How McCain Makes Obama Conservative: Time Mag. Good read.

[jazzjunkysue]

How McCain Makes Obama Conservative
By Joe Klein Thursday, Sep. 04, 2008 (Ok, it's old, but it's good.)

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1838571,00.html

The paper mag I saw today has a better photo of Gramps in a leather jacket, looking like a radical. I think the headline was something like, "A Liberal and a radical."

Both the major-party candidates for President have now made their first major decision — on a running mate — and I can't remember a year when the selections were more revealing about the character of the candidates. What we have is a choice between a conservative and a radical.

The conservative is Barack Obama. He is a careful man, perhaps to a fault. His vice-presidential selection process was quiet, orderly and comprehensive. The selection of Joe Biden was no great surprise — he added experience to the ticket, a reliable loyalist and gleeful attack dog, a working-class Roman Catholic with a terrific personal story. The process was in keeping with the rest of Obama's candidacy: he has taken no great risks. His policy positions are carefully thought out and eminently reasonable, reflecting the solid middle ground of a Democratic Party that is more united on substance than I've ever seen it.



The Palin selection — peremptory, petulant — was another example of McCain's preference for the politics of gesture over the politics of substance, as is his sudden fondness for oil exploration ("Drill here, drill now.") and hair-trigger bellicosity abroad (Syria, Iran, Russia). His lack of interest in actual governance is disappointing; his aversion to contemplation seems truly alarming. He has done us all a favor with this pick: he has shown us exactly what sort of President he would be.