Quick question for you on election day
Posted on November 4th, 2008 – 2:16 PMBy Howard
I was pondering something after walking to my polling place — a fabulous thing in itself in November — and figured some of you might want to weigh in.
Here’s the question: If you could choose between your team winning the World Series and your candidate being elected president, which one would you choose?
No, you can’t have both! (And please debate the question, not the candidates.)
Back with baseball soon.
Go vote.
88 Responses to "Quick question for you on election day"
candidate being president. more important.
Hi Howard,
Now that is a great question and gives you something to think about! After some thought I came to the conclusion that I would be happier with the Twins winning the World Series. I hate to admit that but I am just being honest with you. I don’t think that I am a bad American for saying that as most people have a distrust for politicians to begin with while baseball always trys to remain pure. Our country is in serious trouble right now and Twins baseball is a great place for me to forget about it for awhile. God Bless America and the Minnesota Twins!!
That’s like asking which would you rather have amputated, your head or your arm.
Definitely president. But I would have had to think about it a lot longer if you had asked that same question last September.
I gotta go with baseball! There is no guarentee on president and no definate payout. I know what a world series win feels like.
Team winning the World Series… that’s an easy question…
World Series.
There is really very little the president can do that will actually affect my life.
Is this a serious question?
Twins, 100 times in a row.
Wow, tough question. I think I’ll have to go with the prez. It’s enjoyable watching a season of baseball regardless the outcome, and you get another chance sooner. I just remember being utterly dejected and disillusioned post-Bush reelection in 2004.
I’ve gotta go with my candidate being elected president. There are some serious issues not only in the US but worldwide. As for my team winning the World Series I can enjoy the Twins win, lose or draw.
maybe we should start a Baseball political party…. any ideologies or party platforms will be based in the thought process WIIFB- What’s In It For Baseball.
Social Security would be bolstered and saved, as taking care of Mr. Killebrew is of utmost importance.
Press Secretary Joe Buck would field questions about a massive shift from defense spending to Louisville Slugger production.
Aggressive global warming initiatives would be put in place to ensure bumper crops of ash and maple trees every year.
Immigration policy will be centered on a Rule 5-type system.
And finally, much like current leadership, Chancellor Selig will constantly be unintentionally funny.
Welcome back Howard. I like the question. After thinking about it for roughly 38 seconds, I decided I would rather see the Twins win the World Series.
To be frank, I don’t trust most of the politicians, so inherently each one has their good and bad. The joy of my candidate getting elected would be temporary at best, since we still don’t know if the outcome is going to be beneficial.
However, if the Twins won the World Series, I’m not sure how I would react, but I know it would be unbridalded joy for a solid 78 hours straight. I’m not even sure if sleeping would happen. (I was still too young to remmeber 1991 and 1987, so I have no idea if or how I celebrated).
Based on that, it’s Twins in a landslide.
“Press Secretary Joe Buck would field questions about a massive shift from defense spending to Louisville Slugger production.”
I believe Teddy Roosevelt would call this “speaking softly and carrying a big stick.” Plus the upside of this is that if we did go to war with Canada, it would come down to the slapshot vs. the home run. I feel like a bat could do more damage than a stick.
World Series
More important…
series. all day, every day, for the rest of my life.
especially since ‘my candidate’ doesnt have a snowballs chance in hades of being president.
right, kris. the Bud Selig write-in campaign probably won’t work out this year.
I gotta go with a World Series victory as well. There are plenty of checks and balances available in the Federal government that makes it near impossible for a President to do anything without the support of the Congress.
I’d take a Twins title even if it meant our nation electing a Communist.
Oh, definitely World Series. That would change my life for the better for years to come.
And though I’m grateful that I have an opportunity to vote for my candidate, my life will go on pretty much the same regardless of who wins. After all, it’s the government as a whole, and not just the president, that really changes anything.
