On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:26:22 -0600, "Pete C." >
wrote:
>
>blake murphy wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:37:42 -0600, Pete C. wrote:
>>
>> > Felice wrote:
>> >>
>> >> So what are those of us who are celebrating going to have for lunch on
>> >> Tuesday? The best I can come up with is Chicago deep-dish pizza from Uno via
>> >> Dining In. Someone has to have a better idea.
>> >>
>> >> Felice
>> >> .
>> >
>> > Very close to half the population of the US will not be celebrating. I
>> > expect close to 100% are hoping for the best however.
>> >
>> > It's pretty sad how the perception of the election is drastically
>> > different when the reality is that it was only a few percent further
>> > apart than the election folks still haven't stopped bitching about.
>> > Those few percent can largely be attributed to those voting based on the
>> > novelty factor of making a historic election, and not on political
>> > positions.
>> >
I didn't reply to this when I first read it, but this afternoon I want
to caution against this sort of analysis to the extent that it is
based on a conception of voters' motives. George Will said something
about voters' motives back in October after Colin Powell's endorsement
of Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl_ivLT-Zm0&eurl
And it's just downright odd. Millions of Americans, including Powell,
weighed statements of policy and estimations of character, evaluated
the candidates' evident grasp of ideas and issues to make their
decisions, and along comes a commentator who alleges that if he had
the right tools, he could measure their motives -- motives which he
suspects he already knows according to his special ability to divine
what they're really thinking.
Geoge Will does not know what I think. He does not have that sort of
psychometric tool. Asserting my motives is my job, not anyone else's.
And that goes for all of us, regardless of our politics.
The net effect of such assessment is to subvert the concept of
reasonable choice.
Similarly, to assert that voters, whom you do not know, were motivated
by a "novelty factor" is to claim a special knowledge of their
psyches.
--
modom
ambitious when it comes to fiddling with meat