I don't get Obama

My guy is staying in the race. He's almost certainly not going to win, but he was never exactly given much of a chance by anybody. Libertarians are plenty used to losing elections. The important thing about the Paul campaign was the message. Sure, the sorts of irascible malcontents who voted third party in '04 had heard of limited constitutional government, but to many, the message was new. It wasn't really new, of course, as Paul's foreign policy is built on the thoughts of men like Washington and Robert Taft. But when the Republicans took us to war, and the Democrats failed to take us out of it again, and Paul began to question the policies that lead us into such senseless wars, people sat up and listened.

They also gave money, which allowed the Pauline message to percolate through the masses. Only a small percentage of people have been receptive thus far, but the campaign did better than expected. And since there was never a huge chance that Paul would win, his campaign was focused on getting the message out to as many people as possible. Once you've realized that there is an alternative to the Big Government Interventionism of the Republicans and the Bigger Government Interventionism of the Democrats, there's no way you're going to vote for McCain, Hillary, or Obama.

Which leads me to my question. If someone asked me why I support Paul, I would explain, in no little detail, the positions for which he advocates and with which I agree. I like his fiscal policies, even the bit about the gold standard; I like his foreign policy, especially the part about bringing all of our troops home. But I'm not sure why people support Obama. Sure, he's for hoping--with audacity--and change, but these aren't policies; they're senseless platitudes.

I accept that Democrats who don't like Clinton would lean toward Obama. I have qualms with voting for someone one is only mildly enthused about, but that's a separate issue. I'm talking about the people who think Obama is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The passion of the Paulites is understandable. Libertarians don't usually get this much press, and I'm just as likely to follow closely the next one who manages to do so. But why the passion for Obama? John Derbyshire, a fellow Paulite, is wondering the same:

Is O'Bama's the Campaign About Nothing? If the guy is not an empty suit, he's been playing a l-o-n-g game. Several bloggers have been digging into his legal/academic career in hopes of turning up some paper he published, some forthright opinion he committed to paper. So far, next to nothing. For someone with O'Bama's résumé, this is wellnigh incredible.

Either O'B made a long-strategic decision very early on in life that he was going to climb the political ladder, and that therefore the less of a trail of opinions he left behind him, the less trouble he'd get into; or he really is a quite exceptionally empty suit. Which is it? Which is scarier?

Now, unlike Derbyshire, I see little reason to be frightened by Obama. He exhibits fascist tendencies, to be sure, but all of the candidates running are totalitarians, of various degrees. I've been reading Jonah Goldberg's excellent Liberal Fascism, and I was just itching to throw out both words, the latter an invention of Mussolini which he applied... to himself. I'm not scared, then, not because I think a Hillary/Obama/McCain presidency would be benign--I think all would be extremely harmful--but because it makes very little sense to be afraid over that which we cannot control.

One of the reasons I've blogged so little as of late is that I have so little interest in the upcoming election. The only possible conservative defense in voting for McCain is that he will get to nominate strict constructionists to the Supreme Court. But that's not the sort of thing McCain has made his mark doing. It's probably a moot point since he's not going to win, but if dealt a Democratic Congress, he's going to compromise with the liberals like he's always done. It's worth mentioning, at present, that the Supreme Court is filled with seven Republican appointees; yet it's still divided.

I wasn't intending to go on an anti-McCain rant, not today anyway. Instead, if there are any Obama supporters of the gung-ho variety, who could help explain their candidate to me, I'd be eager to listen. The other day, I saw one of his ads on television, promising to save $2,500 per family on HealthCare costs, while managing to cover everybody. I listened for details, but I didn't hear any. If they exist, I'd love for someone to point me to them.