At first I couldn’t think of why Obama might be sporting an Ole Miss bag, but then it occurred to me that the first debate was here, and it seems likely that Ole Miss would have given the candidates free stuff. It still seems odd that Obama would actually use the bag, but, then again, it is a nice bag.

It’s not entirely clear where the line is. The Supreme Court has only overturned two orders in the history of the country. One when Truman tried to federalize all steel mills, and another when Clinton tried to keep the federal government from contracting with companies that hired strike-breakers.

There have been a number of notable executive orders over the years:

• Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
• FDR’s confiscation of gold
• FDR prohibiting racial, religious, and ethnic discrimination in the defense industry
• FDR interning Japanese-Americans during World War II
• Truman integrating the military

I’m not at all a fan of the bailouts. Obama’s latest plan calls for around one trillion dollars. Of course, I can’t complain too much, because I don’t believe McCain’s plan would look that different from Obama’s.

While I would rather be inaugurating someone other than Obama in two days, the beginning of his presidency will be interesting to watch. What executive orders will he sign in the first week? How will he handle the Israeli/Palestinian issue?

Also, it’ll be interesting to see how some of his less realistic supporters deal with the reality that he isn’t going to be able to fix everything in a short period of time.

No. 1 Alabama beat No. 16 LSU 27-21 in overtime, in Baton Rouge; no small feat. No. 2 Texas Tech beat No. 9 Oklahoma State 56-20. No. 3 Penn State was upset by unranked Iowa 24-23, effectively putting them out of the chase for the national championship. No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Oklahoma, and No. 7 USC (all one loss teams) won their games this weekend.

If Alabama and Texas Tech continue to win, it’d be a huge surprise if they don’t end up in the national championship. The big question is whether or not they continue to win.

Alabama finishes up the regular season with Mississippi State and Auburn. Auburn has had a very rough year, but have beaten Alabama seven years straight. It should be a good game. Also, Alabama will face No. 5 Florida in the SEC Championship game. With the way Florida has been playing since we beat them, I don’t see Alabama winning that game. It’ll be fun to watch either way.

Texas Tech plays No. 5 Oklahoma and Baylor to finish up its regular season. A week ago I would have said that Oklahoma wins that game. However, Texas Tech was impressive against a very good Oklahoma State team this weekend. If Texas Tech beats Oklahoma, they would most likely face Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game. If Oklahoma wins, that would put the Big 12 South into a three-way tie between Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Texas. Normally the tie would go to the team with the best record against the other two teams, but since Texas beat Oklahoma, but lost to Texas Tech, the tie would go to the team with the highest BCS ranking after the last regular season game. That would be Oklahoma or Texas, and it’d be hard to argue one over the other.

ESPN’s BCS guru suggests that the SEC champion will face the Big 12 champion in the BCS Championship game. That’s certainly not a bad guess, but it’s not a given by any means. I’m hoping that Florida beats Alabama and that they find their way into the BCS championship game.

If Alabama and/or Texas Tech lose before making it to the national championship game, it could throw the system into enough chaos that more people would start calling for a playoff; the way it should be.

In an appearance on Monday Night Football, the night before the election, when asked what one thing he would change about sports, Barack Obama said he would like to see a playoff system in college football. So, it seems Obama finally agrees with me on an issue that I’m passionate about. Of course, I hope he won’t try to change anything directly, but his comments have got some people talking.

(James, I have to know. Did my title trick you into reading a sports-related post? :)

Bidding for my Oxford Eagle starts at $100. :)

I fear that Obama’s beliefs are pretty far to the left, despite the moderate image he tried to project during the campaign. History says I’m wrong. Most candidates move toward the center after they are elected. I hope I’m wrong and history is right. I’m willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt for now. Time will tell. It will be interesting to watch him assemble his cabinet and see which issues he decides to tackle first.

It’ll be interesting to see who the Republicans nominate four years from now. I suspect it’ll be someone we haven’t heard much about.

The good news for conservatives, and possibly even some moderate Democrats, is that the Democrats will not get their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That will help me sleep a little better at night.

Mississippi went 57/43 for McCain, as expected. We still have two Republican Senators. Wicker beat Musgrove 55/45. There was never much doubt Cochran would win. The representative for Northeast Mississippi will be Travis Childers, a Democrat. He beat Greg Davis, the former mayor of Southaven, 55/43, which was not unexpected.

