This is fun.<\/p>\n
Link<\/a><\/p>\n But, it raises a more interesting logical point. Commentators and pundits treat positions as though they are arbitrary "commitments"–this is some sort of political "decisionism" that reduces everything to ideology.This simplifies their job, the only thing they have to track is whether a candidate is 'for' or 'against' something. It also makes for nice narratives of the flip-flop sort. <\/p>\n What is obfuscated by this lens is that people hold their commitments for reasons. Obama might oppose opening the OCS and ANWR to drilling as a means to the goal of energy independence or lowering gas prices in the short term and long term because there is no reason to believe that they are a means to these ends. <\/p>\n He can quite consistently support the same policy for some other end–in this case, to gain investment in alternative energy that will probably help move us towards less dependence on foreign energy, help make transportation and other energy uses cheaper, and (pace <\/em>Krauthammer, maybe "save the planet").<\/p>\n Of course, this subtlety can't be explained in an interview or you suddenly start to look all Al Gore. The viewer either gets this or she\/he doesn't. The interviewer deliberately obfuscates a distinction (I suspect) he understands in order to play the "brash interviewer" role he's seen on Fox.<\/p>\n Even after O. makes the point, less pedantically than I have, the interviewer tries the same trick with Yucca mountain. <\/p>\n I guess that there is a sort of scope fallacy, or a sort amphiboly. "Obama opposes drilling for reason x." becomes "Obama opposes drilling." Or maybe a mistake in generalization: "Obama opposes drilling for reason x" "Obama always opposes drilling." <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is fun. Link But, it raises a more interesting logical point. Commentators and pundits treat positions as though they are arbitrary "commitments"–this is some sort of political "decisionism" that reduces everything to ideology.This simplifies their job, the only thing they have to track is whether a candidate is 'for' or 'against' something. It also … Continue reading Have we embedded video before?<\/span>