My possibly only political post.
The President of the United States.
Main Responsibilities and Duties:
Along those points:
Subject/CandidateBarak ObamaJohn McCain Executive ExperienceNoneNoneMilitary ExperienceNoneSubstantialNational Politics Experience3 years (Senate)25 years (HoR and Senate)Economic/Financial ExperienceNone that I could findAn Economic CommitteeLegislation sponsored (as exaggerated by Wikipedia)136Looks like 1500 or so?Foreign relations experienceLived in Indonesia until 4th grade, Able to speak multiple languages.Military serviceGeneral ability not to be a fool on televisionLikelyQuestionable
General Verdict and opinions.
Barak Obama: Will fulfill the role of President admirably by providing the circus portion of the "bread and circuses" that is essential to keep the American poplace pacified and happy. Marvelous orator. Charismatic. Little experience in much else that will help him in this role.
John McCain: Will fulfill the role of President admirably by providing yet another Head of Scape on whom we can heap blame on things that the President cannot possibly hope to control. Americans are also very happy when they have things to complain about and someone else to blame them on. Terrible orator. Considerable military service. Considerable legislative experience. Little else that will help him in this role.
Conclusion:
Neither one of these candidates are likely to be a stellar president. I'm not sure anyone can be, short of a demagogue the likes of which the world hasn't seen since Hitler. (And we all know how that turned out. :P) With the current extremely polarized and fractured state of American politics, either candidate will find themselves hobbled at every turn by greedy and corrupt politicians of every stripe and color, a legislative branch that seems to think that talk is action in and of itself, a judicial branch that sees the power vacuum, and is eager to fill it, private interest groups with agendas that are only exceeded by the money they are willing to spend to promote them, a media cabal for whom the words "fair" and "unbiased" have become as meaningful as "unicorns" and "fairies", and an American public, the vast majority of which are loudly opinionated in words and apathetic in action. (Including yours truly.)
Nevertheless, each side will continue to overlook the glaring faults of their own candidate, will continue to look at every hairy mole of the other candidate through the political equivalent of a scanning tunneling microscope, and insist that the only way to prevent disaster the scope and breadth of which exceeds any paltry Global Thermonuclear War is to elect their candidate, immediately and forthwith.
This, of course, belies the simple, glaring fact that even the most powerful person on earth is still only one person. That there are powerful corporations, oil barons, natural disasters, random chaotic market forces, and graft and greed that makes Boss Tweed look like a piker. That even if a butterfly could change the weather, more often the weather changes the butterfly, and that more often than not, the President's most awesome power is to absorb ridiculous amounts of blame that should have been rightly borne by the original "Teflon Man", you. :D
There. Now that that is off my chest, I'll go back to whatever it is I was doing. Frankly, I don't care who you vote for. Because no matter how you format the select statement, your result set is always going to be the same until you change the data.
edit: Changed location. Previous location approximately 100m off.
Main Responsibilities and Duties:
- Chief Executive of the United States
- Commander-in-Chief of the United States
- Nominates the heads of all executive departments, as well as federal judges.
- Prepares the budget of the United States
- Draft legislation
- Principal "face" for the country in foreign relations.
- Be smart enough not to look like a fool on television. (My own opinion)
Along those points:
Subject/CandidateBarak ObamaJohn McCain Executive ExperienceNoneNoneMilitary ExperienceNoneSubstantialNational Politics Experience3 years (Senate)25 years (HoR and Senate)Economic/Financial ExperienceNone that I could findAn Economic CommitteeLegislation sponsored (as exaggerated by Wikipedia)136Looks like 1500 or so?Foreign relations experienceLived in Indonesia until 4th grade, Able to speak multiple languages.Military serviceGeneral ability not to be a fool on televisionLikelyQuestionable
General Verdict and opinions.
Barak Obama: Will fulfill the role of President admirably by providing the circus portion of the "bread and circuses" that is essential to keep the American poplace pacified and happy. Marvelous orator. Charismatic. Little experience in much else that will help him in this role.
John McCain: Will fulfill the role of President admirably by providing yet another Head of Scape on whom we can heap blame on things that the President cannot possibly hope to control. Americans are also very happy when they have things to complain about and someone else to blame them on. Terrible orator. Considerable military service. Considerable legislative experience. Little else that will help him in this role.
Conclusion:
Neither one of these candidates are likely to be a stellar president. I'm not sure anyone can be, short of a demagogue the likes of which the world hasn't seen since Hitler. (And we all know how that turned out. :P) With the current extremely polarized and fractured state of American politics, either candidate will find themselves hobbled at every turn by greedy and corrupt politicians of every stripe and color, a legislative branch that seems to think that talk is action in and of itself, a judicial branch that sees the power vacuum, and is eager to fill it, private interest groups with agendas that are only exceeded by the money they are willing to spend to promote them, a media cabal for whom the words "fair" and "unbiased" have become as meaningful as "unicorns" and "fairies", and an American public, the vast majority of which are loudly opinionated in words and apathetic in action. (Including yours truly.)
Nevertheless, each side will continue to overlook the glaring faults of their own candidate, will continue to look at every hairy mole of the other candidate through the political equivalent of a scanning tunneling microscope, and insist that the only way to prevent disaster the scope and breadth of which exceeds any paltry Global Thermonuclear War is to elect their candidate, immediately and forthwith.
This, of course, belies the simple, glaring fact that even the most powerful person on earth is still only one person. That there are powerful corporations, oil barons, natural disasters, random chaotic market forces, and graft and greed that makes Boss Tweed look like a piker. That even if a butterfly could change the weather, more often the weather changes the butterfly, and that more often than not, the President's most awesome power is to absorb ridiculous amounts of blame that should have been rightly borne by the original "Teflon Man", you. :D
There. Now that that is off my chest, I'll go back to whatever it is I was doing. Frankly, I don't care who you vote for. Because no matter how you format the select statement, your result set is always going to be the same until you change the data.
edit: Changed location. Previous location approximately 100m off.