Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Case Against Obama

I realize I've been largely silent on the election for the last several months. It's just been rather tiring. The rather "friendly" treatment Barack Obama receives from the media, alongside the absolutely atrocious treatment of Sarah Palin has left me shaking my head.

Still, it's worth it to point out the reasons why I won't (and wouldn't ever) vote Obama in November. There's so much to go with that it's hard to know where to start. That's why I'm glad some of the good folks over at Hot Air wrote this: The comprehensive argument against Barack Obama.

I hope you do take the time to read it. Unless you're the type to vote Democrat under any circumstances, I think you'll find something worth considering in the piece.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Hal. Just wanted to let you know I lurk here occasionally. We have a few blogroll entries in common, including Ace & Shamus.

That particular Hot Air post was almost exactly what I would say if someone asked me why I'm not voting for Obama. (Assuming, of course, that the speaker was asking an honest question and not looking to start a fight and/or call me racist.)

Hope your semester's going well. I'm working on my master's in EE (in addition to working fulltime), so my blogging suffers, too...

Hal said...

Welcome to the blog, Mrs. Peel. I used to have a regular cast of characters commenting on my various posts around here, but I'm guessing my long period of dry spells over the last year or so drove most of them to greener blog pastures.

Do stick around, though. I'm sure someone'll poke their head in at some point.

Meera said...

hey hal! i think i'm one of those who used to comment, but have since abandoned your blog. i'm gonna make a brief reappearance, i think :)

a) how are you??

b) your comment about media treatment of palin - i agree that they were hard on her (definitely scrutinized her), but do you think the resulting portrayal was unfair?

Hal said...

Life is good. Baltimore is an interesting city.

Palin certainly received more scrutiny than Obama did. Was the ultimate result unfair? Overall, I'm going to say "yes." There's no getting around the fact that she was not the strongest candidate, being somewhat green behind the ears when it comes to the big stage (I notice no one cared about that for Obama). I suspect that some of her media appearances (such as her interview with Katie Couric) were selectively edited to maximize the bad image, though it's only a suspicion.

Still there was a lot of focus on her family and her gender, and nobody else received such ferocious treatment. Just look at the photography used to represent her. You'll find dozens upon dozens of shots at an eye level of the stage, showing her calves and shoes. It's a very provocative image, with the stealth image of "she's only here to give McCain some sex appeal." Did Hilary receive such treatment? Who complained when reporters were swooning over Obama's looks?