A little bit of American politics

A lot (maybe too much) is being said about everything that is going on with the US presidential election right now. I don’t intend to rehash all the criticism being thrown towards both the democratic and republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees. I just want to get a few strikes on this dead horse.
I used to like John McCain a lot. So much so that at a dinner conversation with some friends a few weeks back, I said that I would vote for McCain if I could. (Let’s ignore the sad reality that I know more about US politics than Indian.) Despite McCain carrying the tag of being a republican (which tends to make me view a person in a slightly negative light) I quickly realized that he was a very sensible guy. In all his interviews (conducted before he had become the republican nominee) he came across as a level headed person who had well thought out arguments for his positions (as opposed to using scare tactics). This unfortunately didn’t last long and he soon started pandering to the republican base. So much so that Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) openly asked him if he had sunken so low to appease the base and John McCain sheepishly replied in the affirmative. And the pandering has gotten so bad that it amazes me that there are still some non-base people (people who aren’t bible thumpers or think Obama is a secret muslim who will open a backdoor for terrorists into American) who are undecided or will vote for McCain because they want to stick to party lines in spite of the party’s policies spelling disasters for America.

McCain claims that he is going to put “country first”. Yet he chose Palin as his VP. It is more than obvious that Sarah Palin is a disaster and is completely unfit for the job. It couldn’t have been possible that she turned into an idiot overnight. This means that McCain knew she was unqualified but decided to continue pandering to his republican (and hopefully the female voter) base by choosing Palin as his running mate. I fail to see how this is putting “country first”, when you are willing to have an incompetent person in office just so you can get elected. Obama on the other hand chose Biden, someone the media calls “a Washington insider”. Biden has criticized Obama (in favor of McCain even) several times before Obama became the nominee. Yet I believe he was chosen for the much needed experience he can provide to run the country. Choosing someone who complements your skill set in spite of being subjected to personal attacks seems to me like a good example of putting country first. There is a small possibility that McCain really thought Palin would be a good choice as VP. If this is true, it is best for him to never admit it.

There are people who say they are going to vote for McCain-Palin because they can relate to Palin as a down to earth person who is just like them. Putting aside how ignorant she is about anything that happens on a global scale, she is a journalism major who doesn’t read any newspapers, went to five colleges to get a degree and thinks the earth was created 6000 years ago. If you can relate to her, that is only because she is stupid and so are you. Why would anyone want to risk giving her even a little control over the entire country? I relate to my friends a lot. That doesn’t mean I get them to perform an appendectomy on me when I need one.

Obama surely has his faults. In fact, I think the democrats are always erring on the wrong side of socialism. I am not naïve enough to think he is the perfect candidate who will bring unprecedented riches and glory to America. Yet, I believe the choice for the next US president couldn’t have been simpler. In my opinion you should weigh the pros and cons of every candidate’s positions on major issues and vote for the one with whom you agree the most. You shouldn’t vote for McCain just because he is a war-hero. You shouldn’t vote for Obama just because he is black. Sure, in both cases, it would be a plus point for the respective candidate (mostly) but what about the rest of their manifesto? It amazes me that people choose just one aspect of a candidate’s platform and just run with it racking up huge amounts of cognitive dissonance along the way.

Having lived here for 4 years now, I consider the US a second home. I have always been in awe of the wonderful technological innovations that have come from this country and defend it in whatever position I can and whenever possible. Yet, there are times when the stupidity and the stubbornness of the masses depresses me. If McCain wins (and I have a suspicion that he will mostly due to the Bradley Effect), I can only hope he goes back to his old self when he wasn’t afraid to go against the traditional republican views. Unfortunately I doubt that will happen.

EDIT (Nov 6th 2008): Obama wins! By a landslide. Awesome. I am glad I was so wrong.