--- Charles Brown <charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> wrote:
> CB: Yea further thoughts: Are some of the white
> votes for Obama, Republicans or conservatives who
> are trying to help Obama win so that Dems will have
> the weakest candidate ? Despite the polls on
> November showing O beating McCain, I still say
> Obama is a weaker candidate than Clinton in the
> final election; for one thing those polls are
> subject to Bradley effect questions.
[WS:] I think you are wrong on this, Charles. Obama is a stronger candidate than Clinton for several reasons, such as being a new face and thus the Right not having as much ammo against him than against Hillary, that he seems to have an overaching vision for the future (no matter how shallow it may appear to some) whereas Hillary has the usual liberal laundry list of issues without an overarching vision, or that there seems be a lesser prejudice against a male in the top boss's seat than against a female in that seat.
I talked to a number of liberals who voted for Obama, and most of them gave the exact same reason behind their vote - Obama stands a better chance than Hillary against McCain. In other words, it is the urgency of geting rid of the Repugs than any sexist or racist motives, as you seem to suggest.
I personally care about two things - health care and the environment/land use (Iraq and foreign policy is a bipartisan issue, and thuse irrelevant in this context). I think that neither Obama nor Hillary are saying much about environemment/land use beyond the standard American crap "we want to keep our cars and suburaban homes, but we want to pay less for fuel, especially to those damn foreigners" (my translation of the greater fuel effciency and independence from foreign oil spiel.) As far as health care plan is concerned, they both are very similar, but Hillary talks about mandatory enrollment, which I like better because it it means universal coverage (it is not possible to achieve universal coverage of anything without coercion!).
But what the candidates promise, and what will happen after election are two different things - so those subtleties are not very relevant now. The only issue that matters now is who has a better chance in November. I think the answer to this question is Obama, but if you disagree, I would like to hear why.
Wojtek
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