Random Brain Dump and Link

In comments somewhere Joe says, "Ignore the pundits, Don. Just try FactCheck.org." Good advice. I looked and they were critical of both campaigns. That's what I wanted to see.

Seems to me you can find criticism of one side or of the other. But when the criticism seems one-sided -- if I get a sense that the critic came to it with a set agenda -- I quickly lose interest.

I don't mean punditry needs to try and give equal time. That's nonsense. Only that they are serving truth first and not a particular party. If from their point of view that results in supporting a particular party, that's fine. I just like to get a sense that a little critical thinking is involved, and that inconvenient truths aren't being swept aside.

Part of me really wants to be won over by Obama. I keep looking for that definitive moment or reason. I refuse to care about race, this thing that every one is talking about how no one is talking about. I refuse to pretend "fresh" and "new" really apply and that I'd care if they did. I refuse in other words to be irrational, to get caught up in these messianic feelings. I want a smart and energetic person in charge who looks at problems from several angles and develops solutions that are not strongly tied to a particular party or power base. Obama has the potential for this. To a lesser extent, so does McCain, whom I decided as long ago as January was the best of a bad lot.

But this nascent desire and impulse to mistrust mere feeling leaves me sensitive somehow to Obama missteps. This morning NPR interviewed his economic advisor and the guy came off as comically partisan, placing the blame for the current turmoil on eight years, specifically, of mismanagement. Bah. The truth is far more complex and required the full collusion of both parties and not just the current Prez but that guy who was President for most of the 90s too. So I maintain my doubts.

Besides, stripping it all away, O's experience as a manager pretty much breaks down to leading a Presidential campaign. This isn't much less than W's, granted, and O is a shitload smarter. But. I dunno.

I guess all the Repub-hating and Dem-bashing has left me with the feeling that people are way too wrought up over this thing and to hell with them all. This race really is no different than the other fifty plus we've had. Events in 2009 will render any previous experience and most inherent judgment moot. So what the hell.

Random pointless note: Of the four principals, Biden has the best speaking voice and Palin the worst. I liked listening to her at first -- that no-nonsense Midwestern twang. But hers is an accent that wears thin quickly. Gah. Indeed, it is when the spousal unit is at her most annoying (as every spousal unit must get periodically) that I hear remnants of Kansas in her voice. And she never even lived there. Gah, again.

Regional snobbery at its best.