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Supporting McCain amid Obamamania
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Also by Cassie Kornblau:
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With “Change We Need” posters proudly plastered in windows across Madison, it’s no surprise that University of Wisconsin students share in the national trend of overwhelming support for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain.
According to a national study of 2,406 18- to 24-year-olds by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics released Wednesday, 56 percent of people in this age bracket are more likely to vote for Obama.
Even further, IOP data dating back to July showed young people tend to say they “trust” Obama more than McCain on eight out of 10 major domestic and foreign policy issues facing the country.
But for a small group of UW students favoring McCain, expressing their beliefs tends to pose a challenge on a very liberal campus largely populated by Obama supporters.
“Sometimes in my political science classes, if I take a Republican stance, students stop writing and stare at me,” said Jon Turke, a UW senior. “Republicans in Madison tend to get used to the idea people don’t favor your opinion.”
UW sophomore Becky Jentges said she usually does not voice her opinion because she is significantly outnumbered and people are strongly opposed to her views.
“There is a general reaction of ‘Why would you vote for McCain,’” Jentges said. “Liberals are supposed to be open-minded and open to people’s beliefs, but they tend to just judge you.”
Jentges, who opposes abortion and affirmative action, said she aligns more closely with both McCain and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s social stances but is outnumbered by the majority of students; she admits only two of her friends are voting Republican.
UW senior Hallie Slamowitz, who is an Obama supporter, said there are more Republicans on campus than people think but believes Republican students tend to suppress their views unless they are very outspoken and willing to get into a debate.
Slamowitz said since 75 percent of people match their parents’ party identification there are naturally many conservative students on campus because areas of Wisconsin are quite conservative.
“It is hard for them to voice their opinion, especially when Wisconsin is such a liberal campus,” Slamowitz said.
Slamowitz said the main reason she is voting for Obama is because of the potential vacancy in the Supreme Court during the next presidential run, adding if McCain won he could potentially appoint conservative justices who could overturn decisions such as Roe v. Wade.
However, despite her alignment with Obama’s social stances, Slamowitz said she admits she does not agree with all of Obama’s positions.
“Just because you are a Republican doesn’t mean you agree with every one of McCain’s stances,” she said. ” I don’t agree with every one of Obama’s stances even though I am more liberal than conservative.”
UW senior Liz Burns, who plans to vote for McCain, said Republicans do not always support everything McCain stands for.
Burns said she agrees with both McCain’s policy on the war in Iraq and economic stance on taxes but admits she disagrees with his anti-abortion stance.
“There are some things I definitely agree with Obama on,” Burns said. “But I like how McCain has experience and he is older.”
Turke said though he favors McCain’s national security stance, he admits he is more moderate socially, adding he is in favor of abortion rights and gay rights, which are more closely tied to the Democratic platform.
Although no one’s political stance matches every Democratic or Republican position exactly, Slamowitz said whatever people’s beliefs are, it is important everyone here at UW at least respects each others’ opinions.
“Everyone has their own opinion,” Slamowitz said. “We need to a least respect them.”
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I think the most interesting thing about this election will be how well the third-party candidates will do. Not that any of them will win, but it will just be fun to watch how many popular votes the major-party candidates lose to them. In the 1992 presidential race, Ross Perot stole enough popular votes from Bush to give Clinton a decisive victory. If Perot hadn’t run and all his votes wnet to Bush, Bush would’ve won.
In this election, both candidates are facing a major threat from third parties. On the liberal side of the fence, Obama faces the double threat from Green candidate Cynthia McKinney and Independent Ralph Nader. On the conservative side, McCain only has Libertarian Bob Barr to worry about. So even though Obama is ahead of McCain in the polls by a few points, he still has a little more to lose.
After Whig Party candidate Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) all the presidents and most of Congress were Democrats or Republicans. Considering that both parties really aren’t that different from each other, and considering the prevailing mentality among voters that voting is nothing more than choosing the lesser evil, third-parties can only grow in popularity. Anyone who’s read Amy Goodman’s recent column “Third parties in debate would make for better TV and better democracy” knows just how quickly the idea is catching on, this time for real. Third parties also seem to be more in touch with voters than the fly-by-night major parties who will only forget every hand they shook and every baby they kissed.
Welcome to the real world, big dogs! The days of the two-party monopoly on power in Washington are soon coming to an end.
Obama has been acting very strange lately. Anybody noticed? Consider the bailout. One week before that bailout bill was voted on in Congress, Obama’s supporters were saying “Nah! It’s a money grab boy the Republicans. Obama would never fall for it.” The following week, Obama does just that! Then his supporters do an about-face and say “Oh, um, hey, the bailout was needed! Obama HAD to vote for it, OK?!” And then, the week after the bailout vote, Obama abruptly changes his campaign slogan from “Change We Can Believe In” to “Change We Need.” Why was that so necessary? Did he somehow think a slogan change would make us forget that he voted for it? Or was he just, you know, planning ahead, like if the bailout worked it would mean less of a crisis for him to deal with if he gets elected?
Honestly, I don’t care for either candidate. I’m voting for Nader. There are alternatives to both candidates, just like there were alternatives to a taxpayer-supported bailout. Good luck to all. I have a feeling that’s what will be keeping this country going from now on.
Obama supporters have real a-holes lately. Some of McCain’s supporters have been kind of like that too, but my vote will go to the candidate whose supporters f* off and let voters decide on their own. You know who you are.
