already been president has passed.

NOW

With that in mind I've started reading up on the current two, McCain and Obama. I've tried my best to ignore any biased material and stick to more neutral facts-only resources, but it is hard with so much propaganda out there.

Right away I like McCain. He's a ex fighter pilot, a war veteran, and a POW who was broken and tortured but survived and still seems to have a square head on his shoulders. Aside from just the "cool factor" I like the idea that the man leading our nations military has "been there and done that". I have personal connections in the military and I feel he is the best to lead that aspect of the government.

I think Obama would do okay here, but I'm afraid that his lack of a military background could hurt us in a time when people are targeting us just because of who we are and what we stand for. I do, however, like that Obama called out the current administration for allowing Al-Qaeda leaders to slip away in 2005.

All of this is just personal opinion though, who knows how they would truly act when push comes to shove.

My biggest concerns with McCain are his energy plans.My biggest concerns with Obama are his budget cuts for defense.

With McCain it seems to me that building new reactors is leading us in the wrong direction. I think it is completely foolhardy and ignorant to build more reactors when we aren't sure what we're going to do with the waste from our current ones. I think we are smarter than this and we should definitely hold ourselves to higher standards.

As for Obama, any talks about slowing the development of future combat systems is scary and brings me back to my concerns of him leading our military. If he hadn't noticed, much of our current development is aimed at keeping our men out of harms way with a joystick in hand. I do not consider adaptive body armor, unmanned war vehicles and other smart weaponry things that our guys can just do without.

There are things I like and dislike about both of them and their policies. This could be my first time voting and I'm pretty torn. It doesn't feel like the "lesser of two evils" so much as which one is going to do the best job in an uncertain world.

I'm pretty much looking for insight here, as well as completely neutral resources (which I understand may be an impossibility).

[AZhitman]

Welcome aboard.

You echo the sentiments of most informed voters... All I can offer is that I am glad for our system of checks and balances on the powers and responsibilities of the presidency.

[rn79870]

Obviously, my opinion is quite biased towards Obama. That is because I want to avoid the errors and omissions of the past 8 years and I believe that McCain promises nothing more than what we've had.

I find this experience argument that so many seem to believe in rather shallow. No president should make decisions without consultation with a staff of advisers and military leaders. What is more important than finding a man with experience, is a finding a man who will listen and give thoughtful consideration to the opinion of all those experts. 10 heads are better than one so to speak. That might be harder to do for a man who thinks he understands the military because he served some 20/30 years ago.

We've had several threads here on many topics. We're loaded with opinion here, and often as not that opinion is backed up by citations. But, in the end, you're the one standing in the booth on Nov. 4th, so you've got until then to decide.

[ElementalFiend]

Yeah I completely agree that a president shouldn't make decisions without consultation. But experience is a major factor on the battlefield. Obama is intelligent and I'm sure he is capable of thinking tactically, but not everything can be learned from books. I'll give the war vet the edge in a battle against a civilian any day. I understand that the president will not likely be drawing out individual battle plans, but he does need to have some sort of intuition into how a battle plays out. Advisers will help with that, but in the end he is the one making the decision.

Just my opinion.

In my mind, Obama loses a lot of ground on the experience debate because of his plan to slow combat system development. Just like any other competition you can only stay ahead as long as you strive to stay ahead. This is especially important when you consider that military contractors are working harder and harder to create remote and autonomous systems that keep our men and women off the battlefield.

[rn79870]

Actually, I kind of hope the next president uses his Joint Chiefs of staff and his field generals to run any conflicts. I'd rather let the guys with their hand on the pulse of the battles deciding the strategy. This might not be such an issue with small skirmishes, but if we ever got into a major conflict, I'd rather the Military leaders sat as a group (JCoS) and made decisions subject to presidential approval.

[ElementalFiend]

Agreed.

Unfortunately Bush has shown that the president can move in without them.

[telcoman]

One of the reasons GWB made such a mess of our economy, Iraq, Afghganistan, deficits, etc is that he surrounded himself with many incompetent yes people. (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Libby)

Obama has already stated that he wants people to present opposing views to him. That is a mark of a good leader. Listen to all the options and make a decision.

Telcoman