Thursday, October 18, 2012

 

Political Mayhem Thursday: Two moderates, toe to toe

I'll be honest: I think that the differences between the presidential candidates are being overstated. Both are actually quite moderate, based on their records in office, and probably would not differ that much as President, especially with a split Congress impeding any significant initiatives.

The two major differences I see would be (1) The Supreme Court justices they would pick, and (2) the tax policies they would pursue. I suspect there would be more divergence on the first of these than the second, and it does matter. I also have a greater fear with Gov. Romney that he would engage us in war too easily.

In many other areas, though, I suspect that hard-core conservatives would be as disappointed with a President Romney as hard-core liberals were with President Obama... and that may not be a bad thing.

Comments:
I agree, although I think Romney, as a First Term President, would be constrained by the conservatives in the GOP.

Obama, as a second term president, with very little political leverage left, would be an even weaker leader than he has been the past four years.

It's pretty depressing
 
I certainly agree with IPLG's assessment of an Obama second term. I am a little bit more optimistic about Romney than IPLG.

Why? 1. Romney understands that he has a very short window to put sustainable numbers on the board. 2. The GOP will be much more flexible, if they have faith in the President.

A Simpson-Bowles-like agreement is possible in the first year of a Romney term.
 
I will say that my earlier predictions of doom for Romney appear to be premature.
 
Among the benefits of being a fairly late transplant into a different language is that I constantly learn new idioms. One of the latest I’ve learned is “squeezing blood from a turnip" ... and to me, as a lower middle class voter, both choices at this point look none other than pure turnip juice.
 
I dunno. Like so many other folks earning <$200K/year, I'm kind of looking forward to rolling around in all my extra cash from the tax breaks offered to me for all of my capital gains and extensive investment income. That is, if I can free myself from the constraints of this binder.
 
I think, in broad terms you may not be far off. Someone, I forget who, made a good point the other day that Romney cannot simultaneously be a spineless politician who changes his mind based on whatever is popular, and someone who will without apology make unpopular, draconian cuts to programs.

-Kevin
 
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