Why the Dems mights lose…
For those of us who are Democrats, the last eight years have been a infuriating trudge through bad policy, terrorist attacks, loss of personal liberties, an illegal war, and now we are staring down the barrel of a depression… Well depression is a strong word but if you look at the state of things it might be an appropriate label in the next six months. The approval ratings for almost all policy decisions currently being made by the Bush administration are below 50% at this point. The general public is looking at the Republican party as part and parcel to the problem (in my opinion they are quite correct). I remember this kind of anti-republican sentiment, after Bush Sr. waltzed all over the economy… We know as Democrats that it would, according to Jon Stewart “Take a Herculean effort” to blow this election. Yet we may do just that…
In my life I have found that there are very few places where the universal opinion of the individual is crushed more openly by the opinion of elitist rule than the cinema. We have all been there, two or more very bookish/cinemaphile friends sit languidly exchanging favorite scenes from a recently viewed foreign film or action movie. You may have hated the film, thought the camera work was so sloppy it provided more migraine than enlightening character revelations, that the trite dialogue was about as ambitious as a fourth grade poetry project, and lastly the ever-changing bad guy was so confusing by the end that you pity him, and the director for having to suffer this injustice. Yet you will sit with those friends who you assume are somehow better and more cultured than you and trade lofty anecdotes about the film… Just so your opinion will not be rejected outright. Now let us apply this analogy to our currently unfolding drama between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama. I know that they are Senators and deserve more respect than a common Mrs. and Mr., or do they? I like the Mr. Mrs.- it humanizes them for me and after all we are voting for these “people” not their titles. Ok now that is out of the way. Back to the film… These two are locked in a fight that is an amazing point for point, delegate for delegate trudge on their way to get the nomination from the Democratic National Committee. I have watched this fight since it started and now that the film is ending I have realized something… I don’t like this movie and I feel bad for pretty much everyone involved. Here it is kids, the opinion that I have, but keep quiet because the pundits are telling me I’m not smart enough to get the nuances and intricacies of what is going on… I hate to say it but this race has POLARIZED the Democratic party into Pro-Obama and Pro-Clinton factions and we are looking at people who will refuse to vote or vote Republican if “their” candidate is not elected to run for President. Scary isn’t it? We could lose the presidency because of the polarizing nature of this race.
I will be honest I am a supporter of Mr. Obama, he impressed me with his policy, and honestly I like his message. I also like the fact that no matter what, he takes his knocks and keeps on going as he was before. Remember the confused bad guy from the foreign film? Well I feel that way about Mrs. Clinton. I feel bad for her, campaigns are expensive, and as she has run she has watched ally after ally leave her camp to join Mr. Obama. In this she has thrown more dirt, garbage, and debris than the New York waste management board. It was sad to watch this strong personality fall to the darkside. It was as if Darth “Rove” was controlling her actions. The media won’t come out and say it but her blatant pandering to people she has nothing in common with was ridiculous, and her hurtful diatribes against Mr. Obama made her look cheap and petty. Mrs. Clinton’s image is that of a chameleon. She begins by telling me that she loves to shoot, and that guns are fun behind the shed with grandpa…(By the way she dislikes fire arms and has voted for every bill that takes them out of people’s hands) then she morphs into the beer drinking, whiskey shooting, talking in the back of classic gas guzzling pickup truck Good Ol’ Gal, then into the professional lawyer and champion of her district (I will not report demographics on her district but see how far the Good Ol’ Gal act gets her there). I don’t know who she is, I really don’t know who, but I know what she is. Mrs. Clinton is a lock step average garden variety politician that is depending on hordes of advisors and demographic data interpreted through pollsters and ad-agencies to create her look and tone for every state and town she is in. She has sold herself in too many packages for my taste and the numbers are starting to show that I am not alone.
Mrs. Clinton has managed to do one thing very well though, she has made it near impossible for people to both like her and Mr. Obama at the same time. Her negative spin has hurt Mr. Obama’s campaign and with it the whole of the Democratic party. She has created a situation through her use of Carl Rove’s playbook that causes suspicion and casts doubt upon the intellectual, and political legitimacy of those that support Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton has in some ways tried and succeeded in “salting” the earth. Mrs. Clinton has given a block of voters a moral station upon which they can sit and vote Republican in good conscience due to the fact that Obama is not the Candidate they wanted and in response to Mrs. Clinton’s tactics they will not ever trust him. This same situation exists on Mr. Obama’s side of the fence as well. I am not happy with this situation at all. If left unchecked this situation will lead to the eventual loss of millions of “fence” voters. These voters may vote Rebublican or just stay home. This costs the Democrats so much in credibility in polls and political power that even if we do take the presidency we will have to deal with a divided counry. I understand politics and I enjoy them, I watch more politics than I do Football or Hockey and let me tell you its much more emotionally engaging, crushing, and gratifying than sports. My understanding tells me one thing, negative campaigning hurts the party as a whole and I find it to be a rather selfish act at a time like this, when the people need strong vibrant positive leadership.
I do not blame Mrs. Clinton personally, I know there are hundreds of people all making ads, compiling data, and that in this race like the Highlander “There can be only One!” I actually like Mrs. Clinton despite her campaign’s use of negativity. If she wins the nomination I will with a clear conscience vote for her as a president. I think she has what it takes and I believe that she will benefit this country as a president and if she is anything she is tenacious. Do I like her as much as I do Mr. Obama… No. But that is my gut, my opinion, and MY research talking. I have left out the parts I like about Mr. Obama because this is not a post to sway people but instead to get people to think about the candidates tactics on a larger scale. It does not matter who YOU like or dislike, trust don’t trust. I want you to see how negative campaigns between candidates in the same party can kill the electability of both the candidates in that party.
I can hear the people now, telling me that my unrefined view of things is sophomoric and uninformed. To them I say this, when it all comes down to it, I vote my conscience, I know right from wrong, I do my best to make good decisions not just for me but for my family. So no matter what nuances, or political mine fields I have missed in this bizarre tale of changing faces and ideals in the end I will vote as I think all Americans should, as an individual making the best decision he or she can for the betterment of the country as a whole.
Very well spoken you are.