[FoRK] My real litmus test

[geege schuman]

godilovebloomberg.

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 10:19 AM, Jeff Bone <jbone at place.org> wrote:

>
> Really, when you get right down to it, my real litmus test is the
> following:
>
> Which candidate in each of the possible two-way major-party matchups will
> be the most moderate?  Which will exercise the most moderation and display
> the most centrality in both their choices of legislation to promote and to
> sign (or veto), and which will surround his- or herself with the widest
> variety of divergent viewpoints in order to ensure a closer connection to
> reality rather than the kind of partisan-extremist virtual reality that Bush
> has lived in for 8 years?
>
> Admittedly, none of the candidates are really moderates.  So the question
> becomes who will be the most moderate / least extreme on the issues that
> matter?  And how do we weight those issues.
>
> I was surprised (like many, I suspect) -- though I quickly figured out --
> what a severe crypto-extremist Bush II was.  Extremists scare me more now
> than they ever have before, and I'm just as concerned about an
> overcorrection to the opposite extreme as I have been about Bush for most of
> his two terms.  The *last* think this country needs is to be whipsawed in
> the opposite direction;  I believe that would be just as bad, and in some
> ways worse, than a continued play-out of current policies (which I don't see
> happening with any of the three candidates in any case.)
>
> There's one action Obama could take that would persuade me that he's the
> more moderate candidate in the McCain-Obama matchup.  He could make good on
> his claim of non-partisanship by appointing a centrist or economic-right
> believer, a pro-business and pro-free market individual, as his running
> mate.  A few weeks back there was this admittedly rather incredible rumor
> flying around that Obama had been talking to Bloomberg as a possible veep.
>  That sort of thing would convince me of the substance of Obama's claims to
> moderation.  But I seriously doubt you're going to see that happen.
>
> Lacking that, nothing I've seen persuades me that Obama's more moderate
> than McCain.  In the Hillary-McCain matchup, the choice isn't nearly that
> clear.
>
> $0.02,
>
> jb
>
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