Obama's running mate

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I think it all depends on what you mean by "shake up." We have a Democrat-controlled Congress - does that mean we should also vote to turn Congressional control to the Republicans, to shake things up? Or, do we only want a shake-up as far as it replaces a Republican president, a selective shake up, so to speak?

I'm not trying to pick on you specifically, but I just find it interesting that a lot of the people who are talking about change, and about a shake-up, would want 1) to keep control the same in Congress and 2) would be so fired up over two Washington insiders in Obama and Biden. And, yes, Obama is a Washington insider, it's impossible not to be as a member of Congress.

I think the Obama camp made an error in not bringing Hilary on the ticket; there would have been some PR work to do in bringing on a former rival, but Obama's camp is pretty solid in PR (plus the press LOVES Obama), and picking up most of those former Hilary votes could have widened the gap considerably.

Then again, I was listening to one of the political radio shows, and they were talking about the McCain-Bush battle in 2000, how something like 30-40% of McCain backers had said at the convention that they wouldn't back Bush, and how that number decreased to about 6% at election-time. So, I could definitely be wrong.

But, hey, I'm just a Republican who isn't all that thrilled with his own party's candidate, and is voting for him in a "lesser of two evils" context.

Congress, the Supreme Court, etc., are whole other balls of waxes. For my part, when I spoke of dislodging the entrenched politicos, I'm talking about the countless political appointees who have gotten way too comfy deep in the bowels of the agencies, affecting policy without most of the country having any idea or understanding of how it works. Same with the lobbying groups that have well-trod paths into and out of the executive offices. This is not to say the current lobbyists won't just be replaced by a new set of interest groups, but at least the paths might change slightly so the grass can have a chance to grow back on the paths that have been so worn down the past 8 years.