ProfessorDeac
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- Apr 14, 2011
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The "grading Obama" thread got me thinking about this: When you're deciding how to vote, do you look more to the candidates' policies or their personalities?
I'm probably in the minority in looking to personality first. Perhaps this is because I tend to think most of what candidates say in a campaign is BS. Even if they believe what they're saying, they're not going to be able to do most of it. Each day of the next four years will hit them with so many unanticipated circumstances (especially for a first-term president) that, to me, it's more important how they'll be able to deal with the unknown than what they'd do in an ideal world. Of course, I include character in the concept of personality. Terrible character trumps even the most congenial, flexible, hard-working personality. But I don't impugn a candidate's character just because I disagree with his policies. I think it's an unfortunate aspect of current political discourse that the two are so often shoved together.
This is why I still feel good about my vote for McCain, even though I just scored 88% agreement with Jill Stein on that quiz going around. I'm definitely a liberal, but I think the past four years have justified the concerns of those who said Obama was too politically inexperienced to be an effective president. As I said in the other thread, he just doesn't have the people skills or the political savvy to be a unifying force, all his good intentions notwithstanding.
This time around, I think both options suck. We have a known quantity of ineffectiveness as an incumbent, and a scary robotic personality as challenger. Plus, the Republican party is so beholden to the far right at the moment I feel it would be irresponsible to give them too much power. So I'll go with policies this time around, even if Romney might be a better unifier than Obama, which I doubt.
I'm probably in the minority in looking to personality first. Perhaps this is because I tend to think most of what candidates say in a campaign is BS. Even if they believe what they're saying, they're not going to be able to do most of it. Each day of the next four years will hit them with so many unanticipated circumstances (especially for a first-term president) that, to me, it's more important how they'll be able to deal with the unknown than what they'd do in an ideal world. Of course, I include character in the concept of personality. Terrible character trumps even the most congenial, flexible, hard-working personality. But I don't impugn a candidate's character just because I disagree with his policies. I think it's an unfortunate aspect of current political discourse that the two are so often shoved together.
This is why I still feel good about my vote for McCain, even though I just scored 88% agreement with Jill Stein on that quiz going around. I'm definitely a liberal, but I think the past four years have justified the concerns of those who said Obama was too politically inexperienced to be an effective president. As I said in the other thread, he just doesn't have the people skills or the political savvy to be a unifying force, all his good intentions notwithstanding.
This time around, I think both options suck. We have a known quantity of ineffectiveness as an incumbent, and a scary robotic personality as challenger. Plus, the Republican party is so beholden to the far right at the moment I feel it would be irresponsible to give them too much power. So I'll go with policies this time around, even if Romney might be a better unifier than Obama, which I doubt.
