Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[cardsfansince82]

For the sake of the country, I really hope this is not a close election.

If somehow McCain ekes out a close victory, because of all the polling that has been done, there will be a lot of people who will wonder how in the world it happened. And of course many, especially those who feel most disenfranchised, will conclude that there is some corruption in the system.

And if somehow Obama ekes out a close victory, because of all the attention McCain and Palin (and Fox) have given to the whole Acorn issue, a lot of conservatives and middle-Americans will feel that Obama won with a bunch of fraudulent votes cast in the cities.

If Obama wins by 100 electoral votes however, which is very possible, I think these kinds of voices will be muted. (obviously McCain has no shot at winning by 100 electoral votes)

I've given this a little worry too. There will be commotion from whichever side that loses if its a close election. It may not initially be a huge ruckus, but the media will be all over it adding fuel to the fire, until it is. I try not to think about what would happen. 2000 will be nothing by comparison.

I know with a high degree of certainty that there will be serious, potentially widespread riots if Obama loses. I suspect there will be riots if he wins but they will be more of the celebratory kind.

[Freed Roger]

Richard Milhous Nixon - Godfather of Modern Republicanism - A Socialist?!?!!!

from his wiki entry:

Nixon's domestic policies often appear centrist or liberal to later observers, commenting after the end of the Keynesian consensus. While the rightward shift in the Republican Party started in the 1970s, Nixon like Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford, largely governed in accordance with Keynesian modern liberal principles on domestic issues, especially fiscal policy.[64] As President, Nixon imposed wage and price controls,[65] indexed Social Security for inflation, and created Supplemental Security Income (SSI). He also had plans to create a universal minimum income and universal health care, but was not able to realize either.[64] The number of pages added to the Federal Register each year doubled under Nixon. He eradicated the last remnants of the gold standard, created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), promoted the Legacy of parks program and implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program, and dramatically increased spending on federal employees' salaries

From Time magazine 5/2/1969 on Nixon tax proposal

It revives the nation's dormant movement toward greater income equality by proposing to tax rich tax avoiders more and to excuse the very poor, students and summer-job holders from paying any federal income taxes at all. In two surprise proposals, the President asked that the 1968 income tax surcharge be cut from 10% to 5% next January and that the 7% tax credit now allowed businessmen who invest in new productive capacity be repealed. That amounts to a sophisticated redistribution of tax burdens, with business losing and consumers gaining. Recognizing that taxation is a powerful instrument for setting and reaching national goals, the President pledged that the next step would be a "start" on two "high priority programs": tax credits to encourage investment in the turbulent ghettos and the sharing of federal revenues with hard-pressed state and local governments.

Vietnam was raging at the time of this proposal mind you.

full article below
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html

I'm just pointing this out in light of rightwing screech-rhetoric we are hearing every day now as they get more desparate in this election-

By today's standards - Nixon was a flaming pink commie socialist! The Time article mentions some business grumbling, but no labeling of Comrade Nixon as a Marxist. But keep in mind, the country had gone way to the left in that era, and Nixon along with it.

This is polar opposite to today's fiscal policy which is as hard right as it ever has been in history. Thus, Obama's tax and social policy's are definitely left of McCain, but are to the right by historical standards.

I'm guessing the far left will ultimately be disappointed in most fiscal policies of Obama. Too centrist for them.

[ghostrunner]

There was a question in one of the other threads about what would happen with Biden's Senate seat. I'm curious how much Obama pulls from the Senate to fill cabinet positions.

Hillary made some comment a few weeks back that she learned from Bill's two terms that it's not necessarily a good idea to tap Senators whose votes will be needed later. Yet these are the people Obama has worked with the most. Should be interesting to see how he tackles it.

[PujolJunkie]

There was a question in one of the other threads about what would happen with Biden's Senate seat. I'm curious how much Obama pulls from the Senate to fill cabinet positions.

Hillary made some comment a few weeks back that she learned from Bill's two terms that it's not necessarily a good idea to tap Senators whose votes will be needed later. Yet these are the people Obama has worked with the most. Should be interesting to see how he tackles it.

