Stating the obvious. Is Romney a "real conservative," as he sold himself to the GOP base. Or is he a moderate, as he is selling himself to the independent undecideds? When etch-a-sketch becomes shapeshifting.
TilsonFunds.com
Why I’m Voting for Obama Again
Whitney Tilson
Makes sense:
ReplyDelete"showing that he has little understanding of or sympathy for those less fortunate than him. I fear that he would attempt to dismantle the New Deal and shred what is left of the safety net, with the result that we would become an even more harsh and unequal society"
So here he is down with the Dems on "social/economic justice" ie re-distribution/"bothers keeper", etc....
And then:
"– anti-intellectuals
who are hostile to women, minorities, the poor, immigrants, and gays, and who don’t
believe in evolution, diplomacy, protecting the environment, equality for women, global
warming, and gun control."
And then he's got all of the other bases covered... this is the perfect Obama/Democrat demographic... "social/economic justice" leading directly to support for these other minority groups...
Just remains to be seen if this gets them the most votes this time... the swing imo is the Christian "social/economic justice" segment...
rsp,
I'm leaning toward the idea that a Romney presidency wouldn't be so bad, and might actually be better. Many of the 'far right wing' things he claims to want to do, he simply won't be able to because the Democrats in the Senate can and will block it.
ReplyDeleteI think it seems like dismantling aspects of the new deal, social safety nets, etc… seems much more likely with Obama (and Bill Clinton's persuasive abilities), than with Romney.
Romney might even cut taxes and ramp up spending (particularly military spending). While it's the ideal route, wouldn't this be better than an Obama and Teaparty compromise?
Any thoughts?
sorry… I meant… while it's NOT the ideal route (for long term economic recovery, etc.)
ReplyDeleteAgree economically. Galbraith has it right on that score.
ReplyDeleteThe big downside to a GOP administration is the effect on the judiciary, which lasts for at least a generation. I am not just talking about social issues here
I don't see the Dems being that much different from the GOP on deregulation either. The result is going to be the mother of all crashes. It will be social and political, too. If you thought Citizens United was bad, just wait if the courts pull right. Corporate statism wil be settled law. And the unitary executive will be ratified in precedent. That adds up to fascism. To me this is the real issue that will shape the future of the US.
But on the economic front, only a Democratic president can cut SS, as I see it, andObama is just itching to in order to prove that he and the Democratic Establishment are Very Serious People. This is inviting disaster, more so than gutting Glass-Steagall.
JK,
ReplyDeletethis one more and more is looking like a "heads they win, tails we lose" type of deal for me....
the fiscal issue has NEVER been such a large issue ON BOTH SIDES... it's like the only thing they agree on, and it's all FALSE...
This is Peterson's $1B multi-year advocacy effort coming home to roost... rsp,
Matt, I am not very concerned about a GOP administration and fiscal austerity. It's talk because it appeals to the base and the public says it favors it, but not by cutting benefits. The GOP Establishment understands MMT. They will raise the deficit on the pretext of military need, while holding social spending pretty much constant. The "cuts" will booked in the future, far enough out so that a future administration will have to deal with them. So they will show deficit reduction over ten years or so, with the bulk of it coming in the tenth year. It's just BS to them.
ReplyDeleteShould add that I don't see big new tax cuts coming from a GOP administration. The goal will be to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
ReplyDeleteI honestly can't form any coherent predictions of the next four years. Neither candidate has offered a very clear or bold agenda, and neither candidate will have the kind of Congress that would enable him to pursue his agenda effectively even if he had one. So I expect four more years of political stagnation, middle-of-the-road drift and plutocratic entrenchment either way.
ReplyDeleteOn the personal character front, I see Obama as a basically well-intentioned guy who does care about people, but has had his head filled with all sorts of quasi-conservative views about what it means to be "serious" and "make the tough decisions", and who has an unfortunate psychological need to please people he views as icons of the social establishment. He's something of a self-hating Democrats who is always trying to rub any traces of lefty mud off his shoes to reassure elite opinion-makers and obscure his political beginnings. And like many Presidents, he has developed too much fondness for the thrill of the finger on the national military trigger.
I see Romney as a slimy capitalist robber baron who is thoroughly money-oriented and possibly psychopathic, and who has made his living from buying, dismantling and and selling the enterprises created by others, and then by playing games with the money to make more money. Those are the kinds of people he is most interested in helping, to the extent he cares about other people at all. I expect he would also be another guy to take great relish in bombing and whacking people with America's military tools.
But the most important consideration for me is that I think the contemporary Republican Party is absolutely loony tunes, and thus dangerous, and so it would be a bad idea to reward them and encourage them further by electing their presidential candidate. Defeating Romney, who is about as moderate as Republicans get these days, is a good way to punish that party of creeps and force it to reevaluate its direction and internal pathologies.
I'm less interested in the race for the Whitehouse than I am in the one for the US Virgin Islands :)
ReplyDelete