Barack Obama vs. John McCain

[David In Indy]

Please don't vote for who you would LIKE to see win the Presidential election, but rather who you honestly THINK will win the election in November 2008.

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Personally, as much as I hope and wish Barack Obama wins the presidency in November, I think John McCain will be our next president. One of the things that makes me nervous about Barack Obama being the Democratic nominee (and I voted for Obama last Tuesday) is many of the conservative, rural Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries, will switch to Republican and vote for John McCain this fall.

What do you think?

[louisev]

whoever gets nominated for the Democrats wins.  McCain's platform of Bush's 3rd term will win over exactly that 28% who believe Bush is doing a good job.

[injest]

I voted McCain. I think there is just too much for the Republicans to make hay with there for Barack to win.

[Nevermore]

I agree.
There's this thinking out there that Barack Obama somehow spoiled Hillary Clinton's run for the Presidency, but when I actually poll (informally of course) registered Democrats why they voted for one or the other, there are two quite distinctive schools of thought--it's not down to a coin toss between two worthy candidates as the media supposes. It wasn't Obama that presented Sen. Clinton's biggest obstacle, it was the unlikely emergence of Sen. McCain as the Republican contender--who would have thought it?
Obama appeals to the idealists, Clinton appeals to the pragamatists. Clinton did so well among older women not because they're women but because they're older, and therefore remember other "breaths of fresh air," McGovern, Carter, Gary Hart, Ross Perot, and yes, the current president. Obama supporters have further alienated these independent-to-center-leaning voters by implying that racism must of course be at the heart of their reasoning, when in actuality, the attitude could be summed up as their impression of Sen. Obama was that he was only 46 years old, a junior senator, and simply not ready for prime time.
I've been to an Obama rally and I've been to a charsimatic revival, and found the atmosphere in both places similar.  Someone here keeps comparing it to "drinking the Koolaid."
Well, not everyone has drunk of the Koolaid. Come November, when it's time to mop up the mess left over from the outgoing administration, I think most voters will decide to hand over the job to a seasoned veteran rather than an untested rookie.   It's the same type of thinking that informed the choice of Clinton over Obama--assuming he ends up the Democratic nominee, Clinton voters will shift their support to the other seasoned veteran. It really is as simple as that.

[jstephens9]

I do not think Bush is doing a good job at all nor do I really like McCain at all, but the thing is that I do not like Obama at all. In fact I find him to be quite scary. I have no idea what this man is into and the idea of finding that out makes him even scarier. I am not a conservative Democrat at all; however, I have been a Democrat all my life and if Obama gets the nomination this will be the first time I vote for a Republican. And the fact that not liking Obama somehow makes me a racist as some suggest even makes me madder. I am not and never have been a racist. My dislike of Obama has nothing to do with his color. It has to do with him. I would never vote for someone with an attitude like his regardless of what color he or she was. I am not even in love with Hillary since she has her own problems, but her problems are far less in my mind than Obama's. I really do not think there is a good choice among the candidates, but I certainly would vote for her over the others.

[David In Indy]

I do not think Bush is doing a good job at all nor do I really like McCain at all, but the thing is that I do not like Obama at all. In fact I find him to be quite scary. I have no idea what this man is into and the idea of finding that out makes him even scarier. I am not a conservative Democrat at all; however, I have been a Democrat all my life and if Obama gets the nomination this will be the first time I vote for a Republican. And the fact that not liking Obama somehow makes me a racist as some suggest even makes me madder. I am not and never have been a racist. My dislike of Obama has nothing to do with his color. It has to do with him. I would never vote for someone with an attitude like his regardless of what color he or she was. I am not even in love with Hillary since she has her own problems, but her problems are far less in my mind than Obama's. I really do not think there is a good choice among the candidates, but I certainly would vote for her over the others.

That is often the problem, isn't it Jack? NONE of the candidates are very good, and we must simply try to vote in the person who will do us the least harm. It's really pitiful, but it's the truth.

