
xkcd endorses Obama - luccastera
http://blag.xkcd.com/2008/01/28/obama/
======
pchristensen
To everyone that hates stuff like this getting posted (I'm one of them), just
remember that a presidential election is the biggest media circus of the year,
and it lasts a really long time. It affects every American (and some would say
the rest of the world as well) and coverage is so pervasive it's hard to
avoid, so some of it is going to seep in.

For those that wish to post political articles, please consider that a
significant portion of the readers of Hacker News greatly dislike the tone
that political discussion often takes. If you decide to post something, please
make sure it is 1) fair and even handed, 2) not polarizing, and 3) loosely
related to Hacker News in general.

A big thank you in advance to everyone who helps keep things civil over the
next (oy) 10 months.

~~~
icey
I wish this comment would automatically get posted into every political
submission here and into programming.reddit. It would make the (online) world
a much better place.

------
koolmoe
I agree with a lot of what he said, although I don't expect that Clinton would
get "swatted" by voters against any of the potential Republican candidates.

But mostly I just wanted to say that I thought the postscript was funny:

 _Windows Vista is flopping, and Mario Kart will be out for the Wii soon. I
think the future will be okay._

------
hugh
These kinds of stories are very dangerous for social news sites. People vote
them up not because they're interesting, but just to support their preferred
candidate.

Maybe somebody should submit an "Ask YC: What Presidential candidate do you
like?" That way everybody could get their political opinions off their chest
once and for all, and we wouldn't have to suffer through ten months of this
kind of stuff.

~~~
pchristensen
That's an idea that I love and HATE at the same time, with multiple reasons
for each. I love that I would get to hear what everyone thinks and love that
it would be confined to one place. I hate that it would likely incite lots of
ugly, ugly comments, and that it would probably draw the useful, civil
comments out of context of other threads where they would be appropriate.

Politics can be so divisive and get so heated that even people who are
interested are afraid to talk about it in public.

I think the problem is that a political party or candidate is a very low-
bandwidth symbol that loses most of the information contained in that choice.
The fact that a Mormon, a woman, and a black guy are running means that any
vote can be interpreted as discrimination against the group not chosen. For
example, if you told me you voted for John Edwards, should I assume you like
his economic populism or that you're too narrow minded for a black or woman
president? If you vote for a Republican, does that mean you are a homophobe?
It's like trying to express everything you believe about anything, the moral,
ethical, and intellectual debates you have inside into two bits (party,
candidate). That's a hard problem.

------
Goladus
From this xkcd blog post, I learned that Obama supports open standards and
Clinton doesn't.

While I agree that sites like this should be careful about politics, ignore
them at your own peril. Candidates like Obama never win elections because the
young people who support them are not organized and don't vote.

------
tptacek
Can anyone offer a cogent argument for why I should give a shit who Randall
Munroe thinks should be president?

~~~
jimbokun
I think the whole point of an endorsement is to make a cogent argument for why
you believe such and such a person is the best candidate for such and such a
position. So whether or not you find it persuasive, the endorsement itself is
an attempt at a cogent argument. You are certainly free to ignore or disagree
with the conclusion.

------
maryrosecook
It surprises me that a man who writes such an unusual cartoon as xkcd should
have such a standard political viewpoint. I am baffled by the fact that people
get so worked up about general elections. Yes, the outcome will have a
profound effect upon one's life, but that outcome is almost entirely outside
one's control.

My own preference is for much more power to be given to local governments, and
for consensus-based decision making, rather than voting. But I think further
expansion of those views would be off-topic.

------
davidw
I think the recent economics articles have been about as much politics as I
want to see here. These are discussions that are really better left to a beer
with friends.

~~~
jey
Yeah, or you can head to reddit or something. I do want to see more
_scientific_ articles relating to economics here. I mean articles on economics
with actual analysis, data, graphs, etc.

