Undecided

[Dr. Cynic]

If you are that undecided, take a look at how each candidate behaves personally (Which is how I make up my mind when I'm undecided). Obama has people around him best equipped to give advice, and he has been completely unflappable. McCain has been completely spasmodic, and he likes to use high stakes hail mary type stuff in hopes it'll work... Compare the VP choices, which are usually roadmaps to how a President governs. Obama chose someone not from a swing state, but who would best advise him. McCain chose a publicity stunt without so much as vetting.

If that doesn't sell Obama to you, nothing will.

[specific_name]

McCain because protest votes are fun. Barr works too. You can always write-in LaRouche if all else fails and you want to be sure that your candidate loses horribly.

[HardRCafé]

I have to admit that is my primary problem with John. Palin and other people make me leery about supporting him.

See, the most reassuring thing to me about McCain is that he has surrounded himself with people like Palin who have stood up to the Good Ol' Boys.  Conversely, the most upsetting thing to me about Obama is that in Democratic primaries in Illinois, he has endorsed machine hacks over reformers in races where there was no reason for him to get involved.  I could understand him endorsing Democrats over Republicans, but bad Democrats over good Democrats on the basis of nothing but cronyism and patronage?

And then Biden over Bayh or Kaine.

[phk]

McCain easily.

Obama can deliver on one of the grand promises he’s made and that would be getting the hell out of Iraq. And I’m not talking about the “responsible withdrawal” that Obama’s been suggesting: he needs a dramatic and clean break with Bush’s legacy and no other issue can offer him that except Iraq.

Some may jump in and say that Obama will never sacrifice America’s sacrifices for Iraq. These folks discount Obama’s cynicism: this is not something that he will run by his brain trust of 300 foreign policy experts and other ‘experts’; this will not be Richard Danzig’s call, this is David Axelrod’s to make.

[Sam Spade]

I fear at the margins I might have had a bit of a "bad"influence on Alcon, as we both crossed the River Styx, me from the other shore, but I picked him up in the middle of the river, and over to the other side, a land beyond which about  which I have read, but have never actually "seen." Pray for me. 

I just wished you would have crossed the river with something other than a Cook County politician.  I thought you were smarter than that.

Obama has no deep ties to anyone, be it Wright, Ayers, Cook County, or anything else. He is a rather detached man, from anything another than his own ambition. The trick then becomes whether he is able to translate his ambition into become one esteemed in history as a success. If we get lucky, that will be his metric rather than feeding his base. We shall see. He is a quite fascinating figure in that respect. Most are more tied to their hood.

I wish I could share your optimism about his status as a "detached wanderer". 

I see him quite differently.  Only time will tell, alas...  And we'll be finding out soon.

[Mint]

It took a long time, but I think I've made my decision...