Over at Prawfsblawg, Rick Hills wonders if any of the presidential candidates can win the LaFollette Award, his prize for a candidate who is willing to "distinguishes himself or herself by conscientious indifference to public opinion in the service of truth as he or she sees it."
But will either clinch the deal by saying something risky that they obviously believe? (Denouncing the gas tax holiday garners, at most, a tepid honorable mention). Will Obama actually admit that NAFTA neither cost nor created a lot of jobs? Or that eliminating outsourcing would probably also eliminate the Indian middle class and risk economic collapse of unstable economies? Will McCain admit that tax breaks in an era of runaway deficits are silly and demagogic? Will either admit that slogans on Iraq regarding withdrawal time are essentially meaningless, because the situation there is too volatile to predict more than a week in advance? In short, will either address the voters as mature adults rather than as drunken fans at a tailgate who cannot understand sentences too long for a tee shirt?
But will either clinch the deal by saying something risky that they obviously believe? (Denouncing the gas tax holiday garners, at most, a tepid honorable mention). Will Obama actually admit that NAFTA neither cost nor created a lot of jobs? Or that eliminating outsourcing would probably also eliminate the Indian middle class and risk economic collapse of unstable economies? Will McCain admit that tax breaks in an era of runaway deficits are silly and demagogic? Will either admit that slogans on Iraq regarding withdrawal time are essentially meaningless, because the situation there is too volatile to predict more than a week in advance? In short, will either address the voters as mature adults rather than as drunken fans at a tailgate who cannot understand sentences too long for a tee shirt?
It seems rather odd that Professor Hills fails to acknowledge that McCain has said some rather unpopular things on withdrawal from Iraq. I also am not entirely sold on the notion that tee shirt slogans don't convey valuable information that many voters use intelligently, but that's a whole other subject.
Do any of the candidates deserve Professor Hills' LaFollette Award?
2 comments:
Fred Thompson might, if it was a Bronson La Follette Award.
Not to mention McCain's stance on global warming. He's sticking to that, even though the conservative base strongly disagrees.
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