Posted on 08/10/2008 9:33:52 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Why is it so close? That’s been the chatter after these past two weeks in the three-month run of the Obama-McCain smackdown. The Obamaphiles are nervous that their man has stalled in the polls after what, objectively, was a successful trip overseas. The McCainites, terrified of a Democratic wave, are taking solace in the failure of Barack Obama to break away. The straggling Clintonites are busy preparing their told-you-sos.
There are any number of theories offered for the tightness. One is that Obama is too temperamentally aloof for most Americans. According to the columnist Maureen Dowd, he is the Mr Darcy of American politics, too proud, while Americans are still a little too prejudiced. Or maybe Obama is too popular with Germans for his own domestic good (he’s lucky he didn’t hold a rally on the Champs Elysées). Or is his orthodox liberalism in many areas seeping through, while America remains a centre-right country? Others posit that the only halfway normal Americans who focus on the campaign in early August are the elderly, and they are demographically more in tune with John McCain.
Who knows for sure? My view is that McCain was always the most appealing Republican in the current atmosphere and Obama is, for many people, a less well-known and riskier bet. But two factors are undervalued. The first is Iraq. It’s easily forgotten but Obama’s candidacy would never have gained the slightest traction were it not for his opposition to the war from the start. It’s what distinguished him from Hillary Clinton and, in the midst of apparent chaos and drift in Mesopotamia, his campaign gave voice to those who simply wanted to cut American losses and move on.
However, there’s a difference between Iraq in mid2006 and Iraq in mid2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Sullivan can’t imagine why a crack-smoking homosexual like Obama wouldn’t be cruising to a landslide victory.
But but but...
he’s clean and articulate!
Sorry, but the elderly that I know are all in the Obama camp. They love him because they think he's going to give them freebies. This was, after all, the generation that raised the boomers and grew up under Roosevelt, and to them, there's nothing better than government intervention.
ROTFLMAO!!
Not really. Darcy was too reticent to mention his good deeds.
Obama pretends to have accomplished more than he really has.
Yeah, McCain should be way out in front.
I could not get all the way through this article
If Sullivan wrote a puff piece on egobama, I’d suggest the two should star in a movie called barackback mountain.
You obviously don’t know many of us. Despite what you children thing, we ARE NOT an entire generation of deadbeats.
Maureen Dowd and I cannot even agree on Mr Darcy’s attributes!
The first black candidate ever to be that way, according to Joe Biden.
Black? Wha...? Oh, I didnt’ notice.
By the way, did you know John Kerry was in VietNam?
I think most of those elderly are finally dying off. The current generation of “elderly” is probably more likely from the Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson years.
Sorry, but the elderly that I know are all in the Obama camp. They love him because they think he's going to give them freebies. This was, after all, the generation that raised the boomers and grew up under Roosevelt, and to them, there's nothing better than government intervention.
Well, I live in Central Florida, often called God's Waiting Room, and I'm a senior, and most of my friends and neighbors are for McCain. That's because most of us crafted a retirement lifestyle not based upon Roosevelt, but rather on conservative principles, since the government has never given us much, but rather has taken a lot.
The liberal leanings of Clinton and Obama are a put off to a generation that has worked hard all their lives and now want to live their lives out in contentment.
I’m 69 - - you don’t know what you’re talking about - - haven’t got a clue.
Well, my very first vote was for Eisenhower - my last one for our POTUS...
that said, I don't know's I care for your "those elderly are FINALLY dying off."
Sounds like some kind of delayed duty...
And my turn must be coming up?
Remember, barring unforeseen circumstances, you too will, one day be lucky to be, 'elderly'
Hello, Maureeen!!
How about this: he is TOO DAMN LIBERAL.
LOL, sorry to be unclear. My post definitely didn’t come out right. I was referring to the FDR welfare crowd. My first vote was for Nixon, so I’m no spring chicken, believe me.
I hope you live to be a hundred.
