ugh so apparently:
this was not just a random bit I happened to stumble on, this was an unusually bad bernie stumble
some people on the internet are arguing that this was an unfair kinda gotcha interview
bernie releases a statement to do damage control
and the two bernie dudes and the hillary dude and lady who I’ve allowed to remain in my facebook feed are at it again and sharing all kind of garbage about how the world is unfairly biased against their candidate and blah blah

as someone writing a thesis proposal right now, I know the pain of trying to plan a whole project without knowing the details of how it’ll work. let alone something as complicated as running the whole country. I mean, imagine trying to pick a new CEO of Google, and quizzing her on “how would you improve Android market share? and what’s your plan for self-driving cars?” I don’t know; I hire people to build the self-driving cars. Here’s my vision, my goal; you worry about the details.

I guess this is the whole issue of “what’s a good leader? and what’s a good vision?” As researchers, we’ve got to do this too: set out a vision. But it’s a weird line: not too many or too few details. I’ve done the too-many-details version; I was an engineer. I’ve tried the not-enough-details version, and I’m told it’s not a good vision, and I don’t know why. Working on it.

but enough about me. I like bernie’s vision: the combination of money and power in the US stops any systemic change from happening, and so let’s do something about it. (more about how race and money and power are intertwined, and a fascinating read, only partially related) and we’ve got models to follow in this direction, and most of them are in northern europe. (haven’t heard him say “basic income”, but he’d be way more likely to than hillary.)
oh and global warming etc. (though he’s totally against nuclear, even as a stopgap :(

and I mean it’s not over - well unless you count the superdelegates - I remember hearing some noise about how the superdelegate system wasn’t totally insane but I don’t remember why not, so please explain this to me if you know why not.

meta note: I get all this from just reading the internet when I’m bored. I feel like I’d be better off not reading the internet all the time. But it’s these info snacks that get me through the day when I’m working on something difficult. welp.

Comments:

A. Jaffe - Apr 2, 2016

I think we expect way too much out of presidential candidates. Think of how much they do and say every single day! Their campaign can end with the slightest slip–screaming enthusiastically during a speech, sounding like a robot during one debate, stumbling through a response during one interview. I can barely get through one day without committing some sort of social gaffe. Anyway, I’m ready for this election cycle to be over.