Airs – Ian Lance Taylor

No Difference?

I watched the vice-presidential debate last night. It was reasonably interesting, but not all that exciting. I was hoping that Sarah Palin would address the obvious impossibility of the U.S. becoming self-sufficient in energy by drilling for more oil, but no such luck; when Joe Biden pointed out the numbers (4% of world oil reserves, 25% of world oil consumption), she simply didn’t respond.

One thing that was clear from the debate was Biden and Palin have very different positions on a number of issues. So I was honestly quite surprised to see on CNN (I was watching at the gym, I don’t actually have cable) that several “young people” watching the debate felt that there was no real difference between the candidates (link). Only some people felt that way, and of course reporters can find somebody to say anything. Still I was very surprised.

Either these people are not paying attention, or the candidates are somehow not communicating to them. I wonder what sorts of candidates these people would really like?

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Ian Lance Taylor

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5 responses to “No Difference?”

  1. fche Avatar
    fche

    > It was reasonably interesting

    To my surprise, I could not sit through it. The Canadian federal leaders’ election debate was on at the same time and was much more entertaining and even substantial.

    > I was hoping that Sarah Palin would address the obvious impossibility

    I guess it’s obvious enough not to warrant a slice of that scarce air time.

  2. ncm Avatar
    ncm

    Probably the “young people” who didn’t see much difference saw them both as mouthing practiced windbaggery, each according to his or her capacity. It’s hard to disagree. Biden certainly loves to hear himself talk, and Palin loves the limelight.

  3. Ian Lance Taylor Avatar
    Ian Lance Taylor

    fche: I do still dream of an honest debate on the issues between U.S. politicians. I don’t know why this is an unattainable dream. Perhaps surprisingly, some of the best debates are on abortion: the issues are clearcut, easy to understand, and many politicians have thought about them in detail.

    ncm: They are both unquestionably politicians, but nevertheless there is a clear difference between their positions. Concluding that there is no difference between them seems very strange to me.

  4. rskrishnan Avatar
    rskrishnan

    From talking to a few late-teens and a couple of mid-twenties in my neighbourhood – the general response is “oh it really means nothing”. The general theme seems to be “can’t trust politicans to do what they say, so why bother with what they say” – which is a slight downer to say the least.

  5. Ian Lance Taylor Avatar
    Ian Lance Taylor

    While it’s a truism that one can’t trust politicians, surprisingly often they do at least try to do what they say. I recall that in 2000 many people said there was no difference between Gore and Bush—hence the strong support for Nader. However, they did in fact say that they would do different things, and in fact, before his administration was completely sidetracked by 9/11, Bush pretty much did what he said he was going to do. Not that that will convince anybody who isn’t prepared to believe it.

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