So we have finally got two candidates for the president of the United States.
Who do we have to chose?
Let's see who they are.
Barack Obama: His IQ is probably over 200. I watched the debates closely as I could and that's my conclusion. Obama has shown an enormous capacity to challenge whatever challenges him and present his views and ideas more coherently than anyone else in these primaries (that pertains to both democrats and republicans).
John McCain: His IQ is likely to be somewhat around 120 I'd say; and I say that because I respect the guy. He wasn't involved in anything closer to what Clinton and Obama had to go through. It was a relatively easy win for him. Let's be realistic;,there was only one candidate he'd had trouble with to debate (Romney). All the others were a joke.

I worry that in this election the winner will be the most canniest (you know like a little dog thing), not the most intelligent.

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Evgeny:

Barack Obama: His IQ is probably over 200.

 Lets not get too excited.   Anyone over 130 can be a nuclear physicist. He is nowhere near that.  Good speaker.  Good campaign strategists. Black votes.  Pretty face.  "Change"

That's it.

When thinking on his feet, he speaks very poorly by the way..  I notice a lot of pausing and misspeaking when dealing with "sensitive" situations and unexpected questions.  And he's been getting very few of those.

The way he handled the pastor situation was plain dumb, that was when McCain first surpassed him in national polling.  He had to react quickly before consulting with strategists, and looking at polls.

Evgeny:

 Obama has shown an enormous capacity to challenge whatever challenges him and present his views and ideas more coherently than anyone else in these primaries (that pertains to both democrats and republicans).

I would submit that he has not had many challenges to face (yet), the little challenges he turned into big ones, his views may have been stated coherently, but are not in line with his true views represented by his voting record, and i can only think of a couple of ideas that were coherennlty stated: health care and Iraq, and i think both are disastorous, and severely lacking detail.  The last part I don't criticize him for, that's how the game is played, i am just reacting to the assertion that he is above that.  He isn't.  One just hasto stop jumping and yelling, and start thinking.

Evgeny:

John McCain: His IQ is likely to be somewhat around 120 I'd say; and I say that because I respect the guy.

lol, what does his IQ have to do with your respect for him?

Evgeny:

He wasn't involved in anything closer to what Clinton and Obama had to go through. It was a relatively easy win for him. Let's be realistic;,there was only one candidate he'd had trouble with to debate (Romney). All the others were a joke.

You are forgetting that for a significant part of the nomination process, he was considered left for dead.  There was a time when he won a few states in a row (unexpectedly), when he started to be taken seriously.  Obama, on the other hand, was a given for years..  Was it the 2004 Democratic national convention (i think) when the media began calling him "the future of the democratic party"?    If anyone exceeded expectations, it was Hillary. 

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"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

Egor:

lol, what does his IQ have to do with your respect for him?

because I think McCain's IQ is probably lower than that, but I respect him and therefore I give him the highest.

Egor, I respect you too. You know more about all that political stuff then I do, and you are smarter than I on this subject (just trying to be objective).

Something tells me that McCain isn't the right guy for the job. Obama is not perfect either, but he has something that I find more appealing as a voter for the next president.

There will be debates between them, the race has just begun -- let's see what happens... I am not a democrat nor a republican. Time will show.
 

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I don't agree that I am smarter than you on any subject.  People WAY smarter than both of us combined couldn't even agree with each other on which side is right

I, like you, am an independent, always have been as long as i followed US politics.

And in some ways, Obama is more appealing to me as well.  So I understand his appeal.  I just think we've been hypnotized

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"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

I, too, am an independant, ( defined as not a member of the republican party )  though I am generally a conservative.   Course, nowadays, that makes me generally a republican cause there is NO conservative wing of the democratic party.   There used to be one, but not today.  However what I am about to say may suprise you.

 

I like Obama more than McCain.   I never in my life thought I would vote for a liberal democrat for President, but...

McCain represents to me more of the same.  And I don't think that's good for the country right now.   I gotta think about this some more.

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Make each day count to improve yourself and those around you

Mark, in the other topic, where you talk about you local economy, you are comparing against the good times in the past.  This is the way I think also, there is no need to reinvent the bicycle.  "More of the same", is what made this country the best in the world, its the reason we are all here (though some of us won't admit it).  We have to look squarely ONLY at the things that screwed it up (to the extent that they are screwed up), and those things are embodied in liberal ideas which is Obama's wing of the party. Some of these ideas were borrowed by the Bush administration (most notably - big goverment and deficits), and so now it appears like Obama is some sort of an alternative. 

What is he going to do for you that would change things? (just focusing on economics because of your other topic)  Raise your taxes to expand the governemnt? 

You are a conservative for a reason. 