This is where Edwards would have been so [expletive] useful. I swear, Edwards for AG? Awesome elevated. Richardson for SoS. Something like that. I'd like to see Dick Lugar and Chuck Hagel placed in there somewhere. Something for Wesley Clark to do, no doubt. And wouldn't it be at the very least interesting to see Al Gore fit in somewhere that he could truly help out with the energy situation?

[Richie Allen]

This is where Edwards would have been so [expletive] useful. I swear, Edwards for AG? Awesome elevated. Richardson for SoS. Something like that. I'd like to see Dick Lugar and Chuck Hagel placed in there somewhere. Something for Wesley Clark to do, no doubt. And wouldn't it be at the very least interesting to see Al Gore fit in somewhere that he could truly help out with the energy situation?

I think Obama should pick all black people.

[PujolJunkie]

I really like this list by a Huff Post author:

President: Barack Obama
Vice President: Joe Biden
State: Bill Richardson, Richard Lugar, Greg Craig, John Kerry, Sam Nunn
Treasury: Sheila Bair, Timothy Geithner, Eugene Ludwig, Laura Tyson
Defense: Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, Jack Reed, Richard Danzig
Attorney General: Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, Artur Davis
Homeland Security: Lee Hamilton, Tony Lake, Richard Clarke, Tim Roemer
National Security: Anthony Zinni, Greg Craig, Samantha Power, Susan Rice
Agriculture: Tom Vilsack, Colin Peterson, Tom Daschle, Jim Leach
Commerce: Kathleen Sebelius, Ed Rendell, Penny Pritzker, Olympia Snowe
Education: George Miller, Tim Kaine, Linda Darling-Hammond, Joel Klein
Energy: Brian Schweitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeff Bingaman
HHS: Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Julie Gerberding, John Kitzhaber
HUD: Shaun Donovan, Shirley Franklin, Jesse Jackson, Jr., David Gottfried
Interior: Lincoln Chafee, Christine Gregoire, Brian Schweitzer, RFK Jr.
Labor: David Bonior, Dick Gephardt, Dan Tarullo, Linda Chavez-Thompson
Transportation: James Oberstar, Ed Rendell, Earl Blumenauer, R.T. Rybak
VA: Chet Edwards, Max Cleland, Patrick Murphy, Tammy Duckworth
UN Secretary: Susan Rice, Caroline Kennedy, Lee Hamilton
EPA: Kathleen McGinty, Ed Markey, Mary Nichols, Lincoln Chafee
Council of Economic Advisers: Austan Goolsbee, David Cutler
Chief of Staff: Tom Daschle, Greg Craig, David Plouffe
Supreme Court nominee (when available): Cass Sunstein, Hillary Clinton

[PujolJunkie]

This is where Edwards would have been so [expletive] useful. I swear, Edwards for AG? Awesome elevated. Richardson for SoS. Something like that. I'd like to see Dick Lugar and Chuck Hagel placed in there somewhere. Something for Wesley Clark to do, no doubt. And wouldn't it be at the very least interesting to see Al Gore fit in somewhere that he could truly help out with the energy situation?

I think Obama should pick all black people.

Jesse Jackson for Secretary of State. Oprah as Attorney General. Jeremiah Wright as Secretary to the UN.

[Kasko]

I like Dave Ramsey for Sec. of Treasury.

[ghostrunner]

There was a question in one of the other threads about what would happen with Biden's Senate seat. I'm curious how much Obama pulls from the Senate to fill cabinet positions.

Hillary made some comment a few weeks back that she learned from Bill's two terms that it's not necessarily a good idea to tap Senators whose votes will be needed later. Yet these are the people Obama has worked with the most. Should be interesting to see how he tackles it.

This is where Edwards would have been so [expletive] useful. I swear, Edwards for AG?

He's easily my least favorite politician of the last decade, but the other ones seem okay.

[sighyoung]

Lugar's already said that he wouldn't take a cabinet post in any administration.

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/1 ... president/