One Man's Opinion: Obama v. McCain

It's not necessarily shaping up to be that way just yet, but Obama has the momentum and McCain the delegates, so it's a possible outcome of all this primary craziness.

I am worried about this match-up, and here's why: McCain is a bit nuts but he has come across (in the past, outside of primary season) as centrist. He's fought with the present Administration a number of times, and is not your typical "standard bearer" for the GOP.

This concerns me because given Obama's weaknesses (experience, and possibly race) I worry that undecideds will flock to a man that seems just as tough as GWB but with more smarts and a maverick approach. I disagree with that assessment of McCain, but I think it is possible that opinion will turn that way.

Obama, on the other hand, has rhetoric and "change" on his side, but will that be enough to sway voters with racism in their hearts? Will his inexperience be the reason that cloaks the racist voter's decision to go with McCain?

I suppose this is more a series of questions than an actual opinion. I find myself less happy with Hillary every day (people keep reminding me of past deeds that I really, really hated) but I also believe she has no real advantage over Obama in the above-mentioned areas. Instead of "inexperience cloaking racism" her candidacy could be a much more straightforward "outright dislike cloaking sexism." Which, let's be honest, isn't much of a cloak. People just dislike her--she panders too much and Bill, surprisingly, has come across more egotistical and paranoid than at any time during his actual presidency.

My real hope, I suppose, is that McCain somehow blows it and it becomes an Obama v. Romney match-up. My gut feeling is that Obama can take that race easily, because people don't trust Romney. McCain may seem like your crazy grandpa sometimes, but most of us inherently trust our crazy grandpas.

On the other hand, I'm also starting to think that Obama/McCain is win/lesser win. I feel guilty about that because I detest Republicans, but McCain would at least be a new kind of a wrong-headed thinking. Sad to say, but after eight years of Bush, almost anyone looks good.

More Fragments

or, "I Can't Be Expected to Formulate Entire Blog Posts!"

Plenty to discuss, but not time in which to do it! So let's hit up the highlights, shall we?

• I'm still unconvinced that Hillary is the best candidate. Much is being said about deep-seated sexism, or the fragility of feminism when it is forced up against the real prospect of a powerful woman in power. However, I don't really care about that--longtime readers may recall that I've never really been an HRC fan (see, e.g., this post). But my disagreement with her politics is hard to focus when so much of the discussion centers on gender.
  
  Bill is going a bit nuts these days too. If they're not careful, the Clintons are going to self-destruct themselves right out of this race. I'm still leaning towards Obama.
  
  
• I saw Cloverfield. I am aware that there are wildly varying opinions on this movie, so here is mine: I liked it. If you can get past the indestructible-camcorder gimmick, it's a pretty good take on the monster-movie genre. People are complaining about the aforementioned "shaky-cam" as just a gimmick, but it really is central to the plot. And I was happy to see that they didn't just use the camcorder aspect as an excuse to not show anything interesting (ala Blair Witch). People who compare the two movies are really missing the point--aside from the medium, they aren't alike at all.
  
  Another criticism is that good-looking hipsters who populate the cast are idiots. This is true, but it is also true that most good-looking hipsters (cinematic or real) are idiots. I found most of their actions quite reasonable. And I enjoyed the extended backstory (the first half-hour), because it made the rest of the movie far more believable. Even if they are borderline retarded in their decision-making.
  
  I thought it was entertaining and (if you aren't prone to nausea) worth seeing.
  
  
• It's still raining here in Oakland/Bay Area/Northern California. What the hell, man? It's also bitingly cold. Good reason to stay in and work on my Call of Duty 4 skills, I suppose. The Playstation controller is still kicking my ass pretty handily.
  

Confessional

I don't play WOW anymore. At least, I haven't this year. I will probably turn off my subscription this month and maybe when the next expansion pops out, I'll turn it back on. I'm just too busy, and I don't need an online life that badly.

The comments posted to articles on the AV Club are often laugh-out-loud funny, but only if you can get obscure Simpsons in-jokes. And of course you can!

The articles themselves are pretty great too.