And if the same can be done for any other subject, politics included, I'd
support it. Present it in a way that _teaches_ us something, rather than
feeding us a conclusion without data.

~~~
Prrometheus
My favorite economic monograph of all time is from Friedrich von Hayek:

<http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw1.html>

He describes how a market economy, though the price mechanism, utilizes
distributed, localized data to effect the distribution of resources. It's hard
to comprehend the unconscious and intricate processes of the market.

For lighter, more modern fair, I have always enjoyed the works of Steven
Landsburg. From the trivial, such as why we walk up stairs but not escalators:

<http://www.slate.com/id/2070182>

To the profound, such as how to grow cars in Iowa:

[http://faculty.tamu-
commerce.edu/dfunderburk/428/readings/Th...](http://faculty.tamu-
commerce.edu/dfunderburk/428/readings/The%20Iowa%20Car%20Crop.htm)

Empirical economics (what perhaps you mean by "scientific") is also fun and
illuminating. The author of "Freakonomics", Steven Levitt, is enduringly
popular nowadays. His work tends towards the empirical:

<http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/>

I've always been a big fan of Cowen and Tabarok:

<http://www.marginalrevolution.com/>

In college I studied the economics of environmentalism, which is essential to
understand what approaches to helping the environment are likely to work or
not (incentives matter!). I also studied the economics of law. Sorry, no quick
fun links!

There is so much great economics out there, and so little life. Right now I am
studying monetary policy. It's dense and dry, but also very controversial and
unsettled, which makes it exciting.

~~~
sspencer
"...such as why we walk up stairs but not escalators: "

I actually walk up escalators. I have never seen anyone else do this, and I
always wondered why. You get to the top even faster!

~~~
run4yourlives
You've never seen anyone do it? Check out a subway escalator at rush hour...
in any city in the world.

~~~
wallflower
I remember super long escalators with signs posted coming out of some of the
catacombs of the Tube in London. A quick flickr search (for stand right/[walk
left]) shows a lone woman on the ascending escalator walking..
<http://tinyurl.com/2f4nta>

------
rchristensen
Politics are the WWE. Although we do need technology support, the best thing
you can do is stay focused on your work. Stay independent.

------
dawnerd
Obama simply looks presidential. He is very charismatic. I'd much rather watch
him deliver the State of the Union than Bush.

~~~
Prrometheus
Not a great reason to vote for someone.

I mentioned on reddit that I like him among the Democrats for his commitment
to open government. However, while he has opposed the war he has not spoken
out against wider American militarism. In addition, along with his democratic
colleagues he seems not to appreciate the value of a free economy.

I'm pulling for Paul (Graham or Ron), but I guess he'll be alright. Nowhere to
go but up, right?

~~~
jimbokun
Presidents can't make laws. At most, they can veto them. They can't set the
budget. They can nominate Supreme Court justices, but have no control over
them once nominated and often they interpret laws differently than how the
appointing president thought they would. I can no longer say that the
President can not unilaterally declare and wage war, but I can say that the
Constitution grants the power to declare war to the Congress.

So what is the point of the Presidency, then? Especially in our day of modern
media, a very big part of the President's ability to accomplish things is his
ability to persuade the American people to work to achieve common goals. So
maybe just "looking Presidential" or "sounding Presidential" is not important
in and of itself. But if that is part of an overall power of persuasion
devoted to noble ends, that can be a very important characteristic for a
President, indeed.

Considering the current state of the Republican party, the Democratic
candidates probably represent something closer to a "free economy" at this
point. And of the remaining declared Democratic and Republican candidates,
only Ron Paul has opposed the war so unambiguously.

