Schier Offers Opinion on Obama, McCain Backgrounds as Factor in Election
Steven Schier, the Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science, offers an opinion on how John McCain and Barack Obama’s backgrounds might play out in the upcoming presidential election in the Chicago Tribune. Schier says McCain has cast himself in the maverick, loner, individualistic Westerner image. “He needs that to help separate himself from the Bush Republicans,” said Schier. Obama’s Chicago connection might call up what Schier noted was the city’s “rather seamy politics—no offense.” But he also noted that, as our nomadic society becomes ever more rootless, hometowns may matter less. “It might get to the point where voters just don’t care.”
Steven Schier, the Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science, offers an opinion on how John McCain and Barack Obama’s backgrounds might play out in the upcoming presidential election in the Chicago Tribune. Schier says McCain has cast himself in the maverick, loner, individualistic Westerner image. “He needs that to help separate himself from the Bush Republicans,” said Schier. Obama’s Chicago connection might call up what Schier noted was the city’s “rather seamy politics—no offense.” But he also noted that, as our nomadic society becomes ever more rootless, hometowns may matter less. “It might get to the point where voters just don’t care.”