Can’t Drum Up Much Enthusiasm

Right now I’m watching Bob Schieffer interview John McCain on CBS’s Face the Nation. He’s going to substantial pains to delineate his position on immigration, probably a prudent move considering the ire with which some Republicans view his moderate take on the issue. I confess to being completely out of touch with the American public on immigration since I can’t understand what people are concerned about or how their preferred policies are practical or, in some cases, how they accomplish their presumed goals. If the concern is the large number of immigrants, the most straightforward tack to solving the problem is to limit legal immigration (over which we have more control). If the concern is lawbreaking, the problem can be solved by streamlining the visa process and issuing a lot more visas (particularly to Mexicans). If the concern is too many Mexican immigrants, the problem will resolve itself—demographics will see to that. The weak dollar, slowing American economy, and even a slight concern about enforcement of labor laws has already slowed the rate of immigration from Mexico and shows some signs of reversing it.

I can’t drum up an enormous amount of enthusiasm about the primary election, now less than a month away here in Illinois. I’ll be voting in the Democratic primary here and of the first-tier Democratic candidates my preference is Barack Obama. I continue to believe that the main differences between the Democratic candidates is less one of policy and more those of image and style. Hillary Clinton is a Fordist; Edwards is combative (I’m convinced that the heart of the “netroots” belongs to him); Obama has a more moderate style. If that represents an curtailing of partisan rancor, I think it would be a good thing.

I can’t imagine myself voting for Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, or Rudy Giuliani in the general election. I think that John McCain is the Republican’s best choice for a candidate but I continue to be surprised with the vitriol with which so many Republicans seem to view his candidacy. Whatever became of the Eleventh Commandment? Or would their rhetoric moderate if he were actually the candidate?

What would a Hillary Clinton presidency look like? My take on the W. Clinton presidency was that the first term was a four year bickering session between the White House and the Pentagon. Is this a good time for a repeat of that? Or can’t we impute from a W. Clinton presidency what an HRC presidency would look like?

I think that an Edwards presidency would be quite a victory for the Democratic Congress. I suspect that an Edwards presidency would be characterized by amity between the White House and Congress and conflict between the White House and the Pentagon and State Department bureaucracies.

While I’d welcome the reduction in partisanship from the White House that I think an Obama presidency would bring, I think that for a host of reasons including his own predispositions and his lack of experience President Obama would be likely to disappear into the bureaucracy (at least from a policy standpoint). I think he’d be rolled by the Pentagon and State Department bureaucracies.

What do you think?

2 comments… add one
  • PD Shaw Link

    If you look at some of the national polling from about a month ago (when I last looked), Republicans are more favorably disposed to voting for McCain or Guiliani than Huckabee or Romney (Thompson falls in between). From this I gather that the opposition to McCain is rather factionalized either by interest groups are in different parts of the country.

  • I think that John McCain is the Republican’s best choice for a candidate but I continue to be surprised with the vitriol with which so many Republicans seem to view his candidacy.

    I continue to be amazed that Democrats that like McCain can’t understand why Republicans don’t like him. The fact that he’s the favorite Republican of Democrats and journalists is reason enough for Republicans to dislike him. Plus, he’s a consumate insider (another strike), and his position on campaign finance reform is anathema to us.

    Shaw, it’s not that opposition to McCain is factionalized, it’s that Huckabee is completely unacceptable to large swaths of the party, both “establishment” types and small government types. We’ve had all the Big Government “conservatism” we can stand, thank you very much. And Romney’s shifts on policy issues seem too mercenary for anyone to trust him. Also, McCain has been strong on war issues, and that is somewhat reassuring to people. Better the devil one knows….

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