"Supporting" Obama

Bryan Appleyard unpacks how many of us feel:

I am often, notably by Frank, taken to task for my 'support' for Obama so I feel I ought to make myself clear. I don't support Obama, I have never in my life supported any politician and, in any case, support is pretty meaningless coming from a Brit. As I explained, perhaps too briefly, ideological passion is death in politics, as is hero-worship. The reason I hope Obama wins - a more passive posture than support - is that he opens up a space. The Republicans haven't been conservatives for 30 or 40 years; the Democrats have been lost in self-destruction and the machine and identity politics of the Clintons. I don't know whether Obama will be a good president or not but I am sure he would be better than the hapless McCain and certainly far better than the appalling 'Mark Antony' Clinton, both of whom are choking on rhetoric of their own devising. In McCain's case I'm not even sure it can be classed as rhetoric.

My own domestic policy ambivalence toward Obama is swayed by views very similar to Bryan's. If Obama breaks us out of the boomer political pattern, it will be a mitzvah. And how much bigger could he grown government after Bush's binge?