Clear Contrast in Styles

The differences between the two tickets are astounding. No one who has ever called American politics a choice between Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee can make that claim today. You’ve got a very clear choice between two philosophies, two cultures, two visions and two life-views. The one seems to offer hope and the other scares the hell out of me. The hope is of a return to an America of proud, hard-working, self-reliant people with their head held high. The fear is of an embarrassed, apologetic, dependent society shuffling forward with their hand held out waiting for a distribution of their share of the government dole.

Here’s a summary from Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard:

Another Warrior, Another Priest

His title, he notes, comes from an earlier book contrasting Roosevelt and Wilson. That would be Teddy Roosevelt, he of the warrior culture and Big Stick. The comparison to today’s candidates is not far-fetched. Teddy was a combat veteran who had been to town and seen the elephant. He had a war and he won it decisively. He drove Spain out of the region and in the process acquired what arguably might be called the seeds of American global reach. He recognized diplomacy, but he also knew that American interests occasionally needed a strong military behind it.

Wilson, on the other hand, was the ultimate in diplomacy; the academic who knew that peace could prevail if we simply came together and talked things out. That, of course led us to World War I. The Wilsonian model then endured as we oversaw the disastrously punitive treaty of Versailles and the abortive attempt at a world council, the League of Nations. Detached visionaries don’t seem quite as effective when it comes to practical application as do realists.

Here’s another take on the contrasts, one which is a bit more ambivalent but which still highlights the clear differences between the two sides:

A Liberal in Limbo

Whether you agree with her political posture or not, you’ve got to respect the objectivity she brings to her evaluation of the candidates. At the end of her piece she implies indecision, yet I think she realizes the alternative which bodes best for America. She has not yet fully accepted what between the lines tells me that she’s going with the Genial Warrior and the Soccer Mom. She will though.