Twins - hands down…
Let’s see…
- I choose to support the Twins becaues they’re the local team, and I find that I can be greatly entertained by watching them. If they succeeded, it means that I get a bit more time to enjoy them, and also some temporary thrill celebrating a major win.
- The candidate I choose to support represents what I feel is in the best interests of not only myself, but my fellow citizens. My candidate not being selected could potentially have negative impacts on my livlihood. Including my health, my wealth, and my family.
There’s not even a toss up here. I’d take my candidate over my team any day of the week.
Howard,
Miss me at all? I am finally back online. Business is slowly picking up, and I brought back my favorite time killer, and emotional dumping ground (the internet).
To answer your question on Election Day… it is always the Presidential candidate (and removing an idiot like Michelle Bachman from office) that is the most important thing.
However, I want you to ask this question on Super Bowl Sunday, During the NBA finals, or any round of the playoffs in baseball. That would show the more honest answer I’m afraid.
You know how much politics matter to me, but imagine the choice of the impossible like the Timberwolves winning a championship… 10 years ago a black man for president seemed INSANE compared to a KG ring in Minnesota. Now, we are going to have Obama for better or worse, and the Wolves won’t get any rings unless Telfair brandishes a gun, and steals one from Kobe or Duncan.
So I choose Obama over Morneau and Baby Jesus, over Chill-jack, and over McFailure and Wittless… (though listening to a presidential speech is like listening to Chilljack speak before the season starts… and we are filled with hope, and only get disappointment.
It took 8 years of suffering to finally get rid of a Republican president, maybe soon we will have suffered enough, and Chilljack will be fired, McHale will finally quit (resulting in Wittless getting the axe), and Carl “The Cheap” is inching closer to the heavenly gate so hopefully all things are going to be changing for the better soon!
Definitely World Series. No hesitation. Twins in ‘09!
It has to be World Series, no contemplation whatsoever. The election really has no direct effect on you, there are thousands of people in Washington to even everything out. A World Series just makes you happy and you can never be too happy.
T took my answer…
I love the Twins: win or lose. Although I’d love to see them win the WS, once it’s over, I start looking forward to next year no matter who wins.
President…. I am afraid if the wrong man is elected we will be taken over by communists and lose the right to watch MLB anyway..
Twins.
Despite the hoopla, politicians don’t get much done. In the short term, they have different goals and might pass interesting legislation, but there are three possible long-term results.
1. It was consensus thing that was bound to happen anyways
2. The other side undoes it ten years later.
3. It remains an active controversy that breeds healthy debate and antagonistic conflict for years to come.
None of those three outcomes are worth that much to me. Things like writing letters or doing issue-organizing or voting for a third party that thereby gets a bigger voice (maybe it gets on a debate or two) to change the consensus a bit has some practical use. But the big election is nothing more than a drama, and there is no drama like baseball in October.
Really interesting question. I’ve been a bit of a political junkie since I was 12… and a twins fan since I was 5.
As much as I love the Twins and as much as jaded as I have become with regard to politicians (especially those in Washington) and how relatively powerless I consider the POTUS to be in terms of directly affecting change, I still have to say I would choose to have my candidate for President elected… at least this election cycle.
There have been Presidential elections, however, where I could honestly say I was equally comfortable (or perhaps equally uncomfortable, to be more accurate) with either candidate. If this were one of those situations, the World Series would likely be my choice.
I would choose my candidate.
What good is baseball if nobody has jobs or can afford decent housing or medical care? Baseball in the 30s must have been a nice diversion. But if the presidents of the 20s hadn’t screwed it up so bad, it would be less a diversion and more a celebration of life.
President
no-brainer
In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, president would rank at the Safety level (second from the bottom) and the world series would rank at the Self Actualization level (top)
In a non-formalized analogy:
President is food on the table and clean water to drink.
