Advisers' 2¢ ain't worth 2 much

Who do I vote for?

Some fellow stopped by a few nights ago, just as we were sitting down to dinner. Peter answered the door and confused the man with a comment about not being able to vote. Delightfully, the first response was an offer to help get him registered to vote. The questions were referred to me, as the household's designated voter.

"Who am I planning to vote for [president]?" was the simple question. Wearing a bright "Ellison" t-shirt, there wasn't really any question about who he wanted me to vote for. However, considering our neighborhood is so blue as to be ultraviolet ... I was wondering why he was asking.

Honesty compelled me to state that, were the elections held today, I would cast my ballot for Obama. Honesty further compelled me to add, "since my favorite candidate, and my 2nd favorite are no longer on the ballot".

He also inquired about the U.S. senate seat and our representative. With far more assurance, I indicated my plans to vote for Franken & Ellison. He left with a smile after offering me a yard sign, which I had to refuse. I doubt my Republican landlords would approve. It's not as if there's a shortage of them in this area.

After watching the debate Friday night, I was left with a further positive impression of Obama compared to McCain. I voted for McCain in the primary in '00. (I figured Gore would get the Dem. nod, and wanted to limit the idiocy from any other party. Forlorn hope, that.)

The best rationale for picking a candidate is to look at his/her support team. After all, the president might be the ultimate arbiter of executive power, but the knowledge available to him will be from his picked advisers. Does he have the wisdom to pick them well? They'll be the ones driving national policy as much as the Big Cheese in the White House.

"Then there’s the frightening Mr. McCain — more frightening now [i.e. after the debate on Fri.] than he was a few weeks ago.

We’ve known for a long time, of course, that Mr. McCain doesn’t know much about economics — he’s said so himself, although he’s also denied having said it. That wouldn’t matter too much if he had good taste in advisers — but he doesn’t." - Paul Krugman, NYTimes

Apparently, Mr. Gopher is not alone in his value of staff advisers. I suppose I could point out how insane some of the politicians are (can you say "Katie Curick"?). But you already know. Thank god, it's almost over.