Let's Take A Chance, America

For the most part I've kept my political preferences out of this blog, but today, I feel like letting a few things fly.

I guess I may be the black sheep in my (mostly) conservative family. I tortured Dad about politics when I was in high school. Probably that was teen rebellion. We had more than a couple shouting matches, and I remember quoting Marx just to be as big a dick as I could possibly be to him. Today I understand and embrace much of Dad's wisdom, but have rolled it into a liberal, libertarian framework.

After college, I joined the Republican fold for awhile. I had my doubts, though, so as a social progressive, I fell for the Ross Perot campaign in 1992.

1996? I think I pulled the Clinton lever, but wouldn't swear to it in court.

Then we entered the GWBush era, and through the debacle of the 2000 election, I became cynical. Party politics, campaign promises, conservative, liberal, blah, blah, blah . . . it's exhausting. I felt dismayed 20 minutes into Bush's presidency.

Then, the World Trade Center was attacked.

There was no big rallying cry behind our government in my home. We felt sadness, deep in our hearts, and yes, we wanted those responsible to pay and pay dearly. I wept for the future of my three month old son, harder than I've ever wept before or since.

That didn't mean we offered license to our President to lead us into the war in which we remain mired.

Don't even get me started on the economy. You could have heard me breathe a deep sigh of relief for the fifteen minutes or so we had a balanced Federal budget in the late '90s. That's how I manage my own finances, and I would hope after 230 odd years my country could do the same. We ain't no struggling start up anymore, so let's run in the black, people! Sadly, neither party is very good at making this happen, but the Dems did it most recently and seem willing to try again.

And now we are in another endless election season. If only we could prevent this from even starting before January 1 of the election year. If there is any sort of contest, we are weary by Super Tuesday. Doesn't it seem like that is how it has gone? The run up to Pennsylvania, on the Democratic side, was endless and you realized the candidates were worn out, too. Not good for the voters, the candidates, or the government (considering all of our front runners are US Senators!)

As far as the Republicans go, well, clearly they realize in this time of extreme malaise, that they can't win with a right wing conservative. McCain appeals to the middle and that's what they needed. Yawn . . . .

The Democrats . . . agh, if only we could pick someone.

Here's my take: the Democratic campaign, which started so long ago and is now wearing on the nerves of anyone who might have crossed over, began as it should have, as an exchange of ideas.

Ideas about moving the USA out of its position of weakness: weakness in the world, because of the war and our lack of international diplomacy, and because of our lessened global economic presence.

Early on Barack Obama was the one best able to embrace new ideas, energize the party, and pull voters into the party. His rhetoric was a beacon to many who would not have otherwise paid attention. He is the candidate of ideas.

Hilary Clinton is more pragmatic, more experienced in Washington, and more amenable to finding solutions by reaching across the aisle. She's the candidate of issues.

But the sad thing is that, as always, it's become a campaign of innuendo, and only because the Dems haven't nailed down a nominee yet. McCain sails above and his chances rise by the day, while the press snipes away at Obama because of something his pastor said, and they rehash Clinton's (suppoedly) negative ads and wonder about Bill Clinton's role.

As far as I can tell, the only ones rising above most of this are the candidates themselves.

They are both able. They both have progressive ideas. They can both ably lead the nation. We need to make a choice, and we need to make a choice for legitimate change from the Executive branch as we have known it.

We need a President who can make the populous think of ideas as well as issues, simply because we need such a drastic change from what we have had for the last eight years.

We need to support Barack Obama.