Political Burnout.

I have a proposal for the United States of America. Let’s just let the media pick whom they want for President, o.k.? They’re pretty much swinging the way the U.S. population thinks these days so why don’t we just go all George Orwell and just let them decide. Besides, a good percentage of the citizens of the U.S. are afraid to ask questions or make decisions so let’s not bother them with that. Remember, doing research, weighing issues and casting a responsible vote is hard work! It’s easier to dial 1-866-IDOLS03 than to figure out how that newfangled electronic voting machine works.

I thought I reached a political burnout point a couple of months ago. It turns out I was dead wrong. My distaste for the whole affair reached new heights yesterday when one media source said that Obama was definitely the Democratic candidate and that Clinton would be dropping out last night whilst another media source said that Hillary said that she was “absolutely not” dropping out of the race last night and it was up in the air. Why wait for the story when you can make your own declarations, trounce them out as truths and then have the sheeple believe you?

I have some rather unpopular beliefs about this upcoming Presidential election. I believe there’s a good share of “Billy Bob Beanstalks” (no offense to anyone out there with that actual name) that will never elect an African-American President. Personally I think that sucks that in this day and age people still have that sort of prejudice but it can not be denied that it exists. Throw the whole “sand-N” sounding name (not my choice of words, I overheard it at a restaurant recently during a political ‘debate’) and I don’t think that Obama has quite enough of a chance to win the Presidency (it’s going to be very close if we don’t have people getting cutsey with the voting system). I really, really, really, really hope I’m wrong. Is he my first choice? No, his words ring hollow and he just doesn’t sit well with my gut instinct. I wish I could articulate that gut instinct part better but I can’t and I realise that my ‘gut instinct’ reason smacks contrary to my belief in making an informed decision. But I just can’t shake the feeling.

Then we have Hillary. There’s a really strong “we just hate her” vibe running through many people throughout the country (especially Upstate New York). When questioned why, there’s hardly ever a good answer. Lately I’ve heard the argument “she’s old style politics, so if she’s on the ballot, I’ll vote for McCain instead”.

Em, yeah. That’s a great school of thought you’ve got going there.

Listen, here’s the thing. I’ll vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who’s on the ticket. Obama/Clinton, Clinton/Obama, hell I’d vote for Mondale/Barbara Bush if I had to. I wish I could make my choice tomorrow so we didn’t have to endure another five months of the process. I’m sick of it! And frankly I’d rather vote for the Libertarian candidate but I can’t help but feel like that’s a waste of time in this fucked up two party system we so gleefully embrace. There’s forty-five different scents of Downy vying for space on the supermarket shelf but by God you can only have two major candidates for President.

So here I am, trying to escape the noise of the 2008 elections and it’s all I’m talking about today. Let’s try a change of subject. Hey, did you see the scarf Rachel Ray was wearing in the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial? It was cute!