Obama vs McCain: A win-win?
Posted on January 31st, 2008 at 5:19 pm by Contributor ArchiveFans of corrupt, divisive, and dishonest (i.e. typical) politicians may want to look away come November. The 2008 race has a chance to be an historic contest between a Democrat and Republican that, amazingly, are not loathed by Republicans and Democrats, respectively. It is not a certainty, of course (though it may be, come next Tuesday), but pitting John McCain against Barack Obama would appear to be a mighty fine choice amongst those average voters fed up with politics as usual.
Now that McCain has won Florida, he is the clear Republican frontrunner, and Rudy Giuliani’s endorsement will only help. Mitt Romney could still win, but his flip-flopping makes his ultra-conservative platform troublesome for both parties, and a Mike Huckabee nomination may only serve to divide the righteous from the wicked. On the other side of the aisle, no one is more divisive (read disliked) than Hillary Clinton; you may recall that she easily topped the list of candidates that voters would never consider voting for, with an astounding 48%. Obama has the momentum, the early lead in votes, and the cash, having raked in $32m in January.
A Hillary/Huckabee battle would no doubt send voters fleeing to Canada and Mexico, but a McCain-Obama match-up would offer a choice between two respected, admired, and uncynical individuals - and that would make for a rare, if not extinct, ballot.
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Interesting perspective, Ethan. From a conservative stand point, the Obama/McCain potential is like having too extreme liberals with no choice left to choose from. I don’t think anyone loathes John McCain as a person, but his policies scare us as much as Hillary.
I disagree completely. Other than the meadia and liberals, McCain is loathed by a lot of people. Me for one. Most of the people I work with for another. And just about every conservative talk show host and blogger alive today.
The GOP is historically a top-down, more authoritarian party than the Democratic party. That’s one reason endorsements–especially big ones–are so important in the GOP.
McCain is racking them up–from conservatives to liberals like Arnold and Rudy. That, along with his momentum, looks to be too much for Mitt to overcome.
Speaking of endorsements, I can’t think of one of any note that Romney has recieved. To me, that might be a good sign–could show he really is the Washington outsider he is positioning himself as.
Still, I wonder why none of note? Is the campaign not going after them? I am sure they are. Is Mitt really that disliked by such potential endorsers? It would appear to be the case.
Mitt’s last hurrah will be Feb 5. He can’t keep pushing on I don’t believe if all he gets are “Silvers” next Tuesday.
Things are much more fluid with the Dems. Way too early to call it for Obama or Hillary. Looks like the media is leaning towards Obama though. ABC has a big story regarding HIllary as a Wal-Mart board member…saying she sat silent while Wal-Mart killed union organizing. It’s from the investigative unit as well. Such stories aren’t really investigative news; rather more political in nature.
Other media outlines are playing up her “biggest” fund-raiser, apparently a shady character from the land of Borat.
When the media makes these moves, it often means they have chosen a candidate.
The 2 person debate coming up should be interesting…as will the characters in the audience since the event is in Hollywood.
Heck, we might as well name the winning ticket then in an Obama/McCain race:
McCain-Colin Powell
Obama-Colin Powell
Think about it; Powell is the near-perfect VP choice for each one…he offers numerous benefits to each, respectively.
ShawnN: I’m no fan of J-Mac, but you’re wrong. It’s not just liberals and the media that like him. He’s been winning among registered republicans, losing only to self-described “conservatives” in exit poll data.
Hard as it is to believe, there are a lot of republicans that support McCain. Just look at his list of endorsements. It’s not just libs like Ahnold. There are a lot of R’s on that list.
Jason,
Those republican are liberals too…;)
Ethan - Why are you still talking about a Huckabee nomination???
I agree with ShaunN that many R’s are liberal. But they are not the only McCain voters. What bothers me more is that many people in the country aren’t obsessed political junkie’s like us, so they’ll be under informed when they cast their ballot. They’ll respond to media sound bites rather than digging for truth about a candidate. McCain looks a lot better to those folks who don’t really know his record.
if all the Republicans that support McCain are liberals, then the US is even more liberal than I ever imagined…
hooray for the US
Toby, I’d have liked to hope that one George W administration would have been enough to make most of the country more liberal, but two, absolutely. No matter what, there’s always that last 10% you just can’t reach…
Speaking of J-Mack, below is a story that gets it pretty right about how he almost left the GOP for the Democratic party, or to become an independent:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-say-mccain-nearly-abandoned-gop-2007-03-28.html
Knew many of the details at the time and the writer documents it well.
How many GOPers here knew about this? Have a feeling not to many…LOL
John McCain is not a respected candidate among conservatives. He has no chance getting the “conservative” vote. Obama has no experience. There is no way it will come down to McCain vs. Obama. Hillary will win the Democratic nomination . If either McCain or Romney get the nomination they will LOSE against Hillary. The only candidate that can beat Hillary is Huckabee. He has dealt with the Clinton’s before, and is a true leader. Not some rich prick (who’s aquired his money from his dad, and made a couple right choices to grow it) or 170 year old Pre-Historic Washington Problem.
Domonick08 said, “…The GOP is historically a top-down, more authoritarian party…”
That was true for the past couple of decades or so. However, that is changing daily. Currently in over 15 states the traditional top-down has been over-thrown by the Republican base grass-roots. This happened in my state of Arizona last year. Of course not all of our elected types have fully recovered and reconciled themselves to working with us yet. And, some even try to thwart the efforts of their own home state party on occasion in a vain effort to return to the good old days… but those days are gone. Party members have evolved from the 1950’s advertising mentality to the educated consumers of the later decades. Its taken awhile for this evolution to occur, and in some places the old is not giving up without some fuss - but evolution is a fact and the party member as a consumer has grown up.
Consider where this will lead American politics in the future.
Let the speculation begin…which conservative leader (or this that an oxymoron this year) will run a third-party candidacy if McCain is the GOP nominee?
Rush Limbaugh seems to really be trying to fuel that “run a conservative GOP candidate as a third party candidate if McCain gets the nomination” position.
I guess I’m behind on the news, Dominick08.
Actually, I would hate to see that (UNLESS it was successful!).
Has he (Rush) mentioned any names?
HuckabeeisDaMan: Say what? Huck would fail miserably. If he can’t win the nomination, what makes you think he will win the presidency? Pulling 15% of the Republican vote and running way, way, way behind McCain, ought to tell you what Republicans think of the Huckster.
Most of us realize that being Commander in Chief of “Gods army” and the “Soldiers of Christ” doesn’t exactly translate to being a good Commander in Chief of the US Army.
Gary Russell, I haven’t heard any names, but then I only listen in snippets.
RL has for whatever reasons has just become probably the number 1 anti-Mccain man with a mike out there. And says his nomination spells “the end” of the GOp.
Not sure why…either Rush believes what he is saying or J-Mac has failed to properly kiss his ring in the past, thus paying him homeage in praise of his conservative credentials. Lots of that stuff goes on you know.
I agree with most of you… McCain is NOT respected within the Republican party. Yes, there are some that like him, and obviously endorse him, but he’s by no means respected by the majority of the party.
I’ve heard dozens of Republican leaders and Republican/Conservitive personalities on tv and talk radio over the last 2 weeks. Almost all of them are for Romeny and has said they either won’t vote in November or will vote for Hillary or Obama if McCain wins the nomination.
That really scares me. I don’t like McCain or Romney. I might like Romeny if I felt like I could at least believe 10% of what comes out of his mouth… low expectations, I know, but he doesn’t even meet those.
And you know Romney isn’t getting the dog vote.