Landis, I totally agree. The military/strategic planning has been terrible under the last presidency. Huge economic resources are being poured into all the wrong channels and then dropped over already weak opponents who are adapting to the modern weak spots of their enemy. Car bombs are like that former CIA-operative with long experience from Lebanon and elsewhere noted, the most effective weapon out there. Now we see private corporations raking in profit on these ongoing conflicts, that are taking a heavy toll on US economy and society. Military action needs to be swift, and well-planned with the most attention on how to deal with the aftermath. Also, keeping alliances strong during and after any conflict is especially important. As you noted, there might be some potential struggles in the future, and the current mindless hair-trigger strategy is not how you prepare for increasing geopolitical strategic pressure from someone like China. There is a big push for exploring and taking more advantage of space with satellites as well as the potential beyond geo-orbital projects. If one heads into a confrontational rut, then economic reality might one day creep up on such aspirations and plans, while new alliances might be formed which are not friendly. Long term strategies need to be the ones guiding other shorter term goals - that is called planning ahead.
Mercor, philosophically you are saying that everything can be reduced to a black-and-white choice. That is the same as the simplest of all the logics - propositional logic with only the values of true and false, as well as the situation of "absurd". Well, newsflash - the world is much more complex than this. That is why also modal logic, predicate logic, first order logic and a lot of other ways to rationalise and model the universe have emerged. In the abrahamic religions, we always see this reduction into black-and-white , good-and-evil , "for us or against us" ... Open your eyes to science and knowledge, instead of clinging to old beliefs, try to improve yourself as a human with new knowledge and leverage the true skill of humans and our brains - being able to adopt to a always changing future, unpredictable in detailed levels/systems for the distant future, but predictable in detail for the near future. Understanding the various limits and nature of the universe on many levels is beneficial to everyone. Read up on things like the interdisciplinary systems theory, philosophy and strategic planning. Education is something that is becoming much more important to lift whole populations into a more modern society rid of some of the old problems that has been hampering progress. Religion has been helpful as a forming part of this progress, when tribal societies transitioned into city states and then larger societies - nations. However, religion also need to evolve - adapt to modern times. Personal beliefs, integrity and inspiration is what religion now offers - and those good sides are not ignored by a large world population, although I prefer science, philosophy and other faster evolving systems more adaptable and catering for individual views.
Ok, sound reasoning is visible in your logic. For me though, the trouble is in his group for council. It does contain folks of real questionable judgement and character. When you're inexperienced you tend to follow the advice of others rather than trust your own common sense. I would rather follow a person who has his own convictions as a guide for decisions. Barak does not use his own belief system (as he states in personal converstaions) because he is not sure he has enough background to really make the call. Therefore he usually trusts the folks around him to give him the answers. So generally, you have no clue what he believes when he tells you his plans. You just know that's the plan. No basis or blueprint, just the plan!! If I were going to elect one who governs by group conscious, I might still find a group that I knew more about as well as their goals. I happen to know (personally, being a black male in Chicago) many of the people who helped him with many of his past decisions. Some are fairly good, others are truly lousy. I know Meeks, Wright, Flager, Jones, Stroger (dad & son), and many of the Chicago Daley influence(s). I now know many others who now are part of the national campaign and the image development group. The things that he spouts as beliefs are always unassailable abstracts with lofty aspirations no matter what the topic. The trouble is there is NEVER a path laid out to get there that makes any sense and usually little relevance to the question asked. It just plays good if you're looking for a sound bite. And I am speaking from interactive conversational experience.
1)She's got more going for her than any of the three "men" on the two tickets. 2)NOBODY is more annoying than the Hilldabeast, except maybe Al lard ass Gore. 3)From what I know of Alaska, a lot tougher people than what live in the lower 48. Certainly tougher than the bitch that started this thread.
I think Obama is his own man. Therefore, I don't think he would "trust the folks around him to give him the answers." Rather, I think he would trust the learned people he would consult to give him their best assessment of alternatives under consideration. (I think he would choose his advisers broadly and well.) And then he, as a generalist, which is what a President is, would make his decision. At the end of the day, what you are buying into is a belief in, or confidence in, a candidate's judgment. Obama picked Biden to be his running mate. McCain chose Palin. Who has exercised better judgment thus far in the campaign? You are suggesting that Obama has no convictions of his own. To me, he comes across as someone who has the conviction to pursue the common good and who would be guided accordingly. Again, I don't know for certain how things would play out. All voters are asked to make a leap of faith on behalf of their candidate. I'm just saying that if I were an American and privileged to vote in this election, I know which way I would leap. P.S. Perhaps I should point out that I don't specifically dislike McCain as I specifically dislike Bush. I think that the Republicans could do a lot worse than McCain, who strikes me as fundamentally decent, albeit misguided on some key issues.
Interestingly enough, having talked with Barak, your assessment of McCain is how I feel about him. Decent, but way wrong. And really not sure how to get to his own ends. You would say he'd surround himself with learned? Book smart is not always the way to go. I say that because that is his inner circle. Book folks, college campi professionals/lifers and activists who've constructed mental models of how the world needs to be. And they don't see America on top. For you as Canadian, that might be ok. For me as an American, that's not what I'd like. He's mostly counseled by the angry and they're looking to get even. You see I have no trouble explaining his Wright connection. I know why he went to Jones and Flager and others like them. Rezko made sense and still does from his mind set, he just can't say so. You can speculate, I know. And I also know that these are the minds that he would/will call on in times of stressing decisions. And they ain't good!! They believe that we need to fund the world and give away many things to make it all fairer and balanced. And, that we should do so willingly, happily. Should he become president, we're looking at Carter the second with no agenda outside of making us loved and personally feeling better. And in today's environs IMHO, that ain't good.
I love the sentiment, I just fear that the best outcome may be trumped by emotional dreaming and wishes.
Racism is alive and well folks. A person's skin color, facial characteristics and other related attributes do matter as demonstrated in abundance by some of the remarks in this thread - I am quoting here from a previous post "After he gets elected I hope his monkey clan sets up camp next to your house, wearing pants down to their knees, dealing out of their house, shitting kids out like a fart (that will wind up on welfare, dealing drugs, in jail, dead, or harrassing your poor white daughter at school) " Can there be anything more pathetic and vile than comments such as these? I believe that Gender has nothing to do with it. Race has nothing to do with it. Integrity has a lot to do with it. However, vitriolic and abusive sentiments such as those referenced above are not shared by the mainstream populace comprising this great nation and their collective voice will be heard and vindicated by the passage of time - in this instance November.