Wisconsin Independents

In today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mike Nichols writes about Election 2008, independents, and Dave Obey.

Wisconsin independents, much to the chagrin of the parties' faithful trying to round up support tomorrow, seem famously fickle.

Some people, namely Congressman Dave Obey, go further.

The Wausau uber-Democrat thinks independents are about as deep as a roadside ditch, a frozen one.

"Independents are by their very nature the people who have the least depth and exposure to what the candidates are doing and saying," the congressman claimed the other day. "That's why they're independents."

Translation: Independents are dolts.

This is kind of troubling, if true, because fully 40% of Wisconsinites (including me) now consider themselves independents. For the first time in at least a dozen years, Wisconsin independents far outnumber Republicans (25% of Wisconsinites) and Democrats (29%), according to one recent poll.

Independents aren't just prevalent, moreover. They're powerful.

Independents will decide who sits in the Oval Office - even if, you get the feeling, they'd have a hard time agreeing even on the color of the curtains.

Obey, it seems, doesn't like any shades at all.

Obey would rather that people obey - that is, vote like him.

More to the point, the congressman, who supports Barack Obama, thinks independents have been illogical in supporting John McCain. Support for McCain among independents opposed to the war, for instance, shows "people voted for (McCain) without having a clue about what he stands for," the congressman has alleged.

I am not a registered member of a political party.

I am among the 40% of Wisconsin voters who consider themselves to be independents.

A message for Dave Obey---

I am not a dolt.

He says, "Independents are by their very nature the people who have the least depth and exposure to what the candidates are doing and saying."

WRONG.

In spite of my independent status, I would guess that I have a greater than average understanding and exposure to what candidates are doing and saying.

In fact, I may have a better understanding than Obey. He does seem to suffer from severe tunnel vision.

Contrary to Obey's opinion that independents should stop acting like idiots and decide to vote for Obama, Nichols thinks that independents may find McCain to be a more appealing candidate.

...Lots of independents wouldn't exactly be disgusted with either Obama or McCain. Although, if independents are looking for a guy with a history of avoiding political expediency and diverging from an ideological party line, someone who could unify enough people in Washington to actually accomplish something, personally, I would think they'd be drawn much more to McCain. Even if he is older than Methuselah.

There I disagree with Nichols. Granted, McCain is older than Obama, but he isn't Methuselah old. The United States of America isn't Methuselah old.

I think Nichols makes a good point when he says, "Obey suggests voters must choose to be party ideologues. Either that, or independent idiots."

Of course, it's in Obey's self-interest to convert independents. However, his brand of conversion would require voters to check their judgment at the door.

Who's the idiot? Not the independent.

It's exactly Obey's sort of heavy-handedness and disrespect that keeps me from declaring a political party affiliation.

I'm a Wisconsin independent and I already know which candidate will get my vote in November -- John McCain.