World series championship is caviar and champagne (nothing wrong with that, but Marie Antoinette’s cake cannot take care of the more basic needs)
I’ve gotta hope half of you choosing baseball are just trying to be funny. As for the others, maybe you’re just backing the wrong candidate. The presidency, of course. We’ve survived the past 17 years without a World Series winner. We will not survive another 17 if we don’t have qualified leadership. This means putting the people first, respecting the Constitution, and not raining bombs upon innocent people. Let’s buy ourselves time for the Twins to triumph. Can the Twins do it? Yes we can.
@ dead end alley at 3:07 —
I love it. That’s very funny. Unlike Selig, intentionally so.
we’ll always be voting between 2 idiots, so we might as well have a championship team right?
Twins win, hands down. For all you South Park fans, every election is between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.
cmathewson -
“What good is baseball if nobody has jobs or can afford decent housing or medical care? Baseball in the 30s must have been a nice diversion. But if the presidents of the 20s hadn’t screwed it up so bad, it would be less a diversion and more a celebration of life.”
Interesting idea. I have no idea if this is where Howard wants this blog to go, but I would be interested in hearing what you think the ‘presidents of the 20s’ did to screw it up so bad, and what other would-be presidents would have done.
vfrocket -
Nothing personal, but who is to say that YOUR candidate is the only qualified leader?
Gotta go with the Twins. Watching a world series game is much more interesting than watching CNN to see whether states turn blue or red.
heres another question, would you rather the twins won the world series next year or in 2010, no u can’t have both. i would choose 2010
Well, Pete D, I have to believe that wanting to “bomb bomb bomb Iran” and wage war for one hundred more years are major disqualifiers. Sorry to learn that you feel differently.
Back on baseball: I waited 27 years for the Twins to win their first World Series, and it was good. I figure I can hold out for a few years more. 2010 seems doable if we can shore up that left side of the infield.
scary how many people are saying they care more about the Twins than they do about who is president.
I’ve worked as a paid staffer on a presidential campaign, I was once asked by a prominent leader to move to Mtka and run for office. I no longer support that party, and I know more about the ugliness of politics and the pettiness and mean-spritidness of our “leaders” than anyone who really cares should know. Even with that jaded past, and my love for the Twins, I care more about my candidate winning than the Twins.
Who gets elected really isn’t all that important, as has been said earlier, it is the government as a whole that is important not just the president. Either way we would have quality leadership because a moron couldn’t get too close to the presidency. The greatest goal in life is happyness and that is what a championship brings, having someone as president who may or may not do what you want does not bring guaranteed happyness like a championship would.
So I didn’t read this until right now, 9:45 pm pt, because I am a poll worker here in CA. I mean, I love my twins and all, but seriously???? All I have to say is IT DOES MATTER WHO GETS ELECTED. It matters. Really.
Candidate, one hand down.
The other hand is down for a World Series.
have to go with McCain here.
Pete:
The history books are full of the things Harding, Coolige and Hoover did, or failed to do. It actually is more about what they didn’t do than what they did. They allowed the oil companies, principally the remnants of Standard Oil, to earn record profits as the top five percent of our country got drunk on wealth and the financial institutions cooked up schemes to wring more profits out of American mortgages. Meanwhile a raging poverty of the masses was building. It all came crashing down into a depression. Visionaries might have foreseen the need for more regulation and safety nets for the poor, but the corporations were so deep in the pockets of the government, nothing was done about it.
The history books will be nearly as merciless on the last eight years of American government as they are on the Roaring 20s.
I’m pushing for a Mike Cubbage/Bombo Rivera ticket in 2012!!! Woo hoo!
Hello from a Twins fan in Israel:
Great question, and I think it depends on 4 factors:
1. The condition of the country, and your personal life.
2. When was the last time your team won the championship
3. How much you like your candidate
4. How much you hate the other candidate
For example, suppose you ask this question a Red Sox fan who’s a democrat.
