I try to follow the news pretty closely, but this presidential campaign has got a couple of glaring issues that I haven't heard anybody talking about, and I don't know why.
1) Barack Obama's name. Isn't this a crippling disadvantage for him? In this day and age, in the midst of a global war against militant Islam, does anybody really think that Americans are going to elect a guy named Barack Obama as president of the United States? I've seen some older articles that half-seriously say in passing that his name could be a liability, but I don't think anybody is giving this issue the play it deserves. Back in '88, I remember hearing some say that part of the reason Michael Dukakis got wiped out so badly was that his name sounded too ethnic. And his first name was Michael! But now we're ready to elect Barack Obama? Seriously?
2) John McCain's base HATES him. He's leading in the primaries, but he can't win with the backbone of his party. If he's the nominee, a lot of conservatives are just going to stay home. He promotes himself by saying he's the Republican who can beat Hillary. He may be the only Republican nominee who could LOSE to Hillary. He only wins if conservatives are so scared of Hillary that they're willing to grit their teeth and vote for anybody else. Of course, big media may be well aware of this, which is why they're trying to sweep it under the rug.
Not to mention that Obama's middle name is Hussein! I was telling my husband last night that if he were to be elected President historians would look back and say: "In the first open election after the Iraq conflict began they elected a guy with the middle name Hussein? WTF?" Not that I think there's anything wrong with that, but it would just be interesting since that's not the way societies work.
ReplyDeleteMr. Obama is exciting a lot of people. He has intelligence and charisma. We will see if that is enough to overcome his lack of political experience.
ReplyDeleteI think intelligence and leadership ability and the ability to inspire people is enough to overcome inexperience.
That's exactly what I'm talking about, Jen. It's like we were in 1944, and a guy named Adolf Mussolini was running for president. Now, Adolf Mussolini might be a really nice and capable guy, but you'd think it would be really tough to overcome the name.
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