For the record, I’m not a member of the Libertarian party. I’m just a generic libertarian. The Libertarians tend to be extreme on some issues, which is one reason they never get anyone elected. Looking at Barr’s web site, he’s managed to stay away from some of those extreme areas.

Barr himself is a flawed man, not unlike Obama and McCain. Also, until around 2004 he was the antithesis of a libertarian. You can read about all that on his Wikipedia article.

Here are a few of Barr’s stances I agree with:

• Drastically reduce government spending
• Quit trying to manage the free market
• Eliminate ethanol subsidies
• Reduce America’s foreign military presence
• Reduce foreign aid
• Reform the tax system
• Respect the Fourth Amendment
• Better schools through competition
• Respect the Second Amendment
• Immigration reform

If any of those things sound good to you, head over to Barr’s web site and consider voting for him.

McCain was dealt a bad hand from the very beginning. Bush is one of the most hated presidents in a long time. The economy decided to take a dive around the time the election was really getting in gear. The Republicans are getting a lot of the blame for that, rightfully or not.

Even with all that though, I think McCain could have won. The old McCain (from the 2000 election) could have honestly said he disagreed with the mainstream Republicans on lots of issues. Instead, this time, McCain decided to pander to the right and made himself look more like a Bush Republican than he really is. Also, he ran a very negative campaign and harped on issues that most Americans didn’t seem to care about.

Yes, even with all that, I agree with him on far more issues than I agree with Obama.

My first thought was “Why is Musgrove doing this? This is political suicide.” Mississippi is a very red state when it comes to national elections. Democrats still rule the local elections (strange, I know), but we haven’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Carter. The only way Musgrove had a shot at winning was to avoid being connected with the Obama and Pelosi crowd. Why would he approve this phone call?

Turns out, he didn’t. The call was actually a Wicker ad. Wicker is Musgrove’s former roommate and Republican opponent. The audio at the beginning of the call was from a radio ad that Musgrove was using somewhere in the state. My guess would be the Delta. I think it’s the only majority Democrat area in the state.

It’s strange that a candidate’s own ad can be used against them.

It’s mostly Derek and I going back and forth, but I think it’s good stuff. I find it interesting than Derek and I agree in principle on most issues, but can still find so many things to disagree about. :)

I found another good article on the differences between the candidates regarding oil company taxes. According to it, the oil companies already pay a higher tax rate than most corporations. Apparently they also have a lot of loopholes they can use to get out of those taxes. It doesn’t say how their effective tax rate compares with that of other corporations.

Before I get into my specific reasons, let me tell you a little about my general political outlook. I like to say that I’m a pragmatic libertarian. I believe the government should play a much weaker role in our lives. I’m for personal responsibility. I’m also a big believer in pure, unadultered capitalism, with very few exceptions. If you’ve been paying attention to the Presidential race, then it should be obvious from just this paragraph who I prefer. Obama wants the government to play a bigger role in our lives. I don’t.

Government Spending and Taxation

I believe that the government should spend a lot loss money than it does. Neither party has done a good job reducing spending over the past several years, and I can’t say with any certainty that either of these candidates will either. However, with all the promises that Obama has made, I know for certain that he will not reduce government spending by any appreciable amount. McCain claims that he will, and I hope he follows through with it if elected.

The other side of the coin is taxation. I believe the government should tax us much less than they do now. I think ten percent is a good goal. While that goal will not be reached by either party anytime soon, I think McCain has the potential to take us closer to it, while Obama will take us further away.

I also take issue with Obama’s belief that the rich somehow owe society a large chunk of the money they have earned. It’s a popular belief these days, but it’s a very dangerous one. I refer to it as “Socialism lite.”

Health Care

Barack Obama believes that health care is a right. I don’t. It’s a popular sentiment, but as a libertarian I don’t believe that’s the government’s job. If I believed the government could do a good, efficient job of providing health care, I think I could get past my libertarian tendencies. Why should I believe that the government will handle health care more efficiently than say, Social Security, for instance?

Obama says he wants to open up the Federal employees health insurance program to all citizens. The reason health care for groups is generally cheaper than for individuals is because members of groups don’t self-select. People seeking to join the Federal employee health plan will tend to be sicker than the average person and the cost of the program will rise as a result. It’s simple economics, and Obama either doesn’t know this or chooses to ignore it. He’s a smart guy, so I tend to believe it’s the latter.