I’m pretty sure that in 2004 the answer would be Sox over Kerry ( 86 years of the curse ), while this year it would be Obama over Sox ( they’ve already won 2 championships in the last 5 years ). A Republican Cubs fan would probably be more upset about not winning the World Series than McCain losing.
In Israel we have elections in 3 months, and as much as I love the Twins and Vikings I’d take Tzipi Livni over the World Series and Super Bowl. That’s right, hopefully we’ll have our SECOND woman head of state ( the first one was even an American woman from Wisconsin ).
vfrocket -
“I have to believe that wanting to “bomb bomb bomb Iran” and wage war for one hundred more years are major disqualifiers. Sorry to learn that you feel differently.”
I didn’t say I felt one way or the other. I’m just wondering why you think your candidate is the only one qualified to run the country. I think there were roughly 13 different parties that had nominees for President this year, plus many more individuals running without a major or minor party affiliation. It is pretty egotistical to think that only your candidate can do the job.
cmathewson -
“Visionaries might have foreseen the need for more regulation and safety nets for the poor, but the corporations were so deep in the pockets of the government, nothing was done about it.”
‘Might have forseen’ is the key phrase here. Sure. There might have been someone, somewhere, who foresaw what might happen to the economy. Was that visionary James Cox, John Davis, Robert LaFollette, or Alfred Smith? I wouldn’t think so. They may have been, but the whole ‘hindsight is 20/20′ adage really is true.
I’d be much happier with the Twins winning the World Series! Most of what politicians running in elections say is a bunch of junk anyway, so who knows how many of their promises they’ll actually follow through on? A World Series win by the Twins is instant gratification, whereas a win from “my” candidate brings about no excitement until he actually starts doing the things he promised…
“That’s like asking which would you rather have amputated, your head or your arm.”
Which one’s which?
Carl “The Cheap” is inching closer to the heavenly gate so hopefully all things are going to be changing for the better soon!
Glad to see we’re back to wishing death on Pohlad.
Real classy users, this Strib bunch.
Interesting question. Putting it in retrospect, would I rather have had the Twins win the 1987 World Series, or had the Cardinals receive their congratulatory phone call from President Mondale?
T,
They are geniuses compared to the morons who contribute to the Vikings blog.
I’m Canadian. No brainer, WIN TWINS!
I hate saying this, but I tend to believe that the Presidency is not much more than a figurehead for either the Democratic or Republican party to have seen in the spotlight. Just look at the last 8 years and tell me that the so-called “old mans brigade” wasn’t making decision and just letting “Dubya” walk around smiling. Whereas they do have powers that can change the face of the country, generally speaking, Congress is where the good/bad decisions that affect our everyday lives come from.
I say Twins in 2009! Even if I cannot afford to go to a Twins game or to pay for cable TV to see them, I can always get some satisfaction from the boxscore in the paper.
They are geniuses compared to the morons who contribute to the Vikings blog.
I will give them that. 9/10 times I can at least READ the posts they put together here. 
President, this time around. I don’t think I’d have said that in 04. But 8 years of Bush will do that to you.
Howard:
Nice to see you back…
Living in DC metro area–and seeing the clowns, idiots and crooks (oops I mean politicians) up close…
I mean no matter who wins–I lose…
Has to be Twins hands down…
DAM
The POTUS effects not only our health, financial situation, environment …, but that of the world.
As awesome as it was when the Twins won in ‘87 and ‘91, that was a nice diversion compared to the enormity of who is selected pres. And yes it does make a difference, big time.
Now for the downside: the president-elect IS a White Sox fan. But let’s try not to hold that against him.
I would prefer to see my candidate win because you have to live with the consequences of the vote for four years. When the Twins season ends, we only have to wait a few months. Then spring training begins and we can start dreaming of a World Series win in October/November.
Howard,
I popped on out of afternoon boredom…that and I miss the 220 Blog just too much. Glad to see you’re keeping it going in the offseason.
