For those of you wondering what the motivation behind that last post was (and for the benefit of one commenter, it’s not because I’m voting McCain - I’m an Irishman living in France), it’s because I’ve been growing increasingly disillusioned with the level of discourse in this election.
Most of the Americans I know (democrats) seem to be concentrating on the ultra-polarisation of the candidates their facing - there’s a consistent attempt to show how dumb McCain & Palin are (and similar attempts coming from the other side), how radical conservative ultra-Christian she is (”burning books! Dinosaurs in schools! Handing out automatic weapons to third graders!”) and so on.
On the other end, conservatives are trying to paint Obama as the no-experience, tax-and-spend (as opposed to reduce-tax-and-spend Bush) ultra-liberal Democrat, with Biden sticking his foot in his mouth every day.
The truth, and the election discourse, is not well served by this. We are discussing minutiae, not what’s most important.
I don’t care whether Gov. Palin knows what the Bush Doctrine is - I want to know if she agrees with it.
I don’t care if McCain knows what the name of the Spanish Prime Minister is (although I must admit, transcripts of that exchange are bewildering) - what I do want to know is how he will act when president, what his priorities are, the factors which will influence his decisions, whether he values human rights more than national security - in brief, his moral fibre.
For the record, it appears to me like the moral fibre is on the side of Barack Obama. The man is, aside from being charismatic and a great speaker, thoughtful in his reflections, and seems to me to have his heart in the right place when it comes not just to America, but to the world.
That’s what I want to find out. Where is your heart.
John McCain’s heart seems firmly set on the White House, his “put America first” mantra implying, of course, that Obama won’t. On that point, I think he’s right. I believe that if America’s interests are at odds with the interests of the world, Obama will do what’s right.