Also, not much commentary yet on Obama bringing in Lawrence Lessig to advise
him on technology issues. As that's probably the closest to being relevant to
Hacker News, I would think that would get more discussion and some credit for
Obama (again, relative to other actual candidates, not some idealized
candidate who might agree with you on every issue).

~~~
tsuru
Presidents have the most unilateral power with regards to foreign policy. He
or She is, in effect, America's face to the world. So looking or sounding
Presidential does have its own importance.

While they can't unilaterally start war by law, history has shown us
Presidents can get away with unilaterally weilding military power. Furthermore
the elecorate has taught Congress that voting for war equals re-election;
anti-war equals a boot to the curb. Congress, naturally, votes for their own
job security. In the same way that it's not about voting just for someone
"looking presidential" it shouldn't be about someone who is just
anti-(this)war.

In the end though, I believe that hackers not paying attention to politics
will only lead to not having our needs heard at all. Believing you can stay
'out' or 'above' politics is a fool's errand. You will be affected.

~~~
aswanson
_You will be affected._ Got that right.

------
edw519
Hacker News is the new Reddit

Please say it aint so.

~~~
rms
This would be a great thread if it weren't for all the people complaining
about its existence.

~~~
edw519
Only to those who are smoking kratom.

~~~
brett
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were trying to be funny
and let you know that comment reads a bit mean and petty.

~~~
edw519
Thanks. I try to never do mean and petty, especially here.

All joking aside, I stand by my original comment. This is the best board I've
ever seen. My personal "signal to noise coefficient" would be in the 90's. For
reddit, it was once in the 60's or 70's, but those days are long gone. Two of
the things that changed that are the posts about politics and religion. I know
this board is about things that interest hackers, but I'd hate to see the same
thing happen here. I imagine that it takes a certain amount of TLC to keep
this board's quality so high.

As a startup hacker, I have to be very careful how I spend my time.
Personally, debating sports, politics, or religion are total wastes of time.
The cost is priceless; the benefit is worthless.

<resume proper time expenditure mode>

~~~
brett
Fair enough. It's often infuriating how stuff doesn't transfer in text; I
probably would have thought the comment was harmless and funny had it been
aloud and intoned correctly. Anyways, no harm, no foul.

------
dcurtis
That is the most ridiculous article title I have ever seen on hacker news.

It's one thing for a Senator to endorse a candidate, but xkcd? Just... no.

~~~
pchristensen
Well, what's the point of an endorsement? To save you the trouble of
researching everything yourself because someone who you already know tells you
what they think. If you trust the endorser, then they've saved you some time.
Ditto if you distrust them (there are some people that if they endorsed my
favorite candidate, I'd probably be so suspicious I'd change my vote). I know
a lot about what the xkcd guy is like than my senator (well, not my senator
(Obama) but probably everyone else), so his endorsement is more useful
information.

It was also a well written explanation of his views, whether you agree with it
or not.

~~~
dcurtis
Of course. That's all true. I have no problem with him writing about his
views, but the title of this article made it sound like he has some sort of
higher political ground. Maybe a better title would have been "xkcd talks
politics, Randall Munroe likes Obama"

It just seemed strange to see a comic writer getting his own post here about
endorsement of a political candidate.

Also, I don't disagree with him.

~~~
rms
Why not? Anyone can endorse anyone. Xkcd just so happens to be the widely
respected, best comic currently written. This is notable because comic authors
_don't_ normally endorse candidates.

~~~
dcurtis
I guess I'm in the minority on this opinion, then.

------
wumi
That's great, but Obama won't win in a national election, nor even the
democratic nomination. : [http://davidadewumi.com/2008/01/24/why-obama-wont-
win-in-a-n...](http://davidadewumi.com/2008/01/24/why-obama-wont-win-in-a-
national-election/)

I don't support any candidates right now, but I think people should also take
a look at how Bill Clinton polarizing white and black voters, is working to
HRC's advantage: [http://bernardmoon.blogspot.com/2008/01/breakfast-with-
dick-...](http://bernardmoon.blogspot.com/2008/01/breakfast-with-dick-morris-
obama-is.html)

------
brlewis
It's hard to steer clear of political discussion these days, isn't it? I
spilled over into that area myself with a recent screencast for a new
ourdoings.com feature:

<http://img.ourdoings.com/tutorial/morephotos.htm>

