Musings on 2004 and Independent Voters. :D
It's weird. The Republicans take the growing wealth of younger voters as a sign that they have an expanding base and make assumptions about their values and attitudes. The Democrats also assume these same people are their base as they grew up in the post 1960's world but make too many assumptions about their policy preferences and willingness to put up with politics of ego. Both groups are getting on people's nerves as almost everyone I know deeply resents soundbyte politics and younger generations seem to be more likely to be Independant then either Democrat or Republican, even if they do typically lean more towards one or the other. Otherwise they are more likely to be blindly partison, there is less of a middle ground between those two extremes.
Social leaders, as well as an increasing numbers of people in the general population, are really scrutanizing each candidate more intensely to see if they represent the part of the political idealogy they like or what alienates them from that idealogy; there seems to be a lot more emphasis on primaries. This is also because the most nimble and educated people in a large enough statistic class to count, do actually make the most money as there aren't that many "boorish" entreprenuers; they also tend to be better trained in critical thinking. People who comes off as too political are going to create a huge backlash, which makes modern political campaigns nearly impossible and seems to be what got Kerry as you need someone who is really fucking smooth to pull off "politics as ussual;" we don't have many statesmen in congress these days.
As I see it, Kerry came at an awkward stage as he wasn't able to represent himself well enough to the Independents who also didn't like Bush but were really focused on hearing what his distinct policy issues were, which he didn't clarify. I don't think many people "got" his campaign which struck me as a vote against incompetence, more then a referendum on any one policy, but it would have been nice to have a president who took his job seriously. It was too early, there was indecision and the Democrats grassroots campaign was aggressive and clannish. Personally I liked Kerry. Perhaps he was too much of a senior bureaucrat, as he was a senator, but he struck me as able to identify the problem, if not be a good enough actor to get the job. He overestimated the middle classes. I really wish he would have more aggressively courted the Independants but he seemed nervous around them, and unsure of his instincts which seemed to be accurate.
Social leaders, as well as an increasing numbers of people in the general population, are really scrutanizing each candidate more intensely to see if they represent the part of the political idealogy they like or what alienates them from that idealogy; there seems to be a lot more emphasis on primaries. This is also because the most nimble and educated people in a large enough statistic class to count, do actually make the most money as there aren't that many "boorish" entreprenuers; they also tend to be better trained in critical thinking. People who comes off as too political are going to create a huge backlash, which makes modern political campaigns nearly impossible and seems to be what got Kerry as you need someone who is really fucking smooth to pull off "politics as ussual;" we don't have many statesmen in congress these days.
As I see it, Kerry came at an awkward stage as he wasn't able to represent himself well enough to the Independents who also didn't like Bush but were really focused on hearing what his distinct policy issues were, which he didn't clarify. I don't think many people "got" his campaign which struck me as a vote against incompetence, more then a referendum on any one policy, but it would have been nice to have a president who took his job seriously. It was too early, there was indecision and the Democrats grassroots campaign was aggressive and clannish. Personally I liked Kerry. Perhaps he was too much of a senior bureaucrat, as he was a senator, but he struck me as able to identify the problem, if not be a good enough actor to get the job. He overestimated the middle classes. I really wish he would have more aggressively courted the Independants but he seemed nervous around them, and unsure of his instincts which seemed to be accurate.