Psst! Whisper it: this election will be decided on the issues

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/06/uselections2008.barackobama


Whisper it: this election will be decided on the issues

America is a country in decline. And that means substance really matters to voters, which is very bad news for Republicans


Pssst. Don't spread it around too much, because there's still a month to go and I don't want to jinx things - but substance is in this year. You, I know, think US presidential elections are always decided by silly or superficial or out-and-out false representations and aspersions. Al Gore sighed too much in a debate and wasn't the sort of fellow you'd like to have a beer with. George W Bush never sighed once, as far as anyone could tell, and was the sort you'd like to have a beer with (even though he didn't drink beer - I never quite sorted that one out). John Kerry seemed so French and effete. He windsurfed. And he didn't save all those men during the Vietnam war. How could he have, really, being so ... French and effete and windsurfy?

Little glimmers of substance have usually shown through. In 2004, for instance, a still-significant percentage of American voters remained jittery about a second large-scale terrorist attack on US soil. Bush ran as the man who had prevented that from happening and argued that he was more trustworthy on this matter than Kerry. And Bill Clinton withstood an intensive barrage of over-the-top attacks and stayed focused on the economy (he was helped along by third-party candidate Ross Perot's hefty 19% of the vote).

Superficialities and attacks, though, usually dominate. We understand this. In fact, more than a few liberals have spent the last four years trying to persuade Democrats to be every bit as superficial and nasty as the Republicans are at election time. But this year, something feels different. Voters are actually paying closer attention to issues.

It is the result, no doubt, of the US being in terrible shape right now. It tends to focus the mind. The economy is terrible. The stock market is terrible. Indicators of general societal wellbeing, like healthcare and pensions, are terrible. Our standing in the world is terrible. The conditions in Afghanistan are terrible. The situation in Iraq is improved but was so terrible for so long that people just basically want out.

We are a country in decline. The decline is the result of the policies of the last eight years. Everyone outside of hardcore conservatives knows this. No candidate for president can utter the sentence "we are a country in decline". America's central myth about itself is that, unlike Rome or Austria-Hungary or (sorry) an earlier Britain, we are impervious to time's vicissitudes and will always be numero uno. People now are worried that underneath that bravado, maybe we won't be.

And so, substance matters. The public responses to the financial meltdown and the first two debates make this evident.

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We've seen lies like these work before. But what we haven't seen before is basically 80% of American adults feeling this miserably about their country. If there's ever going to be a circumstance when voters stay focused on the things that matter, this ought to be it.


• Michael Tomasky is editor of Guardian America

Like a new Bin Laden tape the night before election? I'm still worried about the "scared" and "stupidity" vote shift and for good reason. Another "It's 3 am" type commercial which boasted Hillary's poll stats is a perfect example.

see through the b.s. If they didn't, McBush would be doing better. And how often can they afford to pull yet another tape out? 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' comes to mind.

And saying it over and over when they talk about Obama and Bill Ayers. I'm sure in the very near future either McCain or his surrogates, Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage will be using "Barack Hussein Obama" in all their sentences too. But I hope you're right. I'm still a little pessimistic myself about American voters. The ones who are more worried about how big their TV screens are than the war, the economy and our future generation.

http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/10/whats-wrong-with-those-heartland-voters

What’s Wrong With Those Heartland Voters?
Created: October 5th, 2008 | Written By: Kathy


Gosh, it looks like Sarah Palin’s issue-focused speeches about Barack Obama “palling around with terrorists” are realllly having a deadly effect on Obama’s popularity:



In Ohio, Obama is leading McCain by 7 points — 49% to 42%.

Who would have predicted that voters in the economically devastated Midwest would care more about jobs and health care than they would about a relationship Obama did not have when he was 8 years old with a former 1960s radical?

Nice try, John and Sarah. It was a valiant effort. There’s just no accounting for some folks’ priorities.

I only have to walk 50 feet next door and listen to a lifelong democrat (my mom) tell me that this man (Obama) scares her, that we don't know who he is, he's sexist and he disrespected Hillary during the campaign so she's voting for John McCain, etc. Sound familiar?

my dad was a major Clinton supporter because he liked Bill. He still thinks Obama was the wrong choice, but he will be voting for Obama because he is a Dem and sees the danger in letting the rethug party maintain control when they've done such a horrendous job. My dad is 80 and there is racism there, no doubt.
I'm sorry about your mom; I'm sure you've tried to explain, or at least ask her, why she's determined to vote in her worst interests?

This might have an effect:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7330286

McCain Plans Federal Health Cuts
Medicare, Medicaid Spending Would Be Reduced to Offset Proposed Tax Credit

If she's a true Dem, something is bound to piss her off. Or not. :shrug:

voted for him than for the monkey. What would all these pundits say about that race had a few thousand Jews not voted accidentally for a Nazi? That 2000 was about the issues? Or Gore ran a good campaign?

wrong thread.

For years ow people on DU have been asking why so many people still supported the Pubs when there are so many losing jobs, unable to get any HC, wages are stagnant, etc. My response has always been "People don't recognize a problem until it AFFECTS THEM DIRECTLY!" I believe what's happening now is proof of that. EVERYBODY is being directly affected by this disasterous economy. Grocery prices, gas prices, 401K a/c's falling, house prices falling, retirement a/c's falling, credit unavailable, and thousands of jobs disappearing. There isn't anyone who hasn't been hit, and that's why I think you're seeing a swing to the Dems.

has to get done than McBush, thankfully.

and not a reasoned study of each candidate's stance on the issues. Americans are afraid of what Republicans have done to this country and where McCain would lead it and they are inspired by Barack Obama. As Democrats we always tend to believe that everyone is moved to make decisions based upon rational arguments and debates supported by facts and then we cannot understand why they would not be. Emotion comes first, then they find the facts that support that emotional decision.

Here is a good article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/opinion/...




Later it adds:




Anther interesting one: http://thehill.com/mark-mellman/emotions-o...





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