Cassie,
“Overwhelming support” does not apply to someone with just 56 of college age voters ‘likely’ to vote Obama. 56% is just 6 point above 50/50. That is tepid, shallow enthusiasm, at best.
As for Mr. Obama, the “I just want to help the little guy” populist, you really have to admire the chutzpah of this liberal lightweight. Both of the Obamas availed themselves of the government guaranteed student loan programs, racking up large loan bills while in college. Then they made the minimum payments allowed while they were each knocking down salaries of +$100,000. They didn’t pay off the loans in full until after Barry was elected a Freshman US Senator, Michelle was getting paid +$300,000…. and they were +40 years old.
These parasite cheapskates are part of the reason our nation is facing a financial crises. They are the poster children of the entitlement generation. Both of them could afford to pay these loans off early, enabling other truly needy students the opportunity to attend college. But their personal greed and ‘rights but no responsibilities’ liberal philosophy makes cheating the system and the truly needy a national Democrat past time. They and all of the other financially able parasites milking the guaranteed student loan programs endanger the financial stability of the program and the foundations of our very government. They speak of ‘helping the little guy’ but they cheat the system and help themselves at every turn. The Obamas are the antithesis of President John Kennedy’s call to humble national service when he said “Ask not what your Country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your Country!”
I also used guaranteed student loans, to keep myself in college when I had no other recourse financially. I paid the loans off in the 3 years following graduation, denying myself any luxuries like a new vehicle, because I KNEW other deserving kids needed the money also.
That’s what personal integrity and self respect is all about. It’s about doing the right thing, even if it means deferring personal gratififcation. It’s about doing the right thing, even if no one else would know if you chose otherwise. Clearly, this is asking too much of the Obamas and the modern entitled liberal.
Do you REALLY want these ethically weak, morally impaired, no integrity parasites in the White House? Do you REALLY think they are prepared to ‘fix’ a financial problem their own actions contribute to?
NoBama, NoWay! Keep the change…..
Alumni
Remember when Republicans used to make fun of students with victim complexes?
“Remember when Republicans used to make fun of students with victim complexes?”
Yeah, and now Democrats and other assorted liberal miscreants do the same. Interesting.
Another peculiarity about the bailout vote is the way the parties voted.
First, remember that the financial crisis was caused by people in the financial sector with strong Republican leanings-conservatives, in other words. And the idea to use federal tax dollars was a Republican idea as well.
Now look at the way the parties voted in both houses. More Democrats voted for the bailout than against it. More Republicans voted against the bailout than for it. Altogether, more Democrats than Republicans voted for the bailout. Kinda strange that the party that claims to care so much about working Americans actually voted for a rescue plan that was devised by the party that never cared at all.
Politics certainly makes for strange bedfellows. And to think that gay marriage is so strongly opposed by both parties. Or do they both have their own little secret twist on “don’t ask, don’t tell?”
I don’t understand why every conservative in this city always defends their views and plays the victim by saying that liberals are supposed to be “open minded”. Why is that the case? Maybe liberals are more empathetic towards certain issues like abortion and gay marriage. But I am not open minded to moronic Republican ideas that have been running us into the ground for the past 8 years! I am here today to say that I am liberal and am not open minded to conservative ideas that are idiotic, poorly conceived, and poorly validated.
I seriously think they should invoke some sort of test before you vote on election day. Almost all the people i talk to know nothing about either candidate, but they are voting for Obama because he promises “change” and “breaks for the middle class”. How can people not see that Obama isn’t qualified to lead the greatest country in America?
People talk so much trash about how Palin has no experience and wouldn’t know how to run the country if she were president. Look at Obama. He has less experience than her but yet the liberal media turns the other cheek.
I agree that both major parties are nothing more than a two-part conspiracy of brown-nosers who are only pretending to be opposing parties, thus giving us all the illusion that we still live in a democracy. And why is Obama being elevated to messiah status when his stand on the issues is no different than McCain’s? Everywhere he goes adoring fans worship him like he’s some kind of divine presence. You’d have to be the second coming of Jesus Christ to get that kind of attention!
McCain was a washout from the get-go. No need to elaborate on him. But Obama is the one I can’t understand. He’s just another party-line Democrat to me.
“adding if McCain won he could potentially appoint conservative justices who could overturn decisions such as Roe v. Wade”
That is a terrible reason to vote against McCain. Even if he isn’t pro-choice enough for you (btw, he is much more so than Sarah Palin, with the Dems in control of congress, there is literally no way that the balance of power on the SCOTUS will shift radically enough to overturn Roe. That much should be obvious. So, bad reason. FAIL.
If you’re going to rationalize, at least make it a good one.
Well boo freaking hoo. Republicans in Madison always whine about how hard it is to be Republicans in Madison because this city is overwhelmingly liberal, but they don’t really have the first clue how hard it is to be a REAL minority.
If Barack Obama were to apply for a job with the FBI or Secret Service, he would be disqualified because of his past association with William Ayers.
850
You realize that these ‘cheapskates’ actually contributed more back into the government-student loans system than they otherwise would have by slowly paying off their student loans as the interest accrued over time.
That is one of the oddest things I’ve ever heard anyone who calls themself an ‘alumni’ or a Mccain supporter,…or anyone for that matter, say.
Remember when liberal accused conservatives of buying elections?
Now that Obama breaks his promise on public funding, collects massive illegal contributions and outspends McCain 8 to 1, not much heard about Obama buying the presidency.