The Low Road Express

[Deckard]

Also, if the polls are to be believed, I wonder if it goes back to something Cacophony said, about the public largely feeling rather than thinking. After all, Obama is about as far removed from Aw, Shucks as it's possible to be.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Deckard

Also, if the polls are to be believed, I wonder if it goes back to something Cacophony said, about the public largely feeling rather than thinking. After all, Obama is about as far removed from Aw, Shucks as it's possible to be.

Oh I wouldn't doubt it at all. Most people don't seem too interested in being informed, instead just accepting whatever rhetoric they happen to hear in the nightly news.

That's actually exposed a confusing and glaring contradiction to me, too. You keep hearing the assertion that "Obama is relatively unknown to voters" compared to McCain and other politicians, but the fact is, the majority of voters don't know crap about either because they don't bother to get themselves informed! Yeah Obama's unknown, but so is everyone else!

[mmm skyscraper]

So McCain will get to Scotland first, but will never again meet his true love on the banks of Loch Lomond.

[Deckard]

Originally Posted by Sean

You keep hearing the assertion that "Obama is relatively unknown to voters" compared to McCain and other politicians, but the fact is, the majority of voters don't know crap about either because they don't bother to get themselves informed! Yeah Obama's unknown, but so is everyone else!

Exactly! I wouldn't want to overplay this, but race and (perception of closeness to a certain...) religion probably make Obama seem more of an unknown than McCain. Some people will continue to view him as "one of them" (or rather, "not one of us") despite having been told so much about him already. I wonder if "unknown" is just the diplomatic word for something else.

In addition to that, Obama hasn't been around as long as McCain so I guess there's that to factor into it too.

But really - in the 21st century, in the most developed country on the planet, with rolling news and internet, people have no excuse not to change that "unknown" to "known". I suspect some people just don't want to know.