Irrelevance

I don’t chime in too much when it comes to domestic politics and policy because I’m largely out of my depth. I’m a foreign policy guy by inclination, and I don’t have the iron constitution required to wade through the slimy panderings of political candidates in order to arrive at their ‘true’ position on taxation, health care, entitlement reform, etc. I also maintain that the president has maximum leeway to do as he pleases in foreign policy, so that’s the main criterion he should be judged on.

That said, with what has been happening during the last three weeks on Wall Street, I don’t think I’ve ever cared less whether Obama or McCain would commit troops to solve a humanitarian crisis in Congo. Or whether the candidates think Russia is an Evil Empire. Or whether they’d send troops to the Middle East to fight Iran if Israel was attacked. Since neither candidate was able to go beyond the standard populist bromides when talking about the financial crisis, hearing them talk about what they would do internationally sounded incredibly silly and irrelevant.

EDIT: I should note that I’m coming down with a cold and am in a foul mood. Reading around the web, it doesn’t seem that people were as down on the debate as I was.