Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Tom, I'm actually a McCain supporter, but I've enjoyed your thoughts on the subject and I think you make a good case that Obama will bring a lot of positive changes for both parties.

As it appears more and more likely that the only question left is how much Obama will win by, I was hoping to get your thoughts on how the margin of victory affects his governing:

If Obama scores a substantial victory (one that's called by 10/11:00 EST on election night), does that free him from having to worry about some of the more fringe elements of the left (Socialists, Protectionists), by claiming a broad majority win? Would that then allowing him to govern from the middle and unite the country? He could get all kinds of common sense compromise solutions on health care, trade, infrastructure, Iraq, and Iran without having to worry about pandering to the hysteria from either the extreme right or left. I could see this as a big benefit, just want to be sure that the big win doesn't encourage those leftist fringe elements that they have a bigger voice after the election.

I was entertaining the idea of a Mccain whitehouse, but having watched him fail to manage the campaign, and stay coherent under its stresses clearly demonstrated a lack of ability to govern. if he cant manage that, what kind of president will he be?

Not to mention the irresponsible language used by him and his VP choice.

As the political campaign of McCain-Palin turned ugly, and a sharp increase
of their supporters shout racially charged slurs as well as charging
Obama with alleged terrorist ties, I recall the ugly season that preceded
the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in Israel. At the time, the failure of
the opposing party (Likud) to denounce those calls as they happened,
fueled and emboldened extremists to act, the tragic outcome is one that
many would argue, Israel never fully recovered from.

If the McCain campaign continues down this road, they are emboldening
those extremes in our society that endanger everything we stand for,
failing to denounce those voices in unequivocal terms is a failure of
leadership, pure and simple.

Hi Tom,
After logging in to your site just about everyday for the last few years, it is shocking to see your smiling face looking right at me!
But ya know, it actually seems to have matched what I saw in my minds eye.
Strange the way that works isn't it?
Thanks for the good work.

The negative reaction to negative politicking is a hopeful sign. Perhaps humanity is slowly coming to the realization that preaching hatred & intolerance in a crowded world is like shouting “fire!” in a crowded theater. Future generations will likely consider hate mongering to be a crime against humanity.