FRegards,
LH
What a laugh; right wingers going to personal attack; same old politics. Obama is about Change and Hope! Change the subject and Hope the skeletons stay in the closet!
I call BS on that statement.I,and every one of my friends over 70, believe in our country, rather than some slick politician.
Speaking that truth is to most the equivalent if drawing Mohamed with a bomb in his hat for a muslim. The greatest generation worship themselves and expect the same from the rest of us but the more honest description might be the greediest generation.
My mother (94) is solidly for McCain. Obama scares her. My inlaws (mid 80s) are for Obama. They think that McCain is going to start new wars but all that negative stuff about Obama is just lies. No logic at all.
I see that your getting lit up and I fully expect I will be as well, hope you have your flame retardant suit.
It depends on how you define "elderly."
Americans in their 70s and 80s lived through the depression and are all pretty solidly conservative as a result. Most millionaires in this country are in this demographic - people who lost everything as children in the depression, made average incomes as adults, but never spent money on anything that they didn't need, and lived long enough to accumulate small fortunes (which they will never spend and will end up leaving to their baby boomer children who will spend it all within a couple of years).
Americans in their 60s did not live through the depression. They are the generation between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers. Many are conservative but many are liberal.
All the polls that I have seen show that McCain will get nearly all of the votes from voters over 70 and most of the votes from voters over 60. Voters 50 and younger are split. Generally, the younger the voter, the more likely that they will vote for Obama.
Good reply. Thanks for your service too.
I don’t know a single older voter who likes Obama or plans on voting for him - outside of far left moonbat ones that would vote for a Democrat in any election. Most Dem voters in that age group are really put off by him. Some of that may change by Nov, but I think a good number will vote McCain.
I think you are going need a:
BOOKMARK
TG: gotta give livius a break on his/her perception of ‘the elderly.’ He lives in Florida, and I’m guessing Palm Beach or Broward County.
Livius ... you need to get out (of Florida) more to meet other seasoned citizens.
The problem with Obombo is his attitude ,plain and simple.
He wants to change the country ,he views this country as ALWAYS in the wrong and only he knows how to fix it ,oh yeah and his humble wife also . When he tells a 7 year old girl he is running for president because his country sucks that is Pathetic ,I listened to the talk that Alan West gave in New York he is the Candidate for Congress from Florida and it was such a contrast to what Both OBombo and McCain was saying it was wonderful !! A real breath of Fresh air , I recommend you looking it up on You tube and enjoy,if only a candidate was running who could find the time to speak like Mr West
God’s Waiting Room,,that’s the first time I heard that.
This is total horsecrap. In fact, August is a democrat month as Republicans are all on vacation, not answering phones. Been that way for years.
Furthermore, there has never been a final push where young voters come out in droves.
Here is one of the “elderly” that is certainly not in the Obama camp! Actually most of the folks I know here in Webster County, MO are Republicans. I know what you mean though about the seniors as a rule. Most of my family and my husbands family are seventy plus and they are all on the Obama side. For just the reasons you mention too.
After moving from Texas I was glad to find some like minded people here in the Ozarks.
Sadly, my own (elderly) mother plans on voting for him. And she doesn’t even live in Florida.
But then my mom, who would be 88 (God rest her soul), was an open-borders wing-nut and would be not only voting for Obama but WORKING for him. My dad would vote for him, too, but his daughter-in-law said she will NOT take him to the polls to vote in the Presidential. hahah.
Oh well...LOL!
Sadly, I do think that there are a lot of elderly people who like Obama's "government is your savior" message. Obviously, not all of them, and probably not those who post on or read FR. But one of the reasons Bush came out with the prescription drug program in an attempt to gain votes was that elderly (and by that I mean the parents of the boomers) Americans are very much into government support, government programs, government payments, etc.
A lot of them (including my mother and her friends) are very pro-abortion, supportive of fetal cell research, and in favor of things that just about make my hair stand on end when I hear them talking together.
Eeeeeewwwww
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