Originally Posted By: the G-man
How is Obama's policy rhetoric less specific than Hillary's?


In the last few weeks, I've mostly been going by broadcast news, rather than printed news stories about Obama and Hillary. And McCain's largely been off the radar.

I guess when you get down to it, in between sniping at each other, Obama and Hillary have both been making proposals about how to deal with the Subprime and housing crisis, Iraq strategy, moving toward energy independence, and how to deal with Iraq, Syria, North Korea and Russia.

So I guess it comes down to, for me, what Obama proposes is calm, rational, and vaguely assuring, but I just don't have confidence in the few details I've heard from him. Beginning withdrawal from Iraq while things are just beginning to stabilize doesn't sound as rational to me as McCain's commitment to stay as long as we are needed.
Obama's view of openly negotiating with the Iranians, who have lied at every turn, also sounds naive to me. I picture the Iranians chuckling privately about what a "useful idiot" Obama is, to have such a trusting approach.

But...

I've read a few things online that detail Obama's policies, that move me toward being more receptive to his ideas.

First this one, a blog where a Republican-leaning independent explains his reasoning that Obama, in his view, is the best of the three candidates offered:
a moderate explains why he favors Obama over policies of Hillary and McCain
Like this guy, while I'm a Republican, I'm increasingly independent in the post-Reagan era, and don't fully agree ideologically with any of the three candidates. But Obama, like Clinton in 1992, offers change and a move toward the future, whereas Hillary and McCain are formed and entrenched in the past.
Although with the "change" that Clinton offered, I'm still not convinced that Obama offers the best solutions in going forward.


And astonishingly, Media Matters (a site that is more often than not a Hillary advocacy site) offers this lengthy defense and detailing of Obama's policies, saying that it's a myth that he's deficient on subastantive policy:
Obama's specific policies


And this Factcheck.com piece challenges many of Hillary's account of events:
deconstructing the half-truths in Hillary's stated policies and experience


I don't have enough agreement with any of the 3 offered candidates to enthusiastically support any one of them.

I have to say, Obama has the smoothest line, the whole "hope" and "the future" thing.
But so did Clinton in 1992.
And I didn't see that Bill Clinton accomplished anything he campaigned on. And Bill Clinton was considerably more moderate than Obama. Either Hillary or Obama will vastly expand social spending programs, and slash defense spending to do it. Their stated policies vary, but they both come down to expanded social programs and bailouts. And abandoning Iraq.

Whereas McCain, while soft on immigration, presses for budget cuts and sensible continuation of our presence in Iraq.