READER KEVIN PEDRAJA EMAILS:

I’m curious, I’ve been reading a large amount of coverage on Instapundit that offers criticisms of Obama, his campaign and his proposed policies. I understand it’s mostly a reaction to what you perceive as fawning portrayals of Obama in the mainstream media. But I’m not seeing a whole lot of material from you (or that you’re linking to) that offers a reason to vote FOR McCain.

Well, as I’ve said before, this is an opinion blog, not a political blog-machine like Kos, and you’re right that it’s focused on media criticism. I don’t tell people who to vote for, and I don’t see putting people in the White House as part of my mission — or something that a blog can do anyway. (My occasional talk about endorsing Obama — though it worried some readers — is a joke, as I don’t endorse people; endorsements seem kinda presumptuous for a blogger, in my opinion.) McCain will have to give you the reasons to vote for him, and that will probably start to happen more next week. At least if he wants to win. My take on Obama, as I’ve said before, is that he’s not really ready to be President, and that he didn’t think he’d get this far when he started this campaign — what’s followed has been brilliant improvisation, propped up by a lot of media sympathy. That media sympathy hasn’t been entirely good for him, though, as I think it’s encouraged some mistakes that a more experienced, or more careful, candidate would have avoided. He might still make a good President — some people with great credentials and experience have made lousy Presidents, and some people with weak resumes have made good ones. But it’s quite irritating to see just how in-the-tank the press is for Obama, an irritation that quite a few Democrats have noticed as well. I don’t mind ’em having opinions, I just wish they’d put ’em on the opinion pages. Or start blogging!