sarahconstantin's Shortform

sarahconstantin

This is a special post for quick takes by sarahconstantin. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.

links 11/15/2024: https://roamresearch.com/#/app/srcpublic/page/11-15-2024

https://www.reddit.com/r/self/comments/1gleyhg/people_like_me_are_the_reason_trump_won/ a moderate/swing-voter (Obama, Trump, Biden) explains why he voted for Trump this time around:
- he thinks Kamala Harris was an "empty shell" and unlikable and he felt the campaign was manipulative and deceptive.
- he didn't like that she seemed to be a "DEI hire", but doesn't have a problem with black or female candidates generally, it's just that he resents cynical demographic box-checking.
  - this is a coherent POV -- he did vote for Obama, after all. and plenty of people are like "I want the best person regardless of demographics, not a person chosen for their demographics."
    - hm. why doesn't it seem natural to portray Obama as a "DEI hire"? his campaign made a bigger deal about race than Harris's, and he was criticized a lot for inexperience.
      - One guess: it's laughable to think Obama was chosen by anyone besides himself. He was not the Democratic Party's anointed -- that was Hillary. He's clearly an ambitious guy who wanted to be president on his own initiative and beat the odds to get the nomination. He can't be a "DEI hire" because he wasn't a hire at all.
      - another guess: Obama is clearly smart, speaks/writes in complete sentences, and welcomes lots of media attention and talks about his policies, while Harris has a tendency towards word salad, interviews poorly, avoids discussing issues, etc.
      - another guess: everyone seems to reject the idea that people prefer male to female candidates, but I'm still really not sure there isn't a gender effect! This is very vibes-based on my part, and apparently the data goes the other way, so very uncertain here.
https://trevorklee.substack.com/p/if-langurs-can-drink-seawater-can Trevor Klee on adaptations for drinking seawater

2Viliam2y

Seems to me that Obama had the level of charisma that Hillary did not. (Neither do Biden or Harris). Bill Clinton had charisma, too. (So did Bernie.) Also, imagine that you had a button that would make everyone magically forget about the race and gender for a moment. I think that the people who voted for Obama would still feel the same, but the people who voted for Hillary would need to think hard about why, and probably their only rationalization would be "so that Trump does not win". I am not an American, so my perception of American elections is probably extremely unrepresentative, but it felt like Obama was about "hope" and "change", while Hillary was about "vote for Her, because she is a woman, so she deserves to be the president". [...] I guess there are people (both men and women) who in principle wouldn't vote for a woman leader. But there are also people who would be happy to give a woman a chance. Not sure which group is larger. But the wannabe woman leader should not make her campaign about her being a woman. That feels like admitting that she has no other interesting qualities. She needs to project the aura of a competent person who just happens to be female. In my country, I have voted for a woman candidate twice (1, 2), but they never felt like "DEI hires". One didn't have any woke agenda, the other was pro- some woke topics, but she never made them about her. (It was like "this is what I will support if you elect me", not "this is what I am".)

I voted for Hillary and wouldn't need to think hard about why: she's a democrat, and I generally prefer democrat policies.

sarahconstantin's Shortform

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sarahconstantin's Shortform

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