Obama at his best and the American Conservative

Things are pretty slow at work today so I was perusing my sites, as I usually do when work is slow. I happened upon an excellent article about Barack Obama that is going to appear in the New York Times magazine this Sunday. Here is a link to it http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/magazine/24Obamanomics-t.html?_r=3&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1219339680-2a0raZrdD3dBWTqenBJlWg

The thing I like best about Barack Obama is his economic views. I like the way that he is oriented towards empirical research and the nuances with which he develops his prescriptions. He is very much an intellectual in his approach to solving a problem; he consults with experts on the subject, he looks at historical evidence, and he is willing to change his mind when it is shown that his views are wrong (his treatment of corn ethanol being the most prominent). Although most things do not work in practice nearly as well as they work in theory, I think that molding the best of each particular philosophy has the best chance for success in the future. Taking the economic growth of the Milton Friedman/University of Chicago/Reagan-era style of economics while smoothing out its inequalities. Taking the infrastructure building of Keynesian economics while trying to trim its bloated bureaucracy. And taking the Clinton-era's deficit hawk attitude, while making sure to keep a better eye on the fortunes of the middle and working class. It's a tough juggling act, but that's why it's good to have a president willing to listen not only to trusted advisors, but people who do not share the same outlook that he does. It's okay to have a grand vision, an ultimate goal, but it's never too wise to get married to the details, and I think that Obama's style and his vast intellectual capacity will give him much more wiggle room in designing a better course for our nation.

I've been critical of Obama on several things; his acceptance of the horrendous FISA bill and his general views on other issues of civil liberties, his embarassing genuflection at the altar of AIPAC and the hard right Jewish lobby, and his unwillingness to hit hard at McCain (although he's certainly been pouring it on in the past few weeks, a very welcome change). Some people have taken this to mean that I do not want Obama to win, that I am not going to vote for Obama, one person even asked me if I was for McCain. I understand the fear that a lot of people have, after the debacle of a presidency that has occurred these past eight years many people believe that NOBODY should criticize our man, lest we lose a close election once again. The fact that Obama's black already gives a lot of people a reason to not vote for him, regardless of what his critics say. I understand these fears completely but I cannot for the life of me acede to them. One of the (many) criticisms of the Bush imperial presidency is that he is unwilling to take dissent in his ranks, everyone must fall in line, his staffers, Congress, and citizens. It's going to take a lot to escape the damage that the imperial presidency has done to our government culture, but a start is a willingness to once again listen to and consider dissent.
Not hysterical dissent, not dissent just for the hell of it, not the kind of dissent/disagreement which plagues our news media, the kind that means getting one crazy right-winger and one crazy left-winger and having them scream at each other, take each other completely out of context, take one misspoken word and jump on it without seeing the big picture. In other words, not the dissent that has characterized the neo-conservatives completely dishonest and dishonorable way of thinking- it's that type of thinking that spawns the Ann Coulters and Jonah Goldbergs of the world.
One of the best political revelations in the past year has been my enjoyment of Pat Buchanan's magazine, The American Conservative. I have nothing good to say about Pat Buchanan, but he has assembled what must be the last group of sane conservatives on the planet for his magazine. It is refreshing to read level-headed, non-neocon, true conservative arguments, delivered in a logical and honest tone. I do not agree with a lot of what they have to say on domestic policy (although they are actually decent both on foreign and for civil liberties), but I find myself actually enjoying my reading. I would describe myself as on the left side of the political spectrum- I am damn near a social libertarian and I think Obama article above sums up pretty nicely my views on the economy.(The only difference I guess is that I think I'm more pro-union than Obama. I work for a union and my economic views place me on the right of most of the organizers but right in line with the researchers). But overall I enjoy being challenged on my views, as long as the person challenging is willing to listen, willing to actually consider evidence and is not dishonest. Any liberal who doesn't mind having their views challenged should take a look.