1) The Economy:
It really is quite amazing to think that a man who has spent his entire political promoting deregulation of the economy is suddenly calling for more accountability. Sen McCain likes to go on and on and on about how he's a maverick and knows how to reform our regulatory system and get this economic crisis under control.....yet he seems to forget that the cornerstones of his economic policy (supply side--or "trickle down"--economics and deregulation) is largely responsible for the situation in which we now find ourselves. McCain (and his chief economic advisor Lindsay "americans just need to stop whining about the economy" Graham) seem to think that the fundamentals of our economy are strong; that this problem doesn't warrant a dramatic restructuring of our regulatory system... at least he didn't earlier in the week. Now, now that the polls are shifting out of his favor, he's changed his tune. John McCain has proposed 300 billion dollars worth of tax cuts to major corporations (including $4B to oil companies), taxing medical benefits, and putting a spending freeze on everything except defense and veterans affairs. Barack Obama proposes tax cuts for those earning less than $250,000 a year, closing corporate loopholes, eliminating tax cuts for oil, and taking a methodical approach to cutting government programs that don't work while strengthening those that do. We need regulation, we need oversight, we need restraint.... but we can't afford to avoid energy, education, health care, and the like.
2) Energy:
I want to discuss energy... but I'm too angry. We'll talk about energy later.
3) National Security:
John McCain thinks the biggest thing that can be learned from Iraq is that everything is fine.
John McCain thinks we shouldn't talk to our enemies without them first agreeing to whatever it is we want to talk about.
Obama thinks the biggest thing we can learn from Iraq is that we shouldn't go into a war with a country that hadn't attacked us; that an unnecessary war might actually put us in greater jeopardy.
Obama thinks diplomacy might be a good idea.
Oh, and I really want John McCain to respond to a question about Iraq without mentioning David Petraeus.
Now... we Americans like our elections to be divided into cut and dry dichotomies.... so here's one now:
John McCain is the past, Barack Obama is the future. You can apply that distilled view of the 2008 presidential election to demographics (age and race), economic policies, energy policy, and national security. If you firmly believe America's standing in the world isn't in need of improvement; if you think the fundamentals of our economy are strong; if you think we can use rusted tools to fix the intricate problems of the future.... you should vote for McCain. God save this great country if he actually wins.
