LIVING POLITICS
Howard Fineman
Brothers in Arms
Obama and McCain are more alike than you think
In many ways, the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama could not be more vivid.
One man is military to the core, the other as civilian as they come. One is a descendant of admirals, the other of a goatherd. One has been in Congress for 26 years, the other for three. The two men disagree on everything from tax cuts to health care to the war in Iraq. The disparity in their ages--a quarter century--is the largest in presidential-campaign history. And, of course, Obama is the first "person of color" to be a major-party standard bearer; McCain cites his own "Nordic" genes for his vulnerability to the sun. It's old school versus new millennium.
As the conventions approach and the fall campaign begins, Obama and McCain are stepping up attacks on one another. Presidential politics is about choices, and the candidates want them to be as stark as possible. On the trail this week, Obama has sharpened his critique, calling McCain's economic policies a "disaster," while McCain has appealed to evangelicals with pointed summaries of his conservative views.
And yet the parallels, in life stories and approaches to politics, are as remarkable as the differences. Consider these examples:
Find a wife and build your base. McCain and Obama were wandering souls, politically and otherwise, until they met the women to whom they are now married. McCain was ostensibly from the Washington area, but really he was "from" the Navy, which meant everywhere and nowhere. He was eager to enter politics, but needed a political home. Arizona was it after he met the beautiful (and wealthy) Cindy Hensley, whose father owned a lucrative beer distributorship in Phoenix (McCain's first marriage ended in an uncontested divorce). McCain, a rootless Republican, dropped anchor in Barry Goldwater's conservative harbor, connected to a sea of future contributors.
Obama's story is similar--without the money. He, too, was a man with ambition but no convenient place to call home. He was born in Hawaii, and had most of his schooling there, but he also had lived in Jakarta, Los Angeles, New York, Cambridge, and Chicago. Only after he met a beautiful, Harvard-trained lawyer named Michelle Robinson did he decide once and for all that the South Side of Chicago--her lifelong neighborhood, where she and her family were well-known, well-connected and well-liked--was the place where he would build his career as a reform-minded Democrat. She gave him the political roots he had lacked.
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Member Comments
Posted By: Obamaismyguy @ 09/16/2008 11:55:28 PM
Comment: Even though I will never make the money you make, I would be willing to bet my life on the fact that I work just as hard (and probably harder) than you do each and every day to earn what I do.
When you start paying 40% of your income for a place to live, 15% of your income for utilities, 5% of your income for fuel for getting to and from work, and 15% of your income for groceries for a family of 3, then maybe, just MAYBE, you can complain that we are not paying our fair share in taxes. Until then, what you have LEFT OVER over at the end of every month, even AFTER you pay your taxes, would probably pay my monthly bills for 6 months. You have NOTHING to complain about. As my farmer father-in-law always said... "I'm happy to pay my taxes, because the more taxes I pay, the more money I'm making."
Posted By: careerdaytrader @ 08/25/2008 1:04:46 PM
Comment: Obama IS an idiot. You simply do NOT RAISE TAXES GOING INTO what will be one of the WORST RECESSIONS in last 20 years due to housing bubble, bank blowups and credit tightening. People are already spending less, its SPENDING by consumers that helps the economy. Any freshman in Economics 101 knows this.
Obama does NOT know this. So I could care less that he's black, really don't even care he was raised Muslim which he was till age 10, what I care about is he will DESTROY America.
And how can he ask ME to pay more in taxes, paid $107,000 last year, when he won't even help his OWN BROTHER George in Kenya who lives on $1 a day! Typical hypocrite, Obama could give him $1,000 that would radically CHANGE his own brothers life but he lets him live in total poverty. Obama is a moron, GREEDY, and a total Hypocrite. You are a MORON for believing his lies and NOT KNOWING the truth which is so clear to the intelligent in this country.
Posted By: HarleyisHere @ 08/25/2008 1:54:06 AM
Comment: Awe repigs, you're confused, if you don't vote for Obama, you a MORON not a racist. If you call him a MUSLIM, knowing he is not...you're a racist. If you're in that group of "older white males" who refuse to hear him, you're a racist.
As for "experience" ther are several 4 Star and lower Generals who say that being a prisoner does NOT a president make...and given mccains attendance record or rather his absence record of 61% gone, his congressional experience is questionable at best. Add to that the fact that for 8 yrs he has sided with bush 95% of the time and here goes the figures ;) :
25 yrs in congress
Present 38% of the time = 9.5 yrs out of 25yrs
VOTED with bush 95% of 8yrs = 7.5 yrs out of 8 (for a total of 6 mos out of 8yrs mccain did not agree with bush)
Let's see our final number shall we.
Time in congress where mccain was just mccain and not a lap dog for bush = 2.5yrs
2.5yrs of actual attendance that was not just BUSH yrs, hmmm who else has just over 2.5 yrs senatorial experience less all the corruption of a John McCain...hmmmm..