The post title acronym stands for Why I'm Voting for Obama/Biden and Not McCain/Palin. The first post is here. My 'why' there is around Palin as an awful choice for vp.
Today's 'why' is about who I relate to better: Obama or McCain. You've probably read about polls that ask people which candidate they can relate to better, which candidate they'd like to have a beer with, who they'd rather carpool with, etc. From the carpool link:
The old beer question as a test of likability in presidential candidates has been scorned by some as a superficial measure of whether someone would be a good president.
Still, pollsters can’t help but ask it in one form or other, since voters say that likeability matters as they consider whom they want in their living rooms for the next four years.
OTOH, I'm ambivalent about voting for someone bc I feel I can relate to them better. Shouldn't I vote based on just the candidates' stand on just the issues? OTOH, it may be the case that I relate to someone better at least partly bco our shared values. In that case, I'm also voting based on the issues and not just on likeability. Anyway, let's put that ambivalence aside for now and just accept that I'm at least voting based on likeability and relativity. So. I relate better to Obama bc:
- His upbringing is much more like mine. This is significant to me and I'm unsure why. In a way, I think very wealthy candidates (and I'm generalizing here; there are exceptions, of course) are too far away from the average lower class person's experience, perhaps even the average middle class person's experience. They don't know what it's like to work multiple jobs; use food stamps; try to simultaneously save for retirement, put kids through college and provide care to older relatives; afford a safe, decent place to live; etc. Not only do they not know these kinds of things from experience, they don't know it from the experience of those close to them, e.g., parents, grandparents, mentors, other important people in their lives, etc. So they're experientially too far away from my experience. Financial security is very important to me, whether I want it to be or not. And by financial security, I mean having the basics covered. And by basics, I mean basics: housing, employment, food, clothes, health insurance. Anything else - cars, cats, electronics, etc. - is gravy. Chris Rock had a funny quote from Larry King, about who to vote for: And I'll go with the guy with one house. The guy with one house is scared about losing his house. It's a joke, but it resonates with me.
- His life now is much more like mine. See much of #1. Grow up, go to college, get a job, do something with your life, give a damn about other people, etc. Rest assured that I am most certainly not saying my achievements compare to Obama's; indeed they do not. I suppose I'm quite the underachiever (which is sort of an achievement in itself?). But the track, or path, is similar.
- He's very calm under pressure. I admire that and it's something I'm continually working on myself. I feel I make the best decisions when I think clearly and calmly about things. I want a deliberative president.
- He gives a damn about other people. Even people he hasn't met, people who need help, people who often seem invisible in society, etc.: poor, unemployed, struggling. I read about his tax plan to cut taxes for everyone earning under $250,000 ($250,000 sounds like a lot, which it is, but it also includes people earning way less) and think, 'This guy is doing something good for the vast majority of people in the country.' Perhaps it's just campaign tactics, but I don't get a similar vibe from the opposition.
- Again, perhaps it's bco campaigning: McCain/Palin seem like yer basic Republicans. It probably doesn't help that he's an old rich white guy and she's a crazy church lady. They've tried to disassociate themselves from the Bush administration, but to my mind they haven't succeeded. Obama is bigger than his party. Where McCain/Palin retain solely the Republican brand, Obama is a Democrat with his own brand. Obama and Hillary Clinton ran on similar platforms, but both have very strong personalities. It would matter if one or the other were running, simply by force of their personalities and characters. McCain/Palin don't seem that special. Hmm. This isn't really a relational point, but I'll leave it. Maybe it's that I think character is important and I like Obama's character.
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