The world is complicated
When Adlai Stevenson ran for President, a supporter allegedly told him he "had the vote of every thinking man." He responded "Thank you, but I need a majority to win."
This quote came to mind when I was considering the media's analysis of the US Presidential campaign. Pundits have attributed McCain's recent surge to his predilection for simple, 'bumper sticker' answers. Fuel crisis? Drill offshore. When does life start? Conception. What should we do in Iraq? Keep fighting until I say so.
Now, there are certainly times when a President has to make simple decisions quickly. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, FDR didn't sit back ponder his options - he declared war and carrier rushed them. (When Bush said 'Let's invade Iraq', Obama said 'No, that's stupid.') Decisions like these are important, and they are also very rare.
But mostly the President has to deal with complicated, long-term problems. We're dealing with an energy crisis right now. We have 3% of the world's oil and we consume 24% of it, contributing mightily to global warming in the process. That's a problem. Do we need a solution? Hell yes. But offshore drilling is the equivalent of peeing on a forest fire. We're not going to solve the problem; we're just going to get burned in unfortunate places.
Problems with easy, quick solutions are certainly great. But they are also hen's teeth. American energy use, like many of the problems facing our nation, is going to require a lot of hard work and sacrifice to solve, and pretending that we can slap a bandaid on it is dangerous. John McCain ought to know better. And, after eight years of applying a simple solution to every problem, we ought to know better too.
