A New President, Remastered edition
 

The last thread got canned for it's initial premise so basically,
What do you think of the candidates running for president and what do you think they'll do in office or their chances of getting there?

Personally, I find it hard to judge any of them as the campaign seems mostly about character and flash over actual discussions and policies. In part this is probably due to the limitations of the ability of the President to initiate reforms etc etc but they certainly have the ability to direct things but such stuff are seemingly not discussed, in lieu of big, meaningless ideologies.
It starts to boil down to a popularity campaign and a very expensive one at that.

Beyond that, I am really concerned regarding Fenris's concern that Obama will be assassinated if he gets to be President. I have hope that if Obama should get the Democratic nomination, he will be smart enough to choose a running mate who wouldn't arrange for him to have an "unfortunate accident."

Honestly, I don't think it's a concern. If Obama gets the nomination, Senator Clinton will most undoubtedly be his running mate as it covers the largest spectrum of Democratic vote-get. It's a great pairing, in my estimation: Obama's idealism and charisma on point with Clinton's political savvy, experience, and ability to come up with plans that work and make America better working in the background.

And I don't think Hillary's capable of murder or the conspiracy to commit it, if that's what you're getting at. Sure, she wants to be President but there's nothing in her history that suggests she's willing to kill an innocent man just to get a slightly more prestigious job.

Also, seriously, the Secret Service has gotten very good at what they do. Do you have any idea how hard it is to assassinate a sitting US President in this day and age? It's not like you can just gun him down while he's waiting in line at the train station anymore, you know.

I'm curious as to why people think Obama would get murdered if he was president.

I don't know of anyone but Fenris who has expressed that viewpoint.

Neither Obama nor Clinton strike me as particularly promising or inspiring. Both seem wedded to the same style of insider, image-centric politics, and neither has demonstrated any capacity for using the power they do have to any significant good use. I have been given no reason to believe that a US under Obama or Clinton will be a country that doesn't torture, that gets out of Iraq, that develops a healthcare system geared towards the public good rather than the enrichment of pharmaceutical and insurance companies, that is less disposed towards spying on its citizenry, that breaks up the conglomeration in an increasingly few hands of the nation's mass communications aparatus, that strengthen the ability of unions or of individual workers to negotiate fairly for the value of their labor, or pretty much any other thing that would significantly improve the lot of the overwhelming majority of this nation's citizenry.

Obama has better rhetoric, but every few weeks he denounces gay people, or cites Reagan as a model president, so on balance I have no major use for one over the other. Either would be better at the margins than whichever Republican counterpart, which seem variously willing to openly advocate for authoritarianism, theocracy, or the corporatization of government.

Edwards seems at least rhetorically willing to address systemic problems - which in the way of these things has led to an abundance of concern in our national media for the price of his (and only his) haircuts - but he didn't seem to have this concern when he was an actually sitting US Senator so who even knows how well his convictions would hold if he actually got into office.

Barring some particularly effective smear-tactic for the general election the victory of Obama or Clinton looks like a foregone conclusion. All in all I should probably be casting about for a meaningful local Congressional race to which I can devote my time and energy.

In that case, who do you want to see as President?

Russ Feingold, but he's not looking for the job.

Ah. Well, which of the current people running for President would you like to see as President?

None of them. Though I would like to not see Clinton and Obama less than I would not like to see McCain, Huckabee, or Romney.