Cowen on RNC

Ross Douthat and Tyler Cowen post their IM conversation regarding the convention. Very insightful stuff here. I love Tyler, but he sometimes plays things so aloof and playful, that you can't quite pin him down on something. Here he offers some more personal opinions, and I found myself learning alot from him and agreeing alot with him. Like him, I really do worry that McCain sees everything in moral categories, but that Obama seems very moderate. Douthat at one point says that Obama "plays it safe" and that in Chicago, that meant being far left, but in national politics, that means being a centrist. But that's actually what makes me think he'll be a competent administrator. He realizes that he serves the people, and to get elected and re-elected, he moves towards the center of the distribution of voters who he is accountable to. Honestly, what more could you ask for in a nation of that is as heterogeneous in its political and cultural preferences as ours?

I think it's much harder to hate Obama then way conservatives hated Clinton, even though I personally believe that politically and philosophically they are very similar people. That's why the Republican ticket needed someone like Palin on it if they were going to motivate the base. When you're up against a person you hate, but that the other party loves, then the opposition turning out tends to counter the base turning out. But here we had something very tough for Republicans. A person that Democrats are in love with (let's face it, they're due), but that does not cause Republicans to hate him. If Republicans hate a person, then they'll over look the weaknesses in their own candidate using that old "the lesser of two evils" logic. But here, that just doesn't seem to work as well. But, now we've got a mild dislike of Obama by many conservatives (I mean, they definitely don't like him; they just don't abhor him) combined with a new face who many people are passionate about. I agree with Tyler that we should keep an eye on Palin; she's going places. Whether it's President one day, I don't know, but she'll be someone whose name we'll all know for a long time. Name another governor. Jeb Bush? My own governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger. I only know him because he was a bad ass in the Terminator 2, not because he's governor. But Palin's suddenly got a lot of brand equity, and barring some catastrophe, could turn out to be an extremely important person in that party which as Tyler notes, has been falling apart, and is suffering from a weak bench.