I feel like you’re trying to box us with this question. As I read through the responses, I side with the majority–this is a no-brainer, Twins for sure!
You look at it this way…in my lifetime as a loyal Twins fan, I got my wish on the Twins 2 out of 21 times, which actually is pretty darn good if you think about it. As for Presidential elections, I have only been eligible to vote for three of them, and I picked the winner only once (2000).
The reason I ask if it’s a box-question is because I wonder how you are going to characterize those of us who say baseball and that it’s not even close. I consider myself a fairly plugged-in guy, politically, and I also would like to think that I care about the so-called important issues of our time. Knowing full well that baseball isn’t exactly high on that list, it makes no sense to choose World Series over President, right?
I can’t help it. With all due respect to Mr. Obama, I don’t think things will “change” all that much. Now if you literally meant that I could write-in whoever I wanted and THAT person would become the President, well, I guess I might take that over baseball. But major party candidates? I refuse to be boxed on this one…I am very comfortable in taking the Twins over the President, but as always, will be curious to hear the rationale behind the inquiry.
That decision is a hard one. The President really doesn’t do much, the checks and balances allow everybody else in govt. to affect our lives. But it IS a great time competing to see which city will earn the right to see their drunks burn their city down while celebrating. Although Twins fans have celebrated a World Championship twice, I’m with Jason. I too am very comfortable in taking the Twins over the President.
President easily. The team only changes happiness, the wrong president could really screw up your life.
Pete: It’s such a speculative topic, it’s hard to argue with you. But I do think the crash and resulting Great Depression were wake up calls for this country. And the denial that led to the wake-up calls was decried by a small vocal opposition. A visionary would listen to the opposition and take steps to prevent the end result before it’s too late. The unwillingness to listen to views other than the conservative Republican prevented any kind of visionary thinking out of either the Coolige or Hoover administrations. Sound familiar?
cmathewson -
It absolutely sounds familiar. However, I believe that for the past 4 years we have had one party controlling congress and the other party in the White House, yet I don’t remember ANY visionary views coming out of either to try and prevent what was about to happen. The country as a whole failed to learn from past mistakes, and repeated some of them. They are, however, trying to take different steps to avoid another Great Depression.
So, I guess to bring this all back to the question Howard asked, I don’t have enough faith in any one single politician to think that he or she is the only one who can lead this country.
Since I rarely manage to vote for the winning candidate (anyone remember when John Anderson ran on a third party ticket? yes, I voted for him), I would prefer to have the Twins win the World Series.
Thats funny….. I actually told my girlfriend while we were watching everything on Tuesday that I would have been way more excited about a Twins/Cubs WS, and she told me that was a completely asinine thing to say, which is true.
Jason,
The idea behind asking the question was getting the range of answers that came in. They’re thoughtful (on both sides) and some are pretty funny too. It was also a quick way to let you know that I’ll be blogging every now and again during the offseason.
As of now, the count stands at 26 for the Twins and 18 for the president. But the numbers aren’t really as important as the reasoning.
And did you notice something? Nobody mentioned Nick Punto.
Pat GLex
I remember Anderson–I also voted for him (and Ross Perot).
I voted for Jimmy Carter in 76–a vote that embarrasses me now–so I know that Twins winning the Series is a bigger thrill than picking a winner.
DAM
Pete D -
You said: “I believe that for the past 4 years we have had one party controlling congress and the other party in the White House, yet I don’t remember ANY visionary views coming out of either to try and prevent what was about to happen.”
It’s not been 4 years, but 2 years, as the Dems didn’t acquire majorities in the Senate and the House until the beginning of 2007. Even then the Dems were forced to rely on two non-Democrats — Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman — to attain a majority in the Senate. The Democrats’ Congressional majority is not filibuster proof and offers them little chance of enacting policies that Bush disagrees with.
