Recent character judgements on McCain and Obama

Well, who knows what influence either Barack Obama or John McCain had on the bailout discussion? I suppose we will never really know. I don't understand a lot of the financial lingo when I read about it. That's ok -- this post isn't about policy, it's about character.

McCain offered to suspend his campaign until a solution was found. He proposed to postpone the first debate. Here is a move that he and his advisers had to know would be an unpopular decision and written off as a political stunt. They had to know that and they did it anyway.

Obama slammed him for it. I can't find the exact quote now, but he said something like I think we can have a 90 minute debate and still find time to solve the problem. And I'm not surprised. Here is a man who has served at the federal level for 3 and a half years. After two years in that office he began campaigning for his next office. By the time the general election happens, half his time in his current job will have been spent looking for his next.

I wouldn't expect a man who's always had his eyes set on his next job to understand postponing his campaign for a few days. Maybe he can't because he's barely ever been in office without campaigning; only 3 years after he was in the state senate of Illinois he was campaigning for a federal position (he ran unsuccessfully for the House in 2000). I'm not sure I can buy that this is a guy who is really interested in politics to serve the public. Sounds more like a guy trying to serve himself, a guy who has always had eyes for the presidency, a guy who isn't really about change.

I gain respect for a man who is willing to do the job he has, especially if it means a sacrifice, who says afterwards: "Whether I helped or hurt, I'll be glad to accept the judgement of history." I lose respect for a man who won't prioritize the job he has over the one he's trying for, and who after not putting his job first still tries to take credit for the results: "[The proposed provisions] are identical to the things I called for the day that Secretary Paulson released his package. That I think is an indication of the degree to which when it comes to protecting taxpayers, I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions."

In spring of 2007, someone asked me who I would be if I could be any politician for a day. I said Barack Obama so I could see if he was full of crap or not. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'm leaning more and more towards yes.

On lowering the drinking age

"If I can vote, I should be able to drink a beer." I can't tell you how many times I've heard this as the end-all-be-all argument for a lower drinking age than 21. College students love to use it. And apparently so do college presidents. Have you guys heard of the Amethyst Initiative? 129 college presidents have signed a statement advocating a drinking age of 18. They think it will curb binge drinking amongst college students because a legal age of 21 creates a "culture of dangerous, clandestine 'binge-drinking.'" A quick aside: Robert Shelton refused to sign.

My question is this: is it really reasonable to say that college students won't binge if they can drink legally?

Short answer: No. Long answer: Hell no.

Students drank heavily before 1984, when states were pushed by the federal government to set a drinking age of 21. Students drink heavily in other countries where they can drink beer at 16. And, of course, students drink heavily in this country when they aren't yet 21. Just lowering the drinking age isn't a magic fix. Some have said college presidents just want to not be responsible for their students breaking the law.

I think the drinking culture that surrounds college doesn't come from a law. It comes from our perception of college. We think just as much about the social side of college as we do the academic side. And for a lot of people, going to college after high school is a way to put off adulthood. I'm not even sure I'm exempt from this part -- my parents paid my whole way through college. The solution to students binge drinking is not changing a law, it's changing our perception of what a university education is about.

Back to the beginning of this post -- if people are responsible enough to vote at 18, why aren't they responsible enough to drink alcohol? Well, are 18 year olds really responsible about voting? Most 18 year olds I know could care less about politics. Those that are into it often regurgitate what their parents or friends say. Maybe 18 year olds shouldn't be allowed to vote either. Or maybe they should have to prove they can handle the responsibilities of adulthood, and when they do we can allow them to vote and drink and have other adult privelages. But simply changing an age isn't a solution, it's a cop-out, an easy way to push a problem into someone else's lap.