Seriously, guys. The over Palin was no surprise. The jumping on the Ayers thing and pounding it into the floor to the extent that McCain's losing even more points was no surprise. The "original" and "creative" cracks about "Obamessiah" were no surprise. The subtle and not-so-subtle racism was no surprise. The screaming about "socialism"...well, need I go on? But the FEAR. The abject down-in-the-bunker-with-the-arsenal TERROR was a complete surprise. So, tell me, without lofty speeches about The Country, what's your worst fear about the effect an Obama presidency will have on *you personally*? Yah, yah, yah, enlisted person's waiting for him to break down the door and take his guns away, but what about the rest of you?
Got to admit, I find the whole 'socialism' thing a bit odd, because frankly, we ain't had socialism in Europe since the 70s, and the idea that any candidate in the US could represent it is just... Well... um... you really have no idea what socialism really means... Honestly...
I fear that Obama's going to be a pussyfooting centrist who gets nothing done at a time when we need a decisive presence in the White House. I'm afraid Obama won't want to, for example, pick a fight by cleaning house of all the incompetent Bush hires at the now overwhelmingly partisan-right DOJ. I'm afraid Obama will balance the radical right Bush picks throughout the judiciary with mushy centrists. I'm afraid Obama is serious about pulling out of Iraq only to escalate the now equally lost cause in Afghanistan. People who fear the possibility of Obama being some kind of radical lefty are fucking nuts.
Is that because of something in his past record, or do you just think he lacks experience? And anyway, you're expressing a rational concern, not FEARRRRR!
Erm, European lefty, which is why I know exactly what socialism is and why I know you've never had it in the US. Frankly, you might be a lot better off if you knew what it meant, but fact is, you never will...
The evidence just posted... but really, it's a matter of perspective. Certainly Obama is a socialist, no, commie, for people who don't find Bush to be hard-right at all. I mean, those are people that think spending a single federal dollar on anything but killing brown people is socialism.
For the uninformed and ignorant among us, we've had socialism in the US since the early 20th century, just a weaker and blander variety than in Europe. But we are catching up.
You've had an actual country since then. This means there will be some 'socialism' one way or another. The alternative is houses on land and everybody just does whatever s/he wants (aka anarchy).
No fucking way. Part of the New Deal included some Socialist ideals, but it didn't take it the whole way. And since then, you've had nothing remotely resembling it. The bank bailout is vaguely socialist - and frankly, I can't wait to see how it turns out - but the rhetoric that has accompanied it it is hardly satisfying.
Yup. We'd have a much healthier political system if Obama represented the mainstream of the right. The Democrats are now far enough right that there's simply no room to their right for a second reality based party. A right-wing party positioned where the Democrats are and facing competition from the left would be a much better party than the Democrats are because it would have to actually compete for reality based votes.
Actually, I do. I also know what socialism is. And trust me, you haven't experienced it. If you don't believe me, ask Async, with whom I agree on almost nothing, but who has at least lived under a semi-socialist system, somthing that no resident of the US has...
Enemies will exploit our vulnerability, with a CEO unwilling to move beyond talking it over. Or saying "no" when he really means "okay". Death of Americans. Taxes will go up. GDP growth will flatten at sub-2% or shrink. But it's not really a fear, since I think in the long run we'll survive it. And some hippies will be gone.