I won’t defend the Democratic leadership’s failure to force the issue with Iraq (the people were clear in their wishes to get out, not go in deeper), but the Dems weren’t holding all of the cards. Soon they will be — and we’ll see how they play them. Damn shame that the Bush administration has depleted the treasury (and then some).
You’ve said that you don’t have “enough faith in any one single politician to think that he or she is the only one who can lead this country,” and that “there are plenty of checks and balances available in the Federal government that makes it near impossible for a President to do anything without the support of the Congress.” If I understand you correctly, this is your rationale for choosing the World Series option.
Can we infer then that you believe a President Gore would have taken us into Iraq, ignoring the existing evidence that Saddam no longer had WMD and had nothing to do with 9/11? Keep in mind that a President is also responsible for the people who surround him, Dick Cheneys and Don Rumsfelds included.
As Jesse says above, “The team only changes happiness, the wrong president could really screw up your life.” I don’t think it’s a reach to say that Iraq is proof of that.
Shoot, I meant to mention Nick Punto.
Is there an election coming up or something? I assume so since Howard asked the question… I would rather have my 2nd fav team win the WS than pick my pres.
Jesse and vfrocket, you have got to be kidding me! The president cannot screw up your life by himself, it would truely take a massive effort from all of Washington to “screw up your life”. Do you realize how much better your lives are then most people around the world? Its great that we can even sit here and debate this.
The operative word was “could,” Brock. My life is fine, but poorer for the fact that our president - in our names - is responsible for the deaths of 4200 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis (numbers are hard to come by here, as the DoD has no interest in providing an accurate tally).
Why do you think people around the world are celebrating Tuesday’s election results? Could it be they see the potential for a more cooperative and peaceful relationship with the US?
Look, who occupies the White House matters. To argue otherwise is to deny the history of our country. Just think of Lincoln, FDR, or even Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis. Also Nixon and Bush and their all-in behavior during wartime. Plug in a different president and you have a different outcome.
The fact that we live in a nuclear age just raises the stakes that much higher.
Oh, yeah so in this risky of a time its just brilliant to put in a Chicago city planner with almost zero experience in washington. Also, why are you putting the war all on the president? the rest of the government had just as big of a part in it. I’m pretty sure that responsibility for those deaths can be put right on the shoulders of the insurgence that is actually killing them.
Brock, you don’t like Obama - got it. However, if I read your answer correctly, it appears that you agree that who is president matters, yes?
And yet you’re wrong about the war. This is Bush’s baby, lock, stock, and gun barrel. Bush removed Saddam, Bush unleashed the demons.
While we’re on it, if you don’t have Bush, you probably don’t have 9/11. The Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001 warned that OBL was determined to strike the US. Walk that one back and we don’t have people flying airplanes into buildings.
A little to late!
Flip out: Baseball likely to eliminate coin flips
DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — No more flip decisions. Rather than heads or tails, baseball general managers plan to recommend that sites for division and wild-card tiebreakers be decided by wins and losses, rather than coin flips.
MLB staff is drafting a proposal for the GMs to consider next month when they gather at the winter meetings in Las Vegas, according to Jimmie Lee Solomon, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner’s office. The head-to-head record between the tied clubs appears likely to be the first tiebreaker.
The advantage of coin flips or drawing of lots in the unlikely event of three or four-way deadlocks is that the clubs know the site of tiebreaker games in advance. Under a performance-based system, the sites might not be decided until the final day of the regular season.
GMs will discuss the matter with their staffs before the winter meetings from Dec. 8 to 11.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Blaming Bush for 9/11…. I needed a good laugh today, thanks.
Pete and Cmathewson-It was the actions of Hoover and Roosevelt (and the Fed)in response to the crash that turned a sharp recession into The Great Depression- Harding, although he did surround himself with crooks- balanced the federal budget and let Debs out of jail; Coolidge understood the limitations of government better than most.
Oh- and I think I’d go with the World Series- especially this year!
My team win the World Series of course. I’ll rely on the checks and balances to negate the wrong president. They all end up being centrists anyway.
