The Barack

[vroomsplat]

Okay gang. I'm hoping that this will be the last US presidential election in which I'll be allowed to have any public opinion. So I guess I'll make my opinions public while I can.

Given my demographic, you could probably guess that I want to see Obama become the Prez. My primary concerns are international relations and the image of the presidency

Comments

[archivecats]

"My primary concerns are international relations and the image of the presidency and of American government in general both here and abroad."

Huh. When I think of why I care about who becomes the next president, I immediately think of the environment, and monetary issues (who is taxed? why is the deficit so great? Where is the Social Security of yesteryear?) - oh, and *my right to control what happens to my own body* - with double and triple italics on that last. Maybe the president can't fix the environment or the economy single-handed, but he or she can have a HUGE influence both politically and socially. (The energy savings from switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs in the White House alone...)

I care about international issues, obviously (and I can't shake the feeling that people are not paying nearly enough attention to Russia and Georgia right now and that we will be very sorry about that in the future) but they don't spring to mind right away when I start thinking about who to vote for and why.

Anyway, it may be too late now to keep this entry out of the public domain, but if I were you, I would friendslock it. If you won't be allowed to have public opinions in the future, then couldn't public opinions now come back to bite you?

(I muse on not being able to have public opinions. Hmmm. At least one could still talk about issues - just not about people.)

[vroomsplat]

Hi Cath, thanks for your insights! I think you're right that I emphasized the international issues too much - if I'd spent more time on this and been less tired when I wrote it, I probably would have added another paragraph about that phrase "the image of the presidency and of American government... here..." which was how I obliquely referred to the domestic agenda. ("Domestic Agenda" being the name of my favorite "Domestic Semester" tribute band.) As you said, the president has a huge political and social influence, in large part due to the symbolism of the brand image associated with the candidate. Obama still wins, in my opinion; both candidates seem to represent a greater level of environmental responsibility in the minds of most voters, whereas Obama seems more realistic to me about the need to drop the Bush tax breaks for the rich (they receive the most government services, and they happen to have the resources to support the government in return, at a time when it's really hurting for cash) and about various social politics (I mentioned gay marriage in my original screed; abortion is another one).

As for friends locking, I debated that and decided to keep it open. The whole idea is that I want to get reactions from as many people as possible (and if they're all as thoughtful as yours, I'll consider it a great success). I doubt many people who aren't my friends will read it, but if even one does that's one more person into whose opinion I'll get some insight. And I've assured myself that the State Dep't hiring process is totally non-political; at this point it's done entirely by numbers, which can't be changed by anything (except to go up if I pass a language exam). And people who were far more politically active than posting a rant on livejournal have gone on to become successful diplomats. So, at least until I get the call, I'll let it hang out on the Web.

re: political and social influence

[archivecats]

(and specifically re: gay marriage and abortion) - we forgot to mention an absolutely crucial area in which the president has influence.

Three words: Supreme. Court. Nominees.

Re: political and social influence

[vroomsplat]

dude, and i had just watched an obama speech on tv where he talked about that. well, if anyone is reading this far into the comments, keep that in mind as well.