Obama also says insurance companies shouldn’t be able to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions. Unfortunately, in the real world, people that have pre-existing conditions cost more to care for. Ignoring that fact does not make it go away. Under Obama’s plan, the cost of my insurance would go up because I (a healthy person who has always had health insurance, even when it wasn’t convenient) will be treated the same as an unhealthy person who hasn’t been responsible enough to maintain health insurance.

For the record, I’m not a huge fan of McCain’s health care plan either, but it doesn’t scare me nearly as much as Obama’s.

Free Trade

Obama does not believe in free trade. I do, and I have a majority of economists on my side. Yes, free trade can be inconvenient at times, but in the end it is more efficient.

Gun Control

I do not believe in gun control, for both philosophical and pragmatic reasons. Obama wants stricter gun control, which is ineffective and possibly unconstitutional. There are already sufficient laws on the books to prohibit criminals from having guns. Anything further just takes guns out of the hands of lawful owners, leaving them defenseless against criminals.

Education

Obama is against vouchers. I see them as a simple and effective way to fix our poor excuse for an educational system.

Energy

McCain has proposed doing away with counterproductive subsidies on domestic ethanol and removing tariffs on cheap Brazilian ethanol. Obama has not because the corn lobby has him in their pocket.

Obama has also been non-commital on nuclear energy. If we were serious about getting off foreign oil, we’d be building nuclear power plants as fast as possible. It is highly efficient and safe.

Summary

McCain is far from perfect, but when I look at the issues, it’s obvious who my choice should be. That’s all I ask of you. Don’t vote for Obama because he’s “less like Bush.” If you vote for him, vote for him because you agree with him on the issues. You and I will disagree, but you will have my respect because you took the time and effort to have an opinion on the issues and find the candidate that most closely matches those opinions.

Please post comments, especially if you disagree with me. If you have a blog, write a post about why you’re voting for your candidate and post a link in the comments.

Obviously he can’t treat his campaign like a big joke, but if we’d seen more of this McCain he wouldn’t be as behind in the polls. McCain is a likable guy when he isn’t being “handled.” Unfortunately, when all is said and done, McCain will regret not being himself more during the campaign.

Obama was funny too, just not as funny as McCain.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=irXS4Q7mUKQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5SWQJWm6Tg

]]> http://www.movl.net/blog/2008/10/the-real-mccain/feed/ 0 http://www.movl.net/blog/2008/10/the-second-debate/ http://www.movl.net/blog/2008/10/the-second-debate/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:32:59 +0000 bnp http://www.movl.net/blog/?p=256 I watched the debate last night, though not as closely as I’ve watched the others. I thought it was basically a draw. People that agree with McCain still agree with him and likewise for Obama. The debates are, after all, really for the “undecideds.” A few observations:

• Tom Brokaw really thinks a lot of himself.
• Obama had a smug grin on his face throughout the debate. I imagine knowing you’re in the lead (and pulling away) a month before the election can do a lot for your confidence.
• Several people have commented on how Obama pronounces Pakistan. Does he say it that way in an attempt to sound better informed? It’s not the preferred American pronunciation, and I seriously doubt that’s how the Pakistanis pronounce it either.
• A draw is really a win for Obama. He is currently winning, so he can afford to put things on cruise control to some degree. McCain needs a “game changer” of some sort, and this debate didn’t do that for him. It didn’t even get close.

I thought that McCain won the debate. I know that I’m biased in his favor, but I feel like I can be impartial when I have to. Apparently I’m wrong on one or the other. Most polls show that Obama won the debate. I felt that McCain held his own in the “financial” portion of the debate and clearly won the foreign policy portion of the debate.

I was particularly thrilled when McCain mentioned cutting ethanol subsidies. I had never heard him mention his position on that particular issue before. Do some research. Ethanol subsidies are stupid on several levels. He’s also right about nuclear energy. If we want to get off foreign oil, nuclear power plants are a no-brainer. Is it a perfect solution? No, but the technology is ready today and it’s far and away better than any other options we have.

I liked all the talk about cutting government spending. Both candidates claim they want to do it. Admittedly, neither party has been responsible when it comes to spending our (not to mention my children’s and grandchildren’s) tax dollars. However, I believe McCain when he says he wants to cut spending. Obama wants to provide health care for everyone, and there’s no way you can cut spending and do that.

