Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m selfish like nobody’s business. I have a personal reason not to like the prospects of Obama, which, of course, I will not express at the voting booth, but which, nevertheless, makes it hard for me even to root for him.

I live in Berkeley. You know how glorious it has been these last seven years living in a New Left town, post-Cold War, with nearly all my neighbors opposing the federal government? I have been able to discuss even domestic issues with my fellow townspeople, issues like farming and education, where they at least see the case for decentralism and distrust of the federal regime.
At first, my experience here was different, having lived my first year and a half in Berkeley during the Clinton administration. Even then, the true radicals were, for example, against Clinton’s wars. But now the whole town is anti-federal government. Many are open to new ideas. I see graffiti saying “Taxes = Murder.” I meet people who resist taxes because of the war. And I’ve heard lots of nice things about Ron Paul, which I never thought I would have in Berkeley back in the 1990s.

Obama threatens my happiness! He threatens to make half my neighbors give up their disgust in the national public sector and skepticism of imperial central planning. He will give them hope and restore faith in the presidency, like Reagan did for the right.

If I lived in a red state, in a Republican town, I’d cheer louder for Obama. But I don’t look forward to the aging, moderate lefties in my town once again thinking, “Maybe the president has a point. . . maybe this war is necessary after all.” Shudder.