Friday Ennui pt.4 - presidential blah blah blah

So we have a charismatic traditional Democratic Senator and a nearly senile Republican Senator who has always been a corporate tool (see the Keating Five) and a darling of the media. In fact, both these guys are media darlings, which in itself makes them suspect. I think that the V.P.'s are meaningless in any real effect on the next 4 years, a Senate hack and a small-time politico from Alaska. Reason help us if either one of them become president. Supreme Court nominees and military policy are probably the only things that even the presidents can effect. McCain could nominate someone I don't agree with, but so could Obama - both are likely to appoint a statist of one stripe or another. McCain would likely use the military more, and it definitely needs a break, but Obama is more likely to make high-minded but naive Carter-like moves like Iran & the Panama Canal or bribing Egypt & Israel to remain peaceful. Neither one is the least bit appealing to me.

I'm not even really happy with the guy I'll vote for Bob Barr, because he spent years propping up the War on drugs, helped compose the Patriot Act, and ran Clinton's impeachment - which used up what was left of the momentum of the 1994 turnover. Now he's born-again libertarian, but I still find him suspect. He's wasting effort on the Texas ballot, instead of putting out a small govt. message that will appeal to disaffected libertarian former Republicans like many of us. Sigh...