Speaking of health care, I don’t want the government in charge of my health care, as Obama proposes. The government (and bureaucracies in general) get wrong way more than they get right, and I don’t want them messing with my health care. Fix social security and get back with me.

I liked the hard line that both candidates took on Russia. Obama agreed with McCain for the most part, but McCain seemed to know much more about the region and the situation. At times it seemed like McCain was schooling Obama and the audience in foreign policy. I know I learned some things, and I expect Obama did too.

A big deal was made of the fact that McCain got some of the details wrong in his story about Eisenhower. Ike’s second letter said nothing about resigning. It took responsibility for the failure of D-Day. Big deal.

I did think that McCain’s suggestion of freezing spending with the exception of veteran’s affairs, defense, and entitlement was stupid. It was obviously an off-the-cuff comment, and Obama rightfully pointed out that it was stupid.

It’ll be interesting to see how Palin does in the Vice-Presidential debate Thursday night. Some of her interviews haven’t looked so great recently.

The pictures aren’t that great for two reasons. First of all, I used my Fuji point and shoot instead of my Canon SLR. I did this primarily because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle Luke and the SLR on the walk to the Ford Center. Also, I was a little concerned the security guys might flip out if I pulled out the SLR. As it turns out, that fear was completely unfounded. There were only a couple of rent-a-cops around the Ford Center, and I saw other people with SLRs. Also, Luke wasn’t real thrilled about being strapped into his stroller. Now that he can walk he likes a little more freedom.

A large tent set up for the journalists covering the debate just east of the Ford Center.

I plan on going back up there in the next few days with my SLR. Hopefully they won’t move anything around until I have a chance to take more pictures. With a tripod and a little time, one could take some really nice pictures around twilight. They have some very interesting lighting on the exterior of the building after dark.

Earlier in the week, the was some concern over whether or not the debate would actually be held. The latest news I’ve heard is that the debate will definitely take place, but possibly without McCain. Early this evening one of the Memphis stations was reporting the McCain “advance team” had done a walk through of the Ford Center. Also, it was being reported that both parties had reached an understanding on the financial bailout. However, it turns out that’s not the case, so it’ll definitely be interesting to see if McCain shows up. If he doesn’t, a one man debate will be interesting as well.

A lot of Oxfordians, myself included, will be upset if the debate doesn’t proceed as planned, with two candidates.

For the record, I agree with Dr. Paul completely on three of the four issues in the statement. We differ somewhat on the war in Iraq. I agree the we shouldn’t have gone there in the first place, but now that we’ve messed things up, I think we have an obligation to fix them the best we can.

I also completely agree with Dr. Paul that our current two-party system is broken beyond repair. We need a better system. The current system doesn’t give “third-party candidates” a fair shot. As the election gets closer, I’ll have to decide whether to vote for McCain, the better of the two choices we’ve been given, or one of the third-party candidates as a “protest vote.” Mississippi will almost certainly go Republican without my vote, so I better start investigating Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

This week several polls show McCain either tied with or ahead of Obama. However, this is likely a post-convention bump and will level out in the next couple of weeks. However, it’s likely once they do, McCain will still be ahead of where he was pre-convention.

The public seems to like Palin. I was beginning to question the pick after a few days of bad news on the Palin front, but she seems to have been the right pick, at least for now.

If you look at state-by-state polls and consider electoral votes (that is how we elect presidents) Obama still has a lead. CNN shows the count at 243-189 in Obama’s favor. You need 270 to win. They show Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire still up in the air. McCain would need most of those to win.

So, it’s not looking great for McCain, but a lot can happen in two months.

Obviously he didn’t win the Republican primary, but this week he has been hosting the “Rally for the Republic” in Minneapolis at the same time the Republicans are having their convention across the river in St. Paul. Some of the media are calling it a “counter convention.” CNN has a good article about what’s been going on.

Apparently McCain’s people are talking to Dr. Paul about backing him. So far it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I can’t blame Dr. Paul for not wanting to endorse McCain. There are definitely some wide gaps in where they stand on the issues.

However, in my mind there is no doubt which candidate is closer to Ron Paul on the issues, and it’s John McCain. I don’t see how a Ron Paul supporter could even consider voting for Obama.