5 (Actually 6) Reasons To Be Optimistic For McCain

These come from a lecture I attended last week at my MA alma mater, UCL. The lecture was given by Adam Smith, the professor who taught my Lincoln course. He is a sharp and savvy observer of American politics both in the contemporary sense and historically. He is also a liberal supporter of Barack Obama. Like pretty much everyone else in higher ed.

Without further ado:

5 (really 6) reasons to be optimistic for John McCain:
- Obama's weak finish in the primaries (ed. note: performing 2.8% worse than he polled)
- The U.S. is still a conservative country.
- A relatively high number of undecideds (ed. note: who look like they're breaking towards McCain)
- race (ed. note: by this he & liberal pundits mean 'Americans are racist,' but a better way to understand it is that people don't want to be perceived as being racist, so they say they're voting for Obama when really they're voting for McCain. The so-called "Bradley Effect" or some derivative thereof.)
- older voters may determine outcome in OH, FL, IN, CO (ed. note: most of the people I've spoken with during my GOTV calling have been seniors. And they all said two things: 'I already voted' AND 'I voted for John McCain.' Small sample, whatever.)
- focus on taxes narrowing polls (ed. note: he couldn't have seen it, but those just tuning in have seen Obama the "Redistributor." And, Obama's desire to "bankrupt" the coal industry can't play well in Pennsylvania & Ohio.

There you have it, Smith's 5 (nay, 6) reasons to be optimistic for McCain. He gave 5 reason for Obama too, but I don't want to be a buzzkill. And I'm an eternal optimist, so there's that.


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