The Softest Landing
Of all these strange arguments over why a conservative might support Obama, James makes the first one that is remotely interesting. If losing is inevitable, to whom would you prefer to lose?
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Actually, if you’re asking “To whom should conservatives rather lose,” I think it’s pretty obvious Clinton is the answer.
Obama is liberal from head to toe. He occasionally nods to conservative thoughts, but he is a devout liberal (and I don’t mean that as a slur, I’m just saying: he’s a lefty), and he would doubtlessly push liberal policies as president.
Meanwhile Clinton is much more cautious and poll-driven. The same weakness that befalls her campaign now would befall her presidency. She would meander from the center-left to the center-right, expand a few state programs here and there, pull a few thousand troops out of Iraq, and not do anything to change the status quo. Nothing great, but no big loss for conservatives and (more importantly) conservatism.
Obama, on the other hand, even without a (likelier by the day) “liberal Reagan” landslide that would considerably shift the political landscape to the left for one generation, would still govern from the left. He would doubtlessly cut deals on the Hill and water down his ambitions, but he would still pursue lefty policies, and probably achieve a not inconsiderable number of them thanks to the multiplied power of an Obama bully pulpit. On top of pushing and realizing policies that conservatives would strenuously oppose, Obama has the potential of shifting /the terms of the policy debate/ from neutral or conservative terms to liberal terms. And that is a much more serious threat, which Clinton does not pose.
Unlike Clinton, Obama actually holds values dear — and those values are liberal. That’s the reason why I think Obama would make a better president than Clinton, even though I disagree with his beliefs I admire his character, and I think that’s the most important thing when picking a chief executive. But if you’re asking, from a political and policy perspective, which president would be better for conservatives and for conservative values in the contempoarary political landscape, then Clinton is doubtlessly the answer.
— PEG · Mar 24, 08:51 PM · #