February 7, 2008

A more cynical interpretation

I pointed out earlier that, according to the LA Times, Obama's pandering to the illegal alien vote flopped in California because ... illegal aliens can't vote.

A reader demurs:

As regards the notion that Obama's direct advocacy of driver's licenses for illegal aliens 'flopped', you are right in every detail, but missed the big picture.

Obama was not aiming at 'hispanics'. Obama was aiming at the elites who lust after cheap labor over all other things. And it paid off big time. Money and favorable corporate press coverage is raining down on Obama, and Hilary is starting to run out of resources...

Why do you think the big money fell over itself to bring McCain back from the dead? Because McAmnesty will keep labor cheap.

Follow the money. The balance of supply and demand for labor is the dominant factor in setting wages and profits. I think Obama just outsmarted Hilary.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is also interesting is that in pandering to those who want more cheap labor brought into the country, Obama is, in some sense, betraying his black constituency.

Anonymous said...

In EVERY sense!

Anonymous said...

Obama was aiming at the elites who lust after cheap labor over all other things.

But the advantage of an Obama or Clinton victory would be policies more favorable to organized labor and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Big business will get its ass handed to it eventually. he can't keep juicing profits by simply taking from the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

Would it not be a brilliant strategy for McCain to move from his "enforcement first" position to gradually saying "enforcement only" during his term in office. In that way he would give not risk his abominably awful amnesty position. He could also provide the rhetoric that to the amnesty voters he was appearing to support their aims, but that in effect it was a good idea whose time has not yet come.

Anonymous said...

If it just took money, then why did Mitt Romney who had his personal fortune fail while McCain, who had so little money that for Aug-Nov his staff was a skeleton crew on no pay win?

How did Huckabee who had no money win a number of Souther States?

Obama won where social status among a small pool of white voters dominated, and where the pool of voters was mostly Black (identity politics). Hillary won everywhere else.

Michael Chabon (Cavalier and Clay, Maus) wrote an article about backing Obama, and it was typical of status-concerns among really rich people.

McCain came back from the dead because he appealed to the patriotic desire to get a win in Iraq. He's continuing that with hammering Dems on FISA.

No other candidate in the Rep side pushed patriotism and a win in Iraq as much as McCain. That's all he had and it was enough to get him the win. Ugh. Because no one else played that: not Fred, not Romney, not Huckabee, not Paul, no one.

Anonymous said...

It's true that the money has not played direct role in the winner of these primaries. The media certainly has. I think the GOP base was actually ignorant about the candidates and the issues and that is why McCain won- aside from the media support and anti- Mormon bias in the south.

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed US political elites cannot see that transforming millions of functionally illiterate and innumerate laborers into citizens will harm U.S. future per capita GNP. Mexico's average mathematics PISA score is nearly 100 points below the OECD average and these kids are the ones who haven't drop out of school. Google and Microsoft pursue talent with a rigorous, exacting employee policy and they are world-beaters, while the McCanes, Clintons, and Obamas of the world believe in magic.

How long-how long
Short sighted business men
Ah, nothing lasts for long-
Nothing lasts for long-
Nothing lasts for long-


Chinese Cafe - Joni Mitchell

Anonymous said...

Would it not be a brilliant strategy for McCain to move from his "enforcement first" position to gradually saying "enforcement only" during his term in office. In that way he would give not risk his abominably awful amnesty position

Won't turn out that way. If that old dog gets elected, he's simply going to say Foxtrot Oscar to all anti-illegale Americans. He won't be subtle or surreptitious about it. That's our boy's personality.

In fact, as I savvily read between the lines of Johnny's speech yesterday, he's currently, already saying he's going to enforce a few points of existing immigration laws, while still pushing for his amnesty bill.

Here's hoping that McAmnesty names pal Joey Lovermann to be his Veep.
I want to hear all the Repub. hacks try to grope that choice down in the conservative base-ment.

I'm amazed US political elites cannot see that transforming millions of functionally illiterate and innumerate laborers into citizens ...

I bet some old stock Romans circa 300 A.D. said similar things.

Anonymous said...

No other candidate in the Rep side pushed patriotism and a win in Iraq as much as McCain. That's all he had and it was enough to get him the win. Ugh. Because no one else played that: not Fred, not Romney, not Huckabee, not Paul, no one.

You forgot the neocon's favorite candidate, Mr. Rudy 9/11 Giulani who spent a new record $15M per GOP delegate ($30M campaign for 2 delegates).

No, Americans do not want more and bigger wars like McCain advocates. Especially as the economy declines and things become harder on the homefront to reflect the costs of these foreign adventures.

McCain won because he had the GOP machine behind him as the next anointed one (see Dole) and the MSM uncritically loved on him as much as they hated on Romney.

The large number of candidates created a lot of confusion, division and ignorance that gave the MSM much more influence in shaping uninformed voters' opinion. Finally, Romney and Huckabee split the traditional GOP base and Romney (probably not Huckabee) would've handily beat McCain if it was only a two man race.

Anonymous said...

"Won't turn out that way. If that old dog gets elected, he's simply going to say Foxtrot Oscar to all anti-illegale Americans. He won't be subtle or surreptitious about it. That's our boy's personality."

I don't doubt that's his habit to do that. But if I read McCain correctly, then he is rather shallow in his convictions, and thus his highest principle as a career politician is to save his own hide. Is he really so arrogant as to believe that if he pursued his amnesty abomination in office that his hopes of a second term would survive a challenge from a real conservative, anti-amnesty republican in a primary.

Anonymous said...


if I read McCain correctly, then he is rather shallow in his convictions, and thus his highest principle as a career politician is to save his own hide. Is he really so arrogant as to believe that if he pursued his amnesty abomination in office that his hopes of a second term would survive a challenge from a real conservative, anti-amnesty republican in a primary.


If anything McAmnesty is a bigger believer in multi-culti and open borders than Jorge Boosh.
He is also more arrogant than Jorge and probably not as intelligent (not that Jorge is very intelligent).

Well, Jorge did proposed open-borders forever, invite the world amnesty in his first term.
In his second term he brought amnesty twice despite a very real chance of a humilating defit and despite very low polls.