Election Fever: Catch It

[gfunk01]

Is it November yet? I am so sick of this election already, and we still have eight (8)- that is, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8- more freaking months of ads and campaigning and polls...and news coverage, oh god the humanity

Comments

[gfunk01]

My biggest problem with McCain, honestly, is McCain-Feingold. I abhor that particular act. With a passion. But, as I said, when faced with the choice between McCain and either of the Democrats, I have to go with McCain. Yes, he might not control spending, and place activist judges on the court, and support amnesty for illegals. But far and away he will be better on national security than the other two, and will, oh I don't know, not surrender to evil jihadists who want to kill civilians and destroy Western culture in order to replace it with things like sharia law.

The superdelegate thing bothers me because of the phoniness of it all. Why should these 800 people have more power to pick the nominee than the voters? Its not like the superdelegates will even go with whichever candidate they believe in. They will support the one who is closest to receiving the nomination, just so that their party will be able to have a nominee. Fakes, that what they are. Pretentious fakes.

As for Obama, it's just fun to ridicule him. It's not just him, though, it's the whole process. This can't be the best way to pick a nominee. All of the intelligent, thoughtful candidates are either knocked out early or don't even run. Meanwhile, you either have to spout mindless slogans like Obama ("Change!"), rely on your massive machine like Clinton, or spend millions of your own dollars like Romney. It is freaking ridiculous.

[starpush]

I was a Richardson backer but there is a lot to admire about Obama. So much of politics is rhetoric anyway so, within that framework, his rhetoric is REALLY good. Even you have to tip your hate to the oratory skills and his ability to attract interest.

The thing about Obama is this: Everyone I talk to is engaged. Even those unsure of whether they would actually vote for him is, at the very least, paying attention, listening, and thinking. There are two basic reasons for the high turnout among Democrats in the primaries: 1) Excitement over Bush being gone and 2) Obama engaging new people into the process. Every generation needs a catalyst for becoming active, be it voting for the first time or getting actively involved.

I think a lot of people are really, really sick of the polarization of the country. Obama's message -- even if you want to call it platitudes -- speaks to finding a new majority, compromise, and actually asking Americans to get involved. That is not a new message, per se, but we haven't heard it in a long, long time. Its a stark contrast from the Rove/Bush and Clintong politics of 50 percent plus one, slash and burn, demonize the opposition, etc. Whether Obama can actually deliver on the rhetoric remains to be seen... but that is the case of any election and any candidate. See also: "I'm a uniter, not a divider" which was complete shite and turned into one of the most devicive administrations of the modern era.