Saturday, July 26, 2008

Obama: disturbingly liberal but impressively academic

Greg Mankiw has a great quote from a Chicago prof who knows Obama personally:

He's much more intellectual, much more thoughtful, much more interested in discussion, debate, and dialogue than the typical politician. And that gives me some confidence about him, even though from my perspective he's much too liberal. I've never voted for a Democrat in my entire life. He's the first one I might vote for.

Mankiw says the remark "captures well" his own "ambivalence" and I agree. It is with considerable reluctance that I oppose someone who is so strongly supported on campuses, given my largely unsuccessful efforts to introduce more academic considerations into public policy debates in Alberta. McCain, for example, is solid on free trade but available information suggests that he's so simply because he considers it consistent with his political identity.

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