Hillary Makes a Point

From Yglesias:



"Anyone who's undecided is undecided because their gut tells them it's a close call. Table-pounding does more to suggest that the pounder lacks perspective than it does to persuade. But if to be effective you can only try to nudge people gently, then it's just going to be very difficult to have a large effect."



Right. For all the wit, wisdom, college degrees ,and viterol that Rush, Coulter, Hannity, Sully and the Kos crowd eschew at varying levels they fail to realize that in the grand scheme of things all their rants don't really matter. In a manner all they are (and yeah, I'll include myself), are glorified sports reporters sitting around wondering if the Celtics or the Spurs are going to win the NBA championship. But the difference is that while I really don't think that they believe that their words are going to change the outcome of a game, pundits really do think their thoughts and speculations have LIFE CHANGING results.



Of course, the dynamic is quite different as an election does hinge on popularity, which is linked to perception, a perception that pundits try their best to create. But they really do overhype their ablities and completely forget about the individual citizen, simplifing them into a label; black, white, man, woman, etc. (And yeah, I do it too).



This morning as I happened to be listening to the Steve Harvey radio show and his guest was Hillary Clinton. She made her stump, and I began to phase out when she said something that was not only correct, but stuck me as unusually wise. She stated that in this election people are really torn about their decision; and, while I was waiting to hear her jump in about why she is the better candidate, she simply respected the voters' difficult choice. In a moment where everyone is trying to convince you of something it was refreshing to hear someone say that regardless of who you chose just making this hard choice is worthwhile; the essence of democracy. This is a point that I think pundits rarely recognize because either they're ideologues and zealots, or their financial success hinges on their foresight (unless you're Bill Kristol). Yes, sometimes choices are cut and dry, but this isn't one of those decisions. While I support Obama I can't say Hillary is anywhere near as incompetent or corrupt as Bush nor is her ideology conservative. I simply think that Obama's the better candidate because he can push a liberal agenda through with a greater ease than Clinton.