I'm very nervous about this next election. Because no matter how you slice or dice it, I think we'll probably have yet another 4 years of misery. I wish JUST FOR ONCE we could have an HONEST president. But I don't think it's possible.

Let's just hope whomever is voted into office this November will do a better job than George Shrub.

[injest]

I do not think Bush is doing a good job at all nor do I really like McCain at all, but the thing is that I do not like Obama at all. In fact I find him to be quite scary. I have no idea what this man is into and the idea of finding that out makes him even scarier. I am not a conservative Democrat at all; however, I have been a Democrat all my life and if Obama gets the nomination this will be the first time I vote for a Republican. And the fact that not liking Obama somehow makes me a racist as some suggest even makes me madder. I am not and never have been a racist. My dislike of Obama has nothing to do with his color. It has to do with him. I would never vote for someone with an attitude like his regardless of what color he or she was. I am not even in love with Hillary since she has her own problems, but her problems are far less in my mind than Obama's. I really do not think there is a good choice among the candidates, but I certainly would vote for her over the others.

Yes, he is too much of an unknown quality...I don't like it.

And I know that there are websites out there that have more info on him...but it is HIS job to get me to vote for him and so far I am not convinced...

[jstephens9]

That is often the problem, isn't it Jack? NONE of the candidates are very good, and we must simply try to vote in the person who will do us the least harm. It's really pitiful, but it's the truth.

I'm very nervous about this next election. Because no matter how you slice or dice it, I think we'll probably have yet another 4 years of misery. I wish JUST FOR ONCE we could have an HONEST president. But I don't think it's possible.

Let's just hope whomever is voted into office this November will do a better job than George Shrub.

I'm glad we are in agreement about our choices since I truly am not impressed at all from what we have to choose from. I truly hated to comment in a way about this since I consider you to be one of my closest friends on the forums. That bothered me since your friendship is much more important. I never want something as bad as politics to hurt my friendship with anyone. And yes you are right it is hard to believe anyone could be worse the George W. Bush. He has just about destroyed this country and has taken so many lives through death and through injury. It is truly a shame.

[Brown Eyes]

Clearly, I'm a Hillary supporter and I would love to see her win the nomination.  Realistically though it's looking more and more like Obama will get it.  If Obama is the Democratic nominee, I'll happily vote for him in the general election against McCain.  And, I think Obama can win against him, but I do think Obama will have a harder time than Hillary would.  I say this based on the states that Hillary has won vs. Obama.  Yes, technically he has more delegates, but he's won so many of his states/delegates in places where he (and any Democrat) clearly won't win in the general election.  Also, I think Hillary has so much experience dealing with negative attacks from Republicans for most of her public life... that I think she could wage a fierce campaign against McCain.   

I think a McCain presidency would be way, way to similar to a Bush presidency... especially since McCain seems to have grooming himself to become (or at least to appear) more right wing than he seems to have been in the past.  And, it's not at all a strategy that appeals to me and I am very much against McCain's war policy.

My ideal would still be Hillary and Obama as a single ticket.  And, I think it really should be Hillary as president and Obama as V.P., which would position him well to run again for president down the line when he's more tested/experienced.

[jstephens9]

I agree Amanda that it should be Hillary as President and Obama as VP. I can handle that, but I cannot handle it the other way. I will not vote for the ticket the other way. I know what you mean about McCain and the war. That is where I am against him the most, but I wonder what Obama would really do about that. Again, I find Obama to be very scary. It is very unclear to me where this man stands on anything. He knows how to make speeches and look good for the cameras, but where does he really stand? The media loves him, the democrats love him, Ted Kennedy loves him, but I don't. I have tried to look at him in a positive light, but I just don't see the positive in him at all. I definitely would be one of those strong, lifetime democrats that will vote for McCain if Obama is put in as the nomination. He scares the hell out of me!!! This country is already in bad shape and I'm really scared to think what will happen if someone like him gets that amount of power.