The least worst

It's that time of year.  Time to pick someone you maybe aren't thrilled with, over someone you think is even worse.

What do people look for in a presidential candidate?  Or, more importantly, what are desirable traits in a president?  Well, leadership, obviously.  Hopefully an understanding of how government works, and of the world in general.  Diplomacy skills.  Intelligence.  A good organizer.  A good mediator.  Someone who projects calm and seriousness, so he'll seem presidential to the country and the world.

Hm.  Does any of that sound like Mitt Romney?  Not to me.  Oh, maybe he's been a good leader of businesses.  But despite Republican raves, is that business skill really relevant for a president?  The U.S. president's job is a lot different than a CEO's.  It involves more negotiation, more working together, more herding of cats.  And of course Romney's main accomplishments seem to be hollowing out companies, shipping their jobs abroad, and making a bunch of money for himself (we assume, since he won't tell us how much.)

Romney obviously doesn't have a clue about foreign affairs or diplomacy, and that's seriously scary in the current world.  He's already riled up lots of people in other countries (often among our friends, since he's such an idiot.)

He also clearly has no idea what it's like to be poor, or even middle class.  And so good luck getting him to understand what needs to be done at home.

Romney is a shapeshifting cynical git.  For all his imperfections, Obama isn't nearly as bad as he's been made out to be, and stands a better chance of making things better. And you know what?  We are better off than when he took office.  Not great, but better.

There are things I don't like about Obama.  I'm uncomfortable with some of the surveillance and detention policies, mainly continued from the Bush era.  I wish the economy were doing better, though I think it would have been a hell of a lot worse under McCain (or Romney.)  I think Obama hasn't been as good a leader as he might have been.  His negotiating style is a lot like mine: think about what a good end result would be, and propose that.  Hey, the other guys will recognize it as a reasonable solution, right?  That works with friends, but not car dealers, and certainly not with the modern Republican party.  Instead of asking for everything he wanted with healthcare, and negotiating towards common ground, Obama put forward a plan that included Republican ideas, and was based partly on Romney's Massachusetts plan.  And so- the Republicans fought it all, tooth and nail.  Because they're not interested in coming up with results that work for the country.  They're in it to win.  For themselves.  Damn the people, we're talking politics here!  Essentially, conservatives seem to be willing to destroy the country in order to "save" it.

So, for the first time in, wow, decades, I'm voting for a major party candidate for the presidency.  And it's the guy who wants to raise his own taxes, not the one who wants to lower his own.  So, the decent one, not the selfish bastard.