Friday, October 31, 2008

Electing the President

I met a couple of people today discussing the election.
"You ready to vote?"
"Yes, I'm really motivated now. I just can't see how McCain and that woman can run the country."
Overheard a teenage girl with her girlfriends (all in Philly t-shirts) speaking to her father, "I can't believe Obama is going to win. Taxes are going to go up". "Got to have faith. Maybe it can be turned around." Her father replies.
With the enormous amount of material that has been fed into daily media (TV, radio, internet and newspapers), these anecdotes where ordinary people have tried to distill this election into a single issue that means something to them, is a sign that there are too many complex matters to keep in mind. While simplifying the election into a focused issue that is important to you is a legitimate method of deciding for whom you will vote, this method may be problematic. For instance, the person who simply couldn't stomach a McCain/Palin administration has no real evidence that McCain/Palin couldn't run the United States. I believe she meant that McCain is such a maverick (and hot head) that he couldn't run the White House. while his running mate isn't even worth mentioning by name. This opinion is not quite correct, as there is no evidence that McCain won't be ABLE to lead the country, while "that woman" is vice-president and won't really be leading the country at all. The girl who was afraid of an Obama Presidency because taxes will go up is equally wrong. Taxes will rise only for households which earn more than $250,000.
This method of making one's choice worries me as it would appear that many voters are making decisions based on incorrect assumptions.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Grey's anatomy

Last week, my mother-in-law wanted to watch Grey's anatomy. I dutifully switched channels so that she could watch the show. I decided to watch the show with her, as I had heard that it was extremely popular and so wished to see what the fuss was all about. I had only watched 1 previous episode and had not been particularly impressed. This time round, it was downright painful. The episode centered around Meredith Grey's boyfriend wanting to kick out her roommates and all the angst that causes. Along the way, there were the obligatory quirky patients each with a story that was supposed to grab our interest. All the stories were cliched - girl who tries to deny that she was dying, man whos wife dies before he is finally cured, and man believes he is down on his luck, gets a break and finds out he has cancer through a freak accident during surgery (the roof falls in as a result of pumbing problems). Through all this, all the regular cast are varying degrees of irritating, whining or plain obnoxious. Most importantly though is the fact that all of them are 2 dimensional, unbelievable and excruciatingly boring. I cared nothing for any of the characters but that wasn't the worst. The beginning and end of the show was bookmarked by Dr. Grey's saccharine sweet voice-over stating pseudo-intellectual surgical metaphors. I could not find one aspect of the show that was worth watching, and I am being kind. The writers should have their contracts revoked and the actors should simply be embarrased. But even that may a be beyond their shallow abilities.

3rd Presidents' debate

Compared to the last limpid, yawn, masquerading as a debate, this 3rd edition of Obama-McCain verbal confrontations was extremely lively. McCain was in fine form, flashing a relentless series of sanctimonious smirks at all of his opponents measured answers. It appeared that McCain was completely contemptuous of all Obama's answers. Every single one. This patronizing behavior only reinforces his nauseating hypocrisy when informing the American public that he understands that the public is "angry" at the economic crisis. He doesn't understand anything. How can a man who can't remember that he owns 7 homes understand the plight of people who were unable to make mortgage payments truly understand this? I can understand him laying out his economic strategy (or at least trying to) but please do not tell us that you understand the anger, frustration, pain, stress, despair that besets families which have lost homes and/or retirement savings. Therein lies the basic difference between the candidates. Obama doesn't try to explain to us how he "knows' what the American public feels, instead he pounds us unceasingly with his plans and proposals. He further tells us how his opponent's plans appear to favor the wealthy. This is slightly more palatable and constructive than McCain's constant reference to his audience as "my friends" and telling them that he knows how they feel or whats best for them and Joe the Plumber.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

2nd Presidents' debate

Does anyone answer the questions asked? I think both candidates used every opportunity to push their plans and importantly the differences between them.

How many times did John McCain say, "my friends" or "fundamental differences"? Too many.

How many times did Obama say, "fundamental differences"? A few less.

Have you noticed that every time the candidates attack each other - the Ohio voter reactions went down?. Good. What a waste time this is.

Did anyone notice that McCain wore a red tie but Obama did not wear a blue one?

Yawn.

The one comment at which I took issue, is the use of the phrase "we will kill......." . Being a total pacifist I cannot agree with such language. I cannot agree with the philosophy of intentionally killing anyone. Senator Obama hit a raw nerve with me here.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Vice-Presidential debate

I sat down last Thursday night to watch the much anticipated debate between the two Vice-Presidential candidates. The anticipation was increased several-fold with the release of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric, where the Alaskan Governor delivered more meaningless waffle than a busy New Jersey diner on Sunday morning. With most polls showing Senator Obama building up a lead, the stakes were high for both campaigns. The McCain campaign was anxious to stem the bleeding while the Obama campaign didn't want to lose any momentum that they had built.
As I watched the debate, I was reminded of my High School days when I was taught that the single most important factor in winning a debate was to stay within the topic. This certainly did not occur here. Sarah Palin appeared hell-bent on tying every question to what she did as Governor of Alaska. I felt sure that when Gwen Ifill asked her about the Iraq war that she would tell me about how she cut taxes in Alaska. Senator Biden was only slightly better where he monotonously blamed John McCain for just about everything from the recent Financial meltdown to the poor situation in Iraq. I would not have been surprised if Biden laid the blame for global warming at McCain's feet.
A decisive moment however, did occur right at the end of the evening. Gwen Ifill asked the candidates what they envisioned they would do as Vice-Presidents. As part of his answer, Joe Biden touched on his working class roots and proudly ran through his many accomplishments over 3 decades of service in the Senate and how he had always done what he felt was right. His voice lowered and as he stood there speaking, I thought that he was "Joe Six-Pack goes to Washington". And standing next to him was well, - nobody.