Political Musings

As part of my newly discovered interest in what's going on in the world (or perhaps just complete and all-consuming boredom... which is probably more likely), I watched the Vice Presidential debates tonight. I must admit, it was the first time that I actually watched a debate the whole way through from start to finish. Despite several audible rants at pixelated Palin regarding her use of the term "nucular" instead of "nuclear," I kind of enjoyed myself.

For whatever reason, I had completely ignored Senator Joe Biden thus far in the campaign. I'd venture to say that most Americans couldn't even identify the man if shown a picture of him (and that's certainly not true of Obama, McCain, or Palin). Oh sure, I knew the basics of the guy - old white senator from Delaware who likes to talk a lot and sometimes blabs before he thinks - but I never really took notice. Tonight I was rather impressed. He presented himself well, he spoke clearly, and he was respectful of Palin (and McCain when he spoke of him) even when he criticized them.

You can't watch a debate expecting to get the facts. That's a total fantasy. Each candidate was giving a performance, and the best you can do is judge how well they give the appearance of what you're looking for in a leader. I thought Joe Biden did that well. I was not as impressed with Sarah Palin.

I was not *unimpressed* with Sarah Palin... and I think a lot of pundits were underestimating her. She managed to move up the chain of power very rapidly for someone who was mayor of a town the size of Kittanning and governor of a state that has an alarming polar bear to human ratio, and anyone who can do that must be able to appeal to people somehow. But I have to say, I didn't like her approach. Her answers were brimming with cliches about small town values and what's happening in "the Main Street of Wasilla." For fuck's sake, she actually gave a "shout out" to her brother's 3rd grade class who was watching at home! The woman could give Wilford Brimley a run for his money in the "most folksy TV personality" department.

She loves to crush her small town values into my face. She actually said in an interview this week that Americans want to see the average Joe Six-Pack run for a position like the Vice Presidency. While there's nothing wrong with Joe Six-Pack (I actually know a guy who would literally fit this name), you don't give him control of the goddamn country. And we should really rail against this idea that the President or Vice President should be just like us. When we're talking about being the President of the United States of America (and as everyone has already pointed out at length, that's a strong possibility for Palin), that's a title that means something. You should represent the best that America has to offer. You should be able to lead the regular Joes... not be one of them.

I've met Joe Six Packs. Kittanning is filled with them. The next time I'm staring into my half-empty bottle of despair and Miller Lite at the bar, I'll lift my head out of the stygian failure of my own personal stupor to look around the establishment to see if I notice any Presidential material. Oh! I see a guy scratching his ass with a fork. I see another guy rubbing against a chain-smoking prostitute. And there's a group of guys staring at the news bellowing, "Why can't the niggers get their shit together!?" Oh yes... I love those small town values. Let's get these motherfuckers in the Oval Office!

And that's kind of my problem with McCain as well. I used to like McCain. I really did. He has appeared on television a lot over the last eight years, and while I didn't always agree with his views, his positions seemed well thought out and well argued. The McCain that I've seen running this year doesn't seem like the same guy. He seems like he's putting on a facade that doesn't quite work. He's trying to seem more conservative than he really is, and he's also throwing around this "small town values" nonsense. Just stop it.

But for quite some time, I didn't really care who got elected. Neither McCain nor Obama seemed like bad guys. But then McCain chose Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential pick. Now as I said above, I don't think Sarah Palin is necessarily a bad politician or a bad public servant, but I do NOT think she was a good choice. There were SO many other Republican women that McCain could have chosen if he really wanted a woman on the ticket. I think it shows bad judgment on McCain's part that he picked her for the Vice Presidential nomination. There's no guarantee that Palin would be bad at the job, but her credentials just don't impress me.

Take it from a guy who's actively trying to search for a job. I may be great at the position, but if my resume is not impressive and I come off like a dimwitted idiot in my interview, I shouldn't get the damn job!

And that is why (and I know that I'm going to take shit for this from my parents, my boss, and just about anyone in Kittanning) I plan to vote for Obama in November. I think he and Biden make a lot of sense. They're giving me real information, and they're not patronizing me.

I don't think Obama and Biden shit rainbows every morning or anything. I am well aware of Obama's weaknesses (he does seem to promise a lot more than any one person could ever deliver, but that goes with the territory of running for President I suppose), but he just strikes me as an educated and reasonable guy who tells you what he thinks, and he's really damned personable. When half of your job is to present America in a positive light, being really personable is a damned good trait. And on a completely shallow and somewhat racist level, I think having a brown guy as the face of America to the world is a good idea right now. Think about it. There's a lot of resentment toward our country in the Middle East (incidently filled with brown people), and the education system in a lot of these third-world countries is not very good... dumb people are probably as plentiful there as they are here (if not moreso). If right now they're thinking that America is filled with old white guys who hate their way of life, it might actually be a good thing for a brown guy with an Islamic-sounding name to be running the country. Maybe they'll be like, "Well shit, America's at least got a brown dude running it. Let's bomb the shit out of Denmark! Death to the Danish!"

(Incidentally, that's my battle cry at breakfast in the morning.)

Everyone can give me grief all they want, but I've investigated this shit to the best of my ability, explored both sides as well as I can, and I really think Obama and Biden are the better choice. You know, assuming I don't write in "Snagglepuss and Emilio Estevez" for the win.

Of course, I still have to find out if I'm registered to vote in my hometown. I registered four years ago, and that was in Erie. I don't remember what I put down as my "home" location at the time.... hopefully "Gotham City."

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JP promises that more frivolous posts will be forthcoming... love sonnets to beef jerky, random ruminations about various kinds of Kleenex, diatribes against Pat Sayjak, etc. All of this political talk might force me to take a stand on something!