Just when I think I am out they suck me back in!

http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmeganmcardle.theatlantic.com%2Farchives%2F2008%2F11%2Fhes_our_president_too.php

Megan had been sounding so sensible recently (especially on the idiocy of a big 3 bailout), I had almost forgotten how much her ideas can grate on my sensibility.

If you are a conservative, obama being your president obviously does not mean you blindly support every thing out of his mouth. But it important to sort out ends and means.

We live in an age of pretty narrow ideological differences. On many social issues there is a wide gap - think abortion, gay rights, social construction. But in most other areas it is pretty narrow. No one is preening for a new marxist economy, international trade is good (though there is lots of dispute on the details), and everyone agrees old people and children should be pretty well looked after.

Where liberals and conservatives disagree is in which policies will bring about those ends. Will vouchers increase competition and improve results, or do we need to provide more direct grants to schools in poor districts ? Do we reign in health spending by making consumers see more of their bills (rather than having a front loaded deductable and then thinking of your care as 'free') or imposing efficiencies on providers?

The point of this rant is simple. 'Accepting' obama as your President doesn't mean you need to suddenly accept his solution as THE solution (which is what was expected the past 8 years). But it does mean you shouldn't be rooting (and when possible promoting) for an upswing in violence in Iraq, or for schools to fail more of our children, or for the market to tank further.