Why Haven’t I Written For Six Days? I Can’t/Couldn’t Take it Anymore

16Sep08

John McCain and Sarah Palin have fired off more mini-anyeurisms in my brain than I’d ever like to mention to Joe Biden. Everytime I think I am at the peak of my outrage, one of the two comes out and says something so completely ridiculous that I think it has to end the race. Palin lied so blatantly about the bridge to nowhere, then she says on the prospect of war with Russia (yes, the big country with Nukes that is energized behind its fascist leader) that it is “perhaps” necessary. Then McCain today, on the worst economic day for the US this century and perhaps for the last 50 years (excluding 9/11 or other extraordinary events) comes out and calls “the fundamentals of our economy” good. Let’s just ignore temporarily that today would have driven people to suicide in the 1920s–thank God for cable television, I’m sure many would have killed themselves if it weren’t for the Weeds season finale being on tonight–has McCain ever said what a “fundamental” of the economy is, and why it is good? Growth is down, unemployment up, the dollar is weak–there is nothing good going on right now by any stretch of the imagination (except for maybe alternative fuel companies McCain refuses to subsidize).

And yet, by Gallup, McCain is still winning. True, his bounce was no different than Obama’s post-convention bounce, another point missed by this media, but all in all, the media really haven’t been doing a bad job as of late. They have managed to at least raise doubt over what McCain is saying; hell, the View ladies (including Hasselbeck!) even told him that he was lying to his face. Sarah Palin has been proven to be all but incompetent to every independent analyst, but she’s a white woman with kids, so, what’s not to like.

And yes, if Obama had a pregnant 17 year old kid running around, this race would be over. And that’s racism.

This is a more personal entry than most, but what I’m finally coming to realize is that all elections are about 90% personal, 10% policy. I, like most of my generation, have made it pretty clear that I support Obama. And again, on even independent analysis, it’s hard to argue McCain’s policies over Obama’s, especially after these 8 years. I don’t know if it has ever been more abundantly clear that a minimally restricted free market doesn’t work; that’s what this crisis is all about. And as an aside, I think there are striking corollaries between a philosophy that believes that we will win wars because an invisible man in the sky arbitrarily likes us better, and a philosophy that believes an invisible hand will just guide the economy in the right direction. To me, that’s almost the definition of recklessness.

But still, most people in this country believe in both of those philosophies. We are an illogical society; true, no society is perfectly logical, but it is our warm embrace of the illogical that seems to separate us. And as a young man who wants to see his country earn the title of “best country in the world,” it’s extremely repulsing to have to encounter such nonsense on an everyday basis.

I’ll admit, I honestly do see Obama as destined to win this election–something conservatives will argue is typical liberal arrogance. And again, from my last post , I’m not one to embrace destiny; the way I mentally (not emotionally) process my feelings about Obama’s providence is that there is no way the country can survive even one more term of conservative leadership.

I guess I’ve come to terms with just how self-centered my line of thought actually is. Because while I may use fact to rationalize what I feel, clearly at least 40% of this country feels differently about Obama (yes, largely because he’s black), and makes up their own reasons not to support him. Once again, you can’t fight that; almost no one likes how this country is now under the Bush-McCain style of leadership, but they come back for more.

Mickey Kaus, a right-of-center blogger over at Slate who isn’t a fan of McCain or Obama, believes the Democrats should stop whining about McCain and Palin’s lies. I agree; this is a post-logical, post-modern world. Facts aren’t stubborn, they are as disposable as they are ineffective in attacking an opposing candidate. Mark Halperin at Time makes an important point; Obama has to get in McCain’s head.

Because for all of McCain obvious short-comings, the one sure-fire way for Obama to win is to get McCain to call someone, preferably his wife or Sarah Palin, a “cunt” again.

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Again, on an even more personal note, I admit to falling victim to identity politics at times. In truth, I find the dynamic Obama had with his mother very similar to my own with my mom. I also identify with Obama as a basketball player; I’d hope Obama would agree with me that even when I played perfectly in terms of fundamentals, it was always the elbow in the paint unseen to the referee that gave me the edge enough to win. That’s not dirty, that’s reality, and it’s how the game is played.

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Tags: bank of america, Barack Obama, conservative, Democrat, economy, election 2008, government buyout, john mccain, karl rove, lehman brothers, liar, lies, lying, merrill lynch, Obama, post-modern, republican, Sarah Palin, taxes, wall st