Comments on: It’s always something (or why candidates ignore me at their peril)

By: grammer stickler

grammer stickler — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:10:41 +0000

You write: Had McCain exercised a countervailing leadership on this issue, he may have made this situation worse for Obama.

“May” is present tense. You want to say MIGHT.

Had McCain done X, he MIGHT have made Y happen.

By: Kevin Nealon

Kevin Nealon — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:41:17 +0000

We’ll see in moments how the two candidates vote on this bill. I doubt that either will vote against it, particularly considering that Senator McCain, the more likely of the two to vote no, said in Friday’s debate that he was planning on (or, if I remember correctly, “hoping to”) vote in favor of the bailout. If he does vote against it, the Obama campaign will be sure to pounce on him for flip-flopping. Flip-flopping towards a position favored by the numerous citizens who disapprove the bill could in fact be an electoral advantage for McCain, but it is a risk I doubt he is willing to take.

Stepping away from presidential politics, I fear that the Senate’s decision to vote on a revised plan before the House could backfire. Those who have taken a class with me may know of my distaste for Senator Reid, and I fear that this could be another one of his ill-conceived theatrical stunts aimed at intimidating the opposition (in this case the House, not the Senate Republicans), to vote with the Senate majority’s favored position. For another instance of failed theatricality, see Senator Reid’s decision to hold the Senate for an overnight session during the debate over military appropriations in the summer of 2007. My fear is that this move on the bailout package will be seen by House members as an instance of the Senate “talking down” towards towards the House. Particularly with many Senators mentioning the duty to vote in the best interest of the nation, even if it flies in opposition to voters who “do not understand the bill” (Diane Feinstein – yes, I am watching C-SPAN, and am a nerd, but am probably among peers), this provides Representatives with the opportunity to vote against the bill while emphasizing their status as wo/men of the people.

Finally, with regards to Mark El-Deiry’s questions, you’re probably out of luck unless you know someone working for either campaign. The Obama campaign, at least, has a question/comment form on their website, but from my experience (wasn’t expecting anything different), posting a comment prompts nothing more than an automated response saying that the volume of mail makes it impossible for the candidate to respond to individual inquiries. My guess is that the McCain campaign is similar in this regard

By: Mark El-Deiry

Mark El-Deiry — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:10:07 +0000

Professor,

As an alumnus of Middlebury, class of 1995, I’m very happy to have found your blog (mentioned in my alumni email update). In agreement with the parent above, I’m pleasantly surprised to find it is, indeed, neutral – not something I often encountered when I was a student at Middlebury.

Your commentary on the economic matter and the election is very helpful. Please let me know, if I support a particular candidate and wanted to get some of this advice to them in addition to some ideas of my own, how would I best accomplish that? Is there an organized way to make suggestions to campaigns? I have not been able to find one.

I appreciate your commentary, look forward to more insight, and thank you for your advice on this matter.

Thanks,
Mark.

By: Guy Kettelhack

Guy Kettelhack — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:43:13 +0000

I venture into these waters with real trepidation — my overall take on all this aligns with Quentin Crisp’s suggestion that “politics is the art of making the inevitable appear to be a matter of wise human choice” — and assessing political strategy is as alien to my temperament as advanced physics. But I evidently can’t keep from noting that in your engaging zeal — which reads like heated sports commentary or someone who REALLY loves gambling in Las Vegas — I lack utterly any sense of what you think OUGHT to happen. Dimwitted as I am, I yearn for some sort of moral compass — what’s going to work? — what ought we to support? This may be like looking for milk in a hardware store (your blog appears to be about the amoral sport of politics, not its ‘good’ or ‘bad’ aims), but — well, I felt moved to make the comment.

Thanks.

By: Cecilia Collins

Cecilia Collins — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:13:35 +0000

I must admit that I am surprised that your blog is nonpartisan. I find that refreshing coming from a mostly liberal college campus in a very liberal leaning state. This parent is thankful that there is at least one professor teaching at Middlebury that can discuss the events in the House of Representatives yesterday and the associated presidential politics with virtually no partisan flavor. In fact, you may be the only person in the United States that has been able to do that.

Thanks