Plus the right guy can win four years later and get us on the right track. There’s no guarantee my team will ever win it all again. 17 years and counting… we’ve had a few elections over that time.
As I mentioned previously, I’ll take the Twins 9 times out of 10. Unless you are in the wealthiest 1% or the poorest 1%, the president doesn’t matter all that much. Obama is out to steal from the rich and give to the poor (quite different from Robin Hood who stole from the gov’t to help the poor) while McCain was out to mostly help only the rich. Where’s the candidate for the middle man?
If the Twins pick up a decent righty 3rd baseman with some pop (I’m thinking Casey Blake via free agency here) and maybe a solid RH bullpen guy I won’t have to choose - I can have both!!
You don’t know the half of it, Brock. But you’re welcome.
Kirby91, you say: “Plus the right guy can win four years later and get us on the right track… 17 years and counting… we’ve had a few elections over that time.”
How’s that working out for us? How’s that working out for the world? You can’t undo death you know. And all those folks who’ve lost their life savings?
Juanie: “Obama is out to steal from the rich and give to the poor.” What makes you say that?
This year? President.
Any other year? It hasn’t mattered much. I’d say Twins win.
vfrocket, its just that its not just the president, as kirby91 said checks and balances with offset anything bad a president could do.
Look, I love being happy for a week or two. That’s about how long the WS happiness lasts.
But, the president appoints supreme court justices, people that effect our lives and freedoms for decades. The president appoints those in charge of protecting (or not) our natural resources - whose decisions can have lifelong effects. The president, alone, decided to go to war or not - yes, Congress can “overrule” him, but it doesn’t happen. The president appoints most of the bureaucrats that run the government. The president has the opportunity to inspire the nation, enfuriate our allies, and create good or ill will among our adversaries. The president may be a figure head in some ways, but he’s an important figure head. The president’s team comes up with the budget proposal that Congress acts on. The president’s team drives who we talk to internationally, how we talk to them, and what treaties we drive forward (or not). The president and his team have an incalcuable effect on our every day lives. They have a huge effect on how congress behaves, checks and balances are reactions to how others behave, and how the president and his team behave greatly influences congress and its actions.
Is the president (like a QB) sometimes judged too harshly in a loss and too postively in a win, yes. But to say he has little actual impact on our lives is amazingly cynical.
Nope, you’re wrong about that too, Brock. Leadership matters.
The people the president appoints to office matter, whether defense, environment, CIA, treasury, state, labor, education, NSA.
Supreme Court and lower court appointments matter big-time. One of the best things about Obama’s victory is that he will make two, maybe three SC appointments over the next four years.
Under Bush, the US now tortures, spies on US citizens, outs our CIA agents, rewards offshoring, weakens our food protections, capitalizes profits and socializes losses. Our president appointed to office the people who conceived and implemented these policies and transgressions, under his guidance and with his approval.
It’s funny, we love to compare ourselves favorably to other nations, so here’s a comparison for you: China and the US over the last ten years. China - for all its problems - has invested heavily and now has new roads and bridges, high speed rail, airports, and broadband to show for it. Our government has invested heavily and now has crumbling roads, falling bridges (if you live in MN, you know about this), inadequate rail, an economy heading into depression, and broadband penetration and speeds that are embarrassing.
Why is this? Because we’ve invested our money in warfare. Our leaders continue to pour more money into the military than the rest of the world combined. Think about that a moment. The greatest crime our leaders have committed over the past 20 years is p-ssing away the “peace dividend.” We earned it, we deserved it, but they manufactured a way to black-hole it into more bombs, more high-tech killing machines, more death and destruction. Clinton played a role in this, but Bush made him look like a minor leaguer.
You’re not convinced right now, that’s fine. I encourage you to get out in the world a little more, make a few friends overseas, read a little history. Maybe you want to call me arrogant for saying this. So be it.
