Why I'm undecided as to for whom to vote.

Here's where my head's at, anyone else care to share theirs?

Obama positives:

• Better policy on Healthcare than McCain
• Better policy on alternative energy, with a possible two-fer on creating a new industry where the US could be a leader.

Obama negatives:

• His experience will always bother me.
• His unwillingness to commit either for or against nuclear power bothers me.
• He's going to increase the deficit.
• His go to guy for foreign policy, Biden, is dead wrong.

McCain positives:

• Divided government (I cannot express how important that is to me)
• Better policy on Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan.
• He has a long history of pragmatism, being bipartisan, and a willingness to piss off his own party even when they were in control.
• He's for nuclear power.

McCain negatives:

• His tax policy is wrong for where we are today.
• His alternative energy policy doesn't cover a substitute for oil.
• He's going to increase the deficit more than Obama.

 

edit: For me my biggest issue is who's going to damage the economy least and at the moment I really can't come to a conclusion.

edit: cleaned it up for pg ;p

just want to public admire your excellent grammar in the thread topic ;)

(ps: i think obama knows exactly what his nuclear policy is; he's just too smart to say it outloud pre-election.)

that's what I mean pg

Iggy, can you clarify what you mean by "his experience will always bother me"?

well, a lot of people hear "nuclear" and still think 3-mile island and hiroshima/nagasaki.  i'm pro-nuclear energy (and not just in the far north where it can fuel oil exploration and extraction, but in popoulated areas), but if i were running for office, i'd be inclined to keep my mouth shut about it.

as much as i'd like to believe that absolute transparency is possible, it's not always wise or "good" - whatever that means.

Just thought I'd pass along a link to a half-way decent quiz designed to help people who are on the fence:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ong oing/select_a_candidate/poll.php?race_id=13

I believe the response are come directly from the mouths of the candidate themselves so (hopefuly) it's not biased.   Plus you can weight the issues how you feel they should be weighted.

Obama being quizzed by editorial board about nuclear power & safety of same

Obama positives:

• Better policy on Healthcare than McCain
• Better policy on alternative energy, with a possible two-fer on creating a new industry where the US could be a leader.
• More even tempered
• Inspires hope in people
• Highly intelligent & educated

Obama negatives:

• His experience will always bother me.
• He's going to increase the deficit.

McCain positives:

• Better policy on Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan.
• He has a long history of pragmatism, being bipartisan, and a willingness to piss off his own party even when they were in control.

McCain negatives:

• His tax policy is wrong for where we are today.
• His alternative energy policy doesn't cover a substitute for oil.
• He's going to increase the deficit more than Obama.
• Very tied into old administration
• His age & health
• His VP is way underqualified to take over the presidency

Love the edit. I copied yours and then changed it to what is important to me or what I see.

The nuclear power issue isn't of great concern to me. One of my first jobs was working for a huge power company in the nuclear engineering department. My ex was in quality assurance and then project management for outages. There are so many issues that have to deal with the waste that it's almost insane. Yet I still support nuclear power as an alternative until we can find better, cleaner alternatives.

 

Original Post by purespark:

Iggy, can you clarify what you mean by "his experience will always bother me"?

His lack there of.

It's the same base problem I have with Palin.

Neither of them have the experience that warrants being where they are, though either, neither or both may later prove to be exceptional if given the chance. They may also prove to be horrible if given the chance.

My issue is that they have too little experience (at least for me) on which to gauge how they'd perform in the white house.

Still undecided.

Obama Positives:

Economy - i think he has a plan on this issue and the regulation of Wall street which i agree if we are using tax dollars to bail them out then we have a say on how they do business

Energy - like adding money into weatherization program, badly needed for poor people; windfall tax and energy rebate also in favor of it.  Alternative energy would probably be pursued more seriously than mccain

like his thoughtful approach to problems that country faces. 

Obama negatives:

Experience or lack thereof;  really concerned about this

My taxes will go up under him.  Making alot of promises that will be expensive to implement

May be perceived as weak by foreign countries

McCain positives

Military experience

connections in washington

Is not afraid to shake things up

McCain negatives

may not be that different from Bush

age/health

flip flopped on deregulation/regulation of Wall Street; weak on how to handle the economy

Original Post by alle0299:

Just thought I'd pass along a link to a half-way decent quiz designed to help people who are on the fence:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ong oing/select_a_candidate/poll.php?race_id=13

I believe the response are come directly from the mouths of the candidate themselves so (hopefuly) it's not biased.   Plus you can weight the issues how you feel they should be weighted.

LOL that didn't help :)

8 McCain, 8 Obama, 6 Nader, 4 Barr

Haha - no wonder why you're stuck ;)

Original Post by ignayshus:

Original Post by purespark:

Iggy, can you clarify what you mean by "his experience will always bother me"?

