Arkady
President
I was reading a story about Iraq-War proponents in the press and their comments today, looking back at that catastrophic invasion. It made me think that it would be a healthy exercise for people to call out their own political mistakes and, if they're able, to identify the cause of those mistakes.
I stand by most of my recent political decisions. I was a gay marriage supporter and an Iraq War opponent before most Americans caught up on those issues. I don't regret voting for Obama either time, even though he's been a train wreck on civil liberties (I still think he was the lesser of the two evils in each election). I stand by my Krugmanite economic views. I'm trying to think of any really big political mistakes lately (on the scale of supporting the Iraq War), and am not coming up with any.
Most of what's occurring to me is minor. For example, I twice underestimated Obama as a candidate. In 2008, I thought Hillary Clinton would beat him, because I doubted anyone as inexperienced as him could be such a wiley campaigner, and in 2012, although I expected him to win the overall election, I didn't expect him to win the second and third debates so handily (though I've got bragging rights for being one of the few on the left who wasn't at all surprised by his extremely weak showing in the first debate). The last significant political mistake that comes to mind for me was supporting Edwards in 2008 -- I see now that I was dazzled by his charisma and his class-consciousness, and that if he'd won the nomination it might have been disastrous for the Democratic Party and the nation.
Another fairly significant error was opposing the bailout of GM. I was overly concerned with the moral hazard, and thought it should be allowed to fail, but since then I've developed a more sophisticated understanding of the importance of regional economic systems, and I see how a failure by GM might have set off a regional death spiral for heavy industry, in a region that's already suffering horribly. I was also wrong to be so skeptical of Romneycare in Massachusetts. I was worried that it would drive away business and attract the poor and sick, and that turned out not to be a serious problem -- I simply overestimated the mobility of people and businesses.
Prior to that, I'd also stupidly supported Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe in Maine. After they stood up as two of the only Republican senators (along with Specter and Chaffee) to oppose removing Clinton from office, I idealized them in a way that just wasn't justified. I was so eager to find some example of a "good Republican" that I saw their vote as an act of courage, rather than just political calculus by a pair of veteran politicians who knew they had a fairly liberal electorate to face. It took me years to realize what a cynical pair they really were, and now, looking back, I'm mortified I could have fallen for them in the first place.
There are lots of other dumb political things I used to believe, but most of them are from many decades ago, when I was still a kid. No more recent ones are occurring to me.
I stand by most of my recent political decisions. I was a gay marriage supporter and an Iraq War opponent before most Americans caught up on those issues. I don't regret voting for Obama either time, even though he's been a train wreck on civil liberties (I still think he was the lesser of the two evils in each election). I stand by my Krugmanite economic views. I'm trying to think of any really big political mistakes lately (on the scale of supporting the Iraq War), and am not coming up with any.
Most of what's occurring to me is minor. For example, I twice underestimated Obama as a candidate. In 2008, I thought Hillary Clinton would beat him, because I doubted anyone as inexperienced as him could be such a wiley campaigner, and in 2012, although I expected him to win the overall election, I didn't expect him to win the second and third debates so handily (though I've got bragging rights for being one of the few on the left who wasn't at all surprised by his extremely weak showing in the first debate). The last significant political mistake that comes to mind for me was supporting Edwards in 2008 -- I see now that I was dazzled by his charisma and his class-consciousness, and that if he'd won the nomination it might have been disastrous for the Democratic Party and the nation.
Another fairly significant error was opposing the bailout of GM. I was overly concerned with the moral hazard, and thought it should be allowed to fail, but since then I've developed a more sophisticated understanding of the importance of regional economic systems, and I see how a failure by GM might have set off a regional death spiral for heavy industry, in a region that's already suffering horribly. I was also wrong to be so skeptical of Romneycare in Massachusetts. I was worried that it would drive away business and attract the poor and sick, and that turned out not to be a serious problem -- I simply overestimated the mobility of people and businesses.
Prior to that, I'd also stupidly supported Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe in Maine. After they stood up as two of the only Republican senators (along with Specter and Chaffee) to oppose removing Clinton from office, I idealized them in a way that just wasn't justified. I was so eager to find some example of a "good Republican" that I saw their vote as an act of courage, rather than just political calculus by a pair of veteran politicians who knew they had a fairly liberal electorate to face. It took me years to realize what a cynical pair they really were, and now, looking back, I'm mortified I could have fallen for them in the first place.
There are lots of other dumb political things I used to believe, but most of them are from many decades ago, when I was still a kid. No more recent ones are occurring to me.
And I still think she would be a wonderful President!
