Barack Obama essentially sealed the deal on the election tonight, and as someone who said in November of last year, in response to Jessica's query of who the next president would be, that it would be Obama, I'd like to detail why I think this is a good thing.
Obama can be a bit of a windbag. Yes, he is evasive on issues. When asked what he would cut, he talks about what he wouldn't cut. When asked what we should do about the financial meltdown, he is typically noncommittal, substituting an empty remark for a truly radical necessary change (which will likely be temporary nationalization of many banks).
However, there's one thing that puts Obama over for me: I think he values intellect, and I think he himself knows a lot.
McCain, frankly, doesn't. When McCain said tonight that he thought medical plans should be sold by an interstate scheme, Obama rightly pointed out that they tried that with credit cards, and all that happened was that every major credit card company moved to Delaware and South Dakota, where the state laws basically allowed any terms the banks wanted. I knew this, but Obama did too. McCain, seems not to know it. If he does know it, why would he really want such an obviously disastrous outcome? Does he genuinely want to screw people that much?
Moreover, Obama brings up things that I don't know about. He clearly seems to understand more deeply than I the Georgian dispute. McCain spews nothing but harsh rhetoric. Obama understands that Iran's young people are fundamentally against the Ayatollahs, and that we can capitalize on this only if we engage with them. Sanctions never work. Sanctions merely sow resentment among the people, who in turn continue supporting the awful leaders that the sanctions were meant to hurt. I didn't quite appreciate that until today, although I was aware of the attitudes of many young Iranians.
I also think Joe Biden knows more than me. I think, and I'm being honest, that a typical community college student knows more than Sarah Palin. Being able to name one newspaper, one Supreme Court case, and at least demonstrate that you understand what "doctrine" means, ought to be prerequisites for being in line for presidency. Stating that you represent Joe-six-pack is repellent: anti-intellectualism may play popularly, but it is disastrous for the world.
That's in essence what it comes down to. We live in a scientific-technological world, one with complexities. But also one with experts in those complexities. Obama, for his advisers, has respected and prominent economists and scientists on his team. McCain has ideologue Phil Gramm as his economic adviser, scientists who confuse embryos with fetuses, and a running mate who defies the opinion of every reputable climate scientist on the issue of global warming and thinks the world is 6000 years old.
Intellect is all that puts us at the top of the food chain. It's nice to see that someone who appreciates that fact is (probably) going be our leader.