I think I support Barack Obama. But I am still not sure. I am not an undecided voter, though, because I am not retarded*. Saying you're undecided during the primaries is totally hip. It's with it.

*I apologize. Retarded people are a lot more aware of politics than idiot midwestern soccer moms who don't know if Bush is better than Kerry.

I miss TV shows that don't suck. I caught 40 seconds of American Idol last night and I wanted to blow my brains out. So I blew out the brains of many, many digital soldiers in Call of Duty 4 instead.

I am working like a fiend this week. It's too bad my hours aren't billable by the firm right now. Hooray for contingency fees! Or boo! Depending on your viewpoint.

Some of my New Year's Resolutions (I hate having them, and they aren't really, but I decided to make some changed in '08 so I have to accept that I have resolutions) have yet to fall by the wayside. This includes working out, because I am a big fat dynamo right now. Big and fat, anyway.

I went to Orange County for work on Monday and upon return I immediately missed the warm southern California air. I did not miss the trashy southern California women. But it only got up to 55 or something yesterday. In California. Come on!

"This country isn't..."

UPDATE BEFORE READING: I wrote this yesterday morning, before the polls abandoned Obama and gave Hillary the win in New Hampshire. I can only conclude that I am wildly prescient when it comes to politics...
----

One of the lamest ways to start a sentence, or an argument, is to declare that "America isn't ready for..." or "this country is..."

For example, "America isn't ready for a black president," or "The U.S. is a conservative nation at heart." Both of these statements are ludicrous and make the speaker sound like an idiot.

You don't know what America is or isn't. Even if you are John Zogby, or the Pew Research people. You may have an idea, based on trends or polls or statistics, but you don't know what the country will or won't do in any given situation.

Polls are weak. The only way you can really determine how people are going to vote is to ask each one of them, or at least enough that you can guarantee the outcome. If a town has 1,000 residents, then you need to find 501 that will vote for your guy, and THEN you can be sure. But if you poll 100 people and find that 75 usually vote G.O.P., what have you found out? That 75 people have a preference. Will they all go to the polls? Will they all actually vote that way? There is no way to know.

It just bugs me, and I know this is a poorly-constructed rant, but I am tired of seeing "Is America Ready for a Black President?" articles. When it comes to race, it's even harder to poll because people will lie. They will lie and say they are fine with a black president, or say that they are not sure when they are. The truth is, we don't know and the only true way to find out is to hold an election where a black man/woman is running.

For what it's worth, I am still Democrat-undecided this year. I dislike primaries and caucuses because they seem unfair. I am leaning towards Obama because he seems different. I am wary, though, of picking the liberal equivalent of GWB: a nice, light on experience contender that may be in over his head. We shall see.

I won't even start in on the Republican crop. Yikes.

I Did Not Die in 2007

I just got busy. My apologies to lo those many teeming masses that wait patiently for an update--although most of the teeming are people I actually saw over the holidays and thus, I do not think they care. I will have more "year end" updates in the coming days/weeks (because who hasn't gotten enough "____ of 2007!" yet!).

First of, the big news: JetBlue is a pain in the ass. Two and a half hour delays for both flights (back east and back west), although the second one was customer-caused. Still, it did not sell me on JetBlue.

I suppose there is bigger news: I finally played Guitar Hero. I am late to this particular cultural phenomenon, but I now see why everyone loves it. All the fun and difficulty of guitar-playing, with none of the annoying side-effects (the ability to play an instrument).

And finally: Yeah okay, I turned 30. Big whoop. Thanks to all those who remembered and laughed at my new-found codger status. It was fun to come back to work where I am one of the 5 youngest people, instead of hanging with you idiots where I am Father Time or something.

In all seriousness it was actually a really good birthday. The day itself was uneventful, but everyone back east, back west, and in the middle (Kansas! Michigan!) made it one of the most successful birthdays ever. Granted, my bar is set low, but ya'll cleared it easily. Official Thanks from the 2008 Model Sam!

Oh and I bought a Playstation 3. Happy birthday to ME, indeed.