The Anonymous Liberal: Obama For President

[babylonsister]

Obama For President
The Anonymous Liberal Editorial Board (which consists of me) hereby officially endorses Barack Obama for President. Who Am I? For what it's worth, I'm a litigator at a large national law firm (at least until someone offers to pay me to write about politics). Until then, I'll just have to go by A.L.

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised by this decision, but I nevertheless intend to explain my reasoning as thoroughly as I can.


At a policy level, I really don't see much difference between any of the major Democratic candidates, (including the so-called "second tier" candidates: Biden, Dodd, Richardson.) Thanks largely to the realignment of Southern states, we're now at a time in history where there is a broad consensus on most issues within the Democratic party. Even on foreign policy, there is remarkably little daylight between the stated positions of the candidates. At the debates, the candidates argue about whether or not their largely identical health care plans should include mandates or whether or not their largely identical plans to end the Iraq War leave too many troops behind, etc.. To choose a candidate based on one of these differences is to place undue emphasis on what are, in the long run, trivial policy differences that are likely to be re-examined down the road anyway.

The more important questions are, to my mind, 1) who can get elected, and 2) who would be best able to run a competent, successful administration.

Because I think all three of the "top tier" candidates are capable of winning a general election, I don't want to focus too heavily on the issue of electability. That said, I do think Obama would be the strongest general election candidate. Democratic voters have a tendency, I think, to place too much emphasis on a candidate's resume and reputation for moderacy when evaluating his/her electability. John Kerry was considered the "electable" candidate because of his military record and his history of taking moderate positions on key issues. It was thought that these attributes would inoculate him to some degree from the standard Republican attacks, i.e., that Democrat X is too liberal and is weak on national security.

The reality, however, is that a candidate's personal charisma and communication skills are far better indicators of how that person will hold up in a general election. Though Bill Clinton tried very hard throughout his career to build a record as a centrist, I suspect that his political success was due mostly to his charisma and personal likability. In both the 1992 and 1996 general elections, he gave spell-binding convention speeches and handily won all of the candidate debates. Those are the pivotal moments in presidential campaigns, the moments when a largely distracted public finally tunes in and evaluates the candidates. And their evaluations, I suspect, have very little to do with the candidate's resumes or voting records and everything to do with how presentable and compelling the candidates come across on television. It's a cliche by now, but it's true; presidential elections--at least for swing voters--largely boil down to perceptions of the candidates' characters.

With that in mind, which candidate do you think would give the most riveting and persuasive convention speech? Who do you think would do a better job selling the Democratic platform in a debate with Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani? And who do you think, at the end of the day, has a better chance of convincing character voters to like and trust him (or her)? I think the answer to all three questions is Obama.

I also think that Obama is the most likely to lure people to the polls who don't typically vote, particularly African-Americans, whom I suspect would turn out in record numbers if presented with the prospect of electing the first black president.


more...

http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2007/12/obama-for-president.html

[alteredstate]

1. k & r

[calteacherguy]

2. A well-reasoned and compelling argument for Obama. K&R. nt

[babylonsister]

3. Thank you very much, you people who didn't let this sink!

I liked it, and thought it was a goner. :thumbsup:

[peoli]

4. Word

[Laurab]

5. It is indeed well written and compelling.

Reading some of the comments under his post, I can see that some people don't "get" what he's saying, but he answers them very well, too. I think anyone on the fence should read the whole thing, including the comments and his answers.

Most importantly, I agree with almost everything he says. The other important thing I like about Obama is that he is (to my knowledge), the only candidate to continue to talk about a TRANSPARENT, OPEN government.

Thanks for posting!

[babylonsister]

6. I'm jazzed people 'get it'. You do, and I like this blogger. Thank you! nt