His lack there of.

It's the same base problem I have with Palin.

Neither of them have the experience that warrants being where they are, though either, neither or both may later prove to be exceptional if given the chance. They may also prove to be horrible if given the chance.

My issue is that they have too little experience (at least for me) on which to gauge how they'd perform in the white house.

Just to point out, Lincoln had almost no experience and did a pretty good job, Jimmy Carter had TONs of experience and did a pretty lousy job.  Experience is over-rated. 

i don't think that lack of experience in and of itself is a negative.  i think that lack of experience paired with an unwillingness and/or inability to learn is a deal breaker. 

obama has (IMO) proven his ability and willingness to learn; palin has demonstrated her ability to pretend she already knows.

Original Post by ignayshus:

Original Post by alle0299:

Just thought I'd pass along a link to a half-way decent quiz designed to help people who are on the fence:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ong oing/select_a_candidate/poll.php?race_id=13

I believe the response are come directly from the mouths of the candidate themselves so (hopefuly) it's not biased.   Plus you can weight the issues how you feel they should be weighted.

LOL that didn't help :)

8 McCain, 8 Obama, 6 Nader, 4 Barr

 Yeah...Mine was split as well.  McCain and Obama were exactly 50/50 and there were a couple of points in the way of Nader and Barr.

I am kind of undecided lately for totally selfish reasons.

One living in the state of AZ I don't think its gonna matter who I vote for because of the stupid "electoral college" thing we put up with - I don't get it why is the state of Califorinia New York and Ohio so much better than Nevada, New Mexico or even Wyoming???  Why does somone who lives in a small populated state not really have the "one vote does matter" part to their selection. I mean right now if I voted for Obama it isn't going to matter as the state of AZ has already been "won" by McCain.

Also another reason I'm not wanting McCain is I live in a small town 20 minutes from one of his numerous properties, and I see this 'ranch" becoming another Crawford TX and I don't want to share my small town with a bunch of radicals and crazy people - and not to mention the press!!!

Next is if McCain wins our Democratic Governor will pick the senator to take his place - yes it has to be a republican, but our Governor has her eye on running for this office when her term is up so she'd probably pick someone with a backroom agreement not to run against her.  Rumors have it if Obama wins our Governor may well get a place in his cabinet - so even tho I don't much care for her I am affraid for what her replacement might do.

So for me being an Arizonan this is my take on this.

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by ignayshus:

Original Post by purespark:

Iggy, can you clarify what you mean by "his experience will always bother me"?

His lack there of.

It's the same base problem I have with Palin.

Neither of them have the experience that warrants being where they are, though either, neither or both may later prove to be exceptional if given the chance. They may also prove to be horrible if given the chance.

My issue is that they have too little experience (at least for me) on which to gauge how they'd perform in the white house.

Just to point out, Lincoln had almost no experience and did a pretty good job, Jimmy Carter had TONs of experience and did a pretty lousy job.  Experience is over-rated. 

That's my point sully. There's no way to get a comfortable read... it could go either way and I'm just as likely to be right as I am wrong and that bothers me.

edit: but IF experience is over-rated (which I don't think it is) then Palin should be given a free pass on that issue.

I don't think you can compare Palin's lack of experience with Obama's. He's at about a 6 on the experience scale, she's at about a 2. Her constituency is far from a broad cross section of Americans. His is one of the most diverse in the country.

He's had to familiarize himself with issues far and away more complex and wide-reaching. She's never had to vote on the war in Iraq, for instance. And her experience in making decisions about spending and energy has never had to encompass what is good for Americans, only Alaskans.

Admittedly she's not running against Obama, but considering McCain's advanced age, she really is next in line.

And I doubt very seriously that Biden is the be-all and end-all of Obama's foreign policy. Obama strikes me as a man of deliberation, not a  follow the leader type like G-Dubb.

Obama assumed his senate position on January 4 of 2005, which is why his title is the Junior Senator from Illinois.

He's been actively involved in the senate from probably Feb 05, up until he started actively campaigning for the nomination, so that's what a year and a half? maybe two?

Before that he served two terms (8 years) in the Illinois State Senate where he represented a much smaller cross section of people.

Neither of their experience is anything to write home about.

Original Post by kathygator:

And I doubt very seriously that Biden is the be-all and end-all of Obama's foreign policy. Obama strikes me as a man of deliberation, not a  follow the leader type like G-Dubb.

True. Obama has expressed his own opinions on foreign policy, he just lacked the cred. I really hope that if he's elected that Biden takes a back seat on all things foriegn policy.