Given the energy situation, McCain was wrong on offshore drilling. Makes no damn sense at all to keep our oil locked in the ground, where by law we can't touch it.

The fact that you think he was wrong is kind of beside the point, isn't it? Ask McCain if he thinks he was wrong.

I would suggest you look at McCain's stand on offshore drilling as one such scenario. Has Obama ever had any kind of reversal of that sort?

You have a funny definition of Right and Wrong, Bithead.

McCain wasn't wrong on offshore drilling, and he isn't wrong now. That's because opinions and positions aren't eligible for being labeled as right and wrong. If McCain had been opposed to it for a reason that turned out to be incorrect, then you could say he was opposed for the wrong reasons. I don't think that's McCain's official reason behind the switch in his position.

In fact, I don't think he's ever said that his past position was wrong when he held it, only that it's not the best position to hold now, so I don't see how that even applies here. And you will remember that Obama has made similar position reversals on things like Net Neutrality and FISA.

I think Obama is arrogant and unwilling to admit when he is wrong.

And you think McCain is otherwise?

I would suggest you look at McCain's stand on offshore drilling as one such scenario. Has Obama ever had any kind of reversal of that sort?

I don't know if I'll vote for Obama, but in spite of the fact that I supported McCain in the past there's no way I'll vote for him now.

Suggesting that a canned and tightly scripted candidate's non-response to a crisis is reason to elect him President is absurd on its face.

How would it be possible for there to be a "canned" response to our current situation? Do all candidates have ready-made responses, just in case the Treasury Secretary asks the congress for a $700 billion bailout?

Face it, both candidates were faced with an unprecedented situation here that neither one had prepared answers for. What you see is how they react, this is the 3am call as it were, and so far they're following exactly what I predicted several weeks ago: Obama takes the slow and deliberative road to his decision, and McCain takes the quick reactionary road.

Posted by Michael | September 23, 2008 | 11:44 am | Permalink

It was not so much Obama taking the slow and deliberate road as much as it was Obama "voting present" to avoid taking an immediate stance and risk damage to himself.

Why is arrogance a vice and humility a virtue for a president? Don't you think a healthy ego is important for the top spot?

And he does seem to be willing to admit when he was wrong

Recently?

He doesn't strike me that way. And he does seem to be willing to admit when he was wrong-Obama just nuances his way through his changed opinions when he just needs to say he changed his mind.

And Obama shoots out the top of my arrogance meter-he just doesn't seem to come with any humility at all.

Of course this is completely opinion and you can think Obama is Mr. Humility and McCain is Mr. Arrogant, but I think Obama is self important and puffed up and for me at least it is off putting and doesn't much make me at least want to vote for him.

Michael, as with a comment to Alex elsewhere, it isn't just fidelity to ideals, it also what those ideals are, and that is, alas, a dealbreaker for me with Senators Obama and Biden.

Fair enough, I just wasn't sure if there was something about her personally that made you trust her.

I think Obama is arrogant and unwilling to admit when he is wrong.

And you think McCain is otherwise?

This really turns me off-above and beyond what policies he stands for.

In the end McCain for me is the lesser of two evils-especially given that there is no way in Hell the GOP is going to take back congress this year and will more than likely lose a bunch of seats in both houses-some of those seats are some of the more fiscally conservative bunch (Sununu probably is going to lose here, and we will get Ms. tax and spend Shaheen). The last thing I want to see is Obama in the White house with a strong majority in both houses-especially when the GOP has a bunch of wishy washy members that will easily swing with the DNC on matters).

I think the GOP having party discipline is a pipe dream-and I don't want to see what will happen in the two years Obama gets to be president and the GOP tries to get one or both of those houses back-and I am not even sure they will be able to do it in '10 either.

I will finish by noting that Sarah Palin has been elected to several positions more responsible than dogcatcher and has seemingly done rather well in those jobs.

So have the other 3.

Yes, the other gentlemen have all been elected to the US Senate, but watch some senatorial hearings and watch your respect for that institution shrivel up like, well, you know what I mean.

Yes, nothing makes a person more disappointed and horrified than C-SPAN. I've never heard that things are remarkably better in a governor's office, though, so I'm not sure why you believe that Palin would be any different.

She is grounded and still seems driven by an idealism that I can identify with in ways that the three gentlemen are not.

Now that much I can understand, even if I don't see it in her. To me McCain and Obama are at least as idealistic (Biden I don't know about), but none of them seem all that grounded to me. The difference for me is my perception that McCain starts from a position of idealism and then defends it, while Obama starts from a position of idealism and then justifies it.