Re: Barack Obama Publishes His Space Policy

On Jan 14, 10:07 am, Fred J. McCall <fmcc...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

What's unpopular and divisive about Obama?

That's a good question.

The two Democratic front-runners are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Hillary Clinton is trying hard to be a mainstream candidate, but she
is unpopular with some people because of her husband's record - and
because of her past attempts to bring in some sort of universal health
care in the U.S..

In the early part of the campaign, some people criticized Barack Obama
for not revealing much of a platform. This is certainly a fault, but
it's not as dramatic a fault as taking extreme positions. Still, I
would tend to assume a candidate has views opposed to mine on the
great issues of the day until he says otherwise. In the case of his
policy on a relatively minor issue - space - he has made his position
explicit before most of the other candidates, and it is, I feel, a
middle-of-the-road policy, even if I'd prefer a different one.

But "unpopular" and "divisive" are just another way of saying
"controversial". Certainly his candidacy has generated some
controversy, for the invalid reason that he is black. Of course, if it
isn't bigotry to think that a farmer running for President might
support agricultural subsidies, it might not be bigotry to think that
a black candidate is more likely to support social spending. Unless,
of course, he can definitively dispel such a suspicion - say if he's
Colin Powell... or she's Condoleeza Rice.

However, even Hillary Clinton (!) is criticizing him for taking too
soft a policy in the War on Terror. While some may think that another
element of his background makes him uniquely sensitive to and
understanding of the Islamic world, making him just what we need...
others will view the chance of sympathy with this part of the world as
a very dangerous risk, given that we do not know what the needs of the
future might be.

The hostages were freed by Iran during Jimmy Carter's turn of
office... but only after Ronald Reagan had been elected to succeed
him.

Of course, calling Barack Obama "divisive" simply because the American
people are divided, and so candidates on either side of this intense
issue are divisive is not all that fair. But the kind of candidate I'm
hoping for from the Democratic party is John McCain, who seems
unlikely to get anywhere. Rudy Giuliani seems a good Republican
candidate, since he isn't in the pocket of the extreme social
conservatives, but I realize that he isn't going to be accepted by
Democrats as a moderate either.

John Savard
.

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