McCain remains aligned with the neocon group that wants to use military power to remake the Middle East. That is a huge difference. Obama may be tempted to use force in resolving a crisis somewhere, but I see no reason to expect that he will go looking for reasons to deploy our military.

Steve

a protest vote would be an abdication of the duties of citizenship.

Call my citizenship duties resigned then James because this conservative isn't the only one who'll vote for Barrack.

HeH

Andrew Sullivan links the debate between Steven Taylor and James Joyner over the merits, or lack thereof, of the Obama alternative for disaffected conservatives. From my point of view, which is a bit more apathetic than disaffected and libertarian than...

He might were it not for the condition the military is in, and the poor financial state of the union (who knows how high the deficit will be when Bush is done bailing out every financial institution).

Clinton was operating in a very different set of circumstances. Obama's options are going to be limited by the mess Bush is leaving behind.

(Wouldn't McCain also be limited that way? I don't think so - the GOP clearly doesn't mind running up deficits or breaking the military.)

I don't not recall Clinton coming from a background where he had Marxists for mentors.

I can't argue with that.

In terms of the protest votes, I suppose one could argue that in Alabama any vote except a vote for McCain is, in fact, a protest vote as I don't see that there is any chance that anyone can win the state aside from him.

Beyond that, I would argue that the act of voting goes beyond simply electing a leader, as it is also the one clear chance for a citizen to express preferences--and there is nothing wrong with being willing to express a minority preference.

I also see it as a personal endorsement and I am not convinced as to which of the candidates deserves my personal endorsement.

And for those who didn't read my full post, I did not come out in favor of Obama, but stated that I could, at this stage, see myself voting for Obama, McCain or Barr and I have not made up my mind. I could vote for different candidates for different reasons. (I just note that for clarity purposes).

Ultimately, the fact that I live in Alabama almost nullifies my vote, given the exigencies of the electoral college (which I find myself increasingly disenchanted with--even before this cycle). I guess I am getting grumpy and cantankerous as I approach 40 (next week, in fact).

I would disagree, by the way, with the characterization "protest vote" per se. The notion that the only reasonable vote is for someone who win diminishes the overall exercise of voting.

Certainly, voting has many functions, especially in uncompetitive races. At the end of the day, though, their primary purpose is to elect leaders to office.

I think McCain and Obama are both upgrades over the 2004 choices, by the way.

Varied ones, I suppose. By the same token, they might not be very good ones. I suspect if you asked the average Joe about economics, taxes, evolution, electronics, nutrition, surgery and any number of other things that you might get some pretty poor answers.

I believe very strongly in government by democratic processes, but one has to admit that the summation of opinion (or the random sampling thereof) is not the best way to find the rightness of a given answer, especially on items that are not common knowledge.

I would disagree, by the way, with the characterization "protest vote" per se. The notion that the only reasonable vote is for someone who win diminishes the overall exercise of voting.

Liberals have contempt for the military and generally believe they the liberals are smarter and better inform than the military. This usually results in disregarding any advice they the get from military personnel or surround themselves with the very few uniform personnel that share their ideas.

Indeed, Obama’s seeming lack of sense of humor and condemnation of any and all criticism as beyond the pale worries me greatly on that front.

James,

I'm disappointed that you've fallen so quickly for this right wing meme. The guy who "brushed his shoulder of" and whose speeches before he even became a candidate were about how he was the "skinny guy with big ears and a funny name" is now humorless. The only criticism that he's found below board are those of his wife and his religion which are the two things that most people would find unacceptable.

My strong sense is that he’d model himself after Bill Clinton and be eager to use military force for humanitarian and do-gooder reasons

Assuming for the sake of argument that you're correct here, it could very well be the case that the military needs a real period of recuperation & replenishment before any type of large-scale intervention is possible. Obama might be inclined to such actions, but reality & his service chiefs (whom I don't think he'd be anywhere near as willing as the current administration to override) might compel him to much more limited operations in truly international coalitions.