Short Bloomberg video with the libertarian/contrarian Peter Thiel about the Presidential race: It might not matter who wins the election Obama & Romney are more similar than people think
And so Obama can avoid all the hard issues and yet retain the grudging support of his base simply by proposing modest tax increases on the wealthy, and by supporting the safety net (unemployment benefits, Medicare, social security) that Romney might cut. Voila: an election in which there are a dozen elephants in the room, and neither candidate pays them any notice at all; an election that Obama can win because he's somewhat less bad, somewhat less utterly bankrupt, than the other guy. Welcome to America's new and improved two-party system.
Because our politics don't necessarily have anything to do with our beliefs. Politics, and presidential politics particularly, are instead dictated by nodes of sympathetic inclination.
Mentioned at the end is, iSideWith.com where you can take a political quiz that lets you select your stance on many important issues, allowing you to specify how important they are to you and even letting you choose another position that is not specified. Once completed it tells you which political candidate you side on most issues with. You may be surprised that you didn't vote for the person you most agree with! Maybe voting on issues rather than candidates would give better results?