And under a fiscally conservative economic leadership, the economy will cycle out of this very quickly - it always does.  And Bush and McCain are worlds apart on fiscal conservativism.  Obama is closer to Bush.  He is fooling everybody.

 

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"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

and another interesting moment in all this (after having re-read you economy post), is that what you are discribing is ripe for some sort of growth - even (i shudder to think) a manufacturing plant.  Even a low but steady salary (like teachers that you descibed) is a god-send to the people at this point, dollar is cheap, international transportation is expensive,  so its becoming profitable and convenient for everyone to do this in the US now.  What's in the way?  Everything that Obama wants to expand.  Taxes, benefits, pensions, unions.  That's it.  There's nothing else left that disadvantages the US in terms of manufacturing jobs.  Ask any industry.

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"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

somewhat off topic, but...   130 (or starting at 131) seems low to be a nuclear physicist. 

Egor:

Everything that Obama wants to expand.  Taxes, benefits, pensions, unions.  That's it.  There's nothing else left that disadvantages the US in terms of manufacturing jobs.

POM's translation into plain English:

 "under Obama, america will sort of resemble capitalistic version of the ussr under Brezhnev":-)

anyway, i again remind yalls that Obama got no chance. McCane ..McCain ,... hmm McKein (?) (oops..i never remember the spelling) will be the next pres. 

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pomidorchik:

 "under Obama, america will sort of resemble capitalistic version of the ussr under Brezhnev":-)

And if Brezhnev had to contend with global economy on top of all this, we would have all moved to the US a generation earlier

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"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

Your dead on right in your post Egor.  This area is ripe for some sort of growth.    Problem is always that one has to get from point A to point B. My goal is to be open when economic times improve around here.  God, I hope I can make it.

 Of course your right about what your pointing out about Obama.  It's just I have some kind of false hope about maybe, just maybe, we can get rid of all this division between the parties.  But this, too, may be a false illusion.   Thoughts?

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Make each day count to improve yourself and those around you

Well, I am not sure how i feel about the party divisions in the first place, there is right and wrong when all is said and done on every issue, in terms of what the people want.  So maybe its not all bad to vehemently disagree and present these options for a vote every 2/4 years.  I do not like though that the divisions in a 2-party system manifest themselves in having to use "what party am I in" instead of pure reason when addressing problems.

I think McCain does the latter, and Obama does the former.  I therefore see more unification under McCain than under Obama.  You know as well as I do, McCain cooperated across party lines all his life.  Obama hasn't tried once, and I am not sure on what grounds people think he will.  Things he has outlined have no bipartisan support, and they never will.  His voting record is even to the left of mainstream democrats.  You can't unite anyone under that.  Can you imagine the crap this country will go through when he is trying to get his healthcare plan through congress of a generally capitalist country?  Or when he starts pulling troops without asking questions?  You think you saw divisions before, you ain't seen nothing yet. 

McCain has democrats on board in some capacity on every idea he has.  Partly because he uses reason, partly because he is McCain - a career uniter, no democrat is ashamed to work with him.

Maybe people just hate Bush so much, they are calling themselves independents and uniting under the populist rhetoric of the other party.  But that's just election stuff.  Post election, time will come to face certain realities.  And I predict, if Obama wins, it will be the most disappointing vote for the greatest number of people in their lives.  Just my opinion right now. And its an easy prediction to make.  It's all hype, has all the characteristics of it.

 

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"Я это понимаю на рациональном уровне, но не могу принять на эмоциональном" --Бизнесмен Борис Березовский

I failed to see anything smart about Obama or McCain.

 

I want Ross Perot !! 

And a though of USA, just like USSR under Brezhnev makes me jump in joy !!

Based on US political system and somewhat succesfull elite renewphycation and update - that could be the golden age of man kind !!

Stability, peace efforts, jobs for everyone, funding for space programs .... perfect, perfect.

That argument made me go register and now I'm gonna vote for Obama ..  right Pom ?!?! it was him ?? 

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- Независимость - это когда в 20-й раз наступаешь на одни и те же грабли, а русские уже ни при чем....

KGBMan:

Stability, peace efforts, jobs for everyone, funding for space programs .... perfect, perfect.

 ..  right Pom ?!?

aha:-) and lots of vodka on top of that:-) 

 i think this country needs to chill out, stop obsessing with gas prices, and indulge itself in 4 years of heavy drinking and partying:-)

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A few months ago I got this email from some folks in Denmark who could not figure out why we are even bothering to hold an election:

On one side, we have a b!tch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer . . . and a lawyer who is married to a b!tch who is a lawyer.   

On the other side, we have a war hero married to a good looking woman with big t!ts who owns a beer distributorship. 

Is there a contest here?

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