Anyone who thought we could get through this groundbreaking presidential campaign without confronting the seamier side of contemporary American culture overlooked the very nature of the political landscape in this age of incoherence.
Game On
Let’s face it: whether you call it Who Wants To Be President?, Survivor: Pennsylvania Avenue, or American Idle, they’ve turned the campaign for president of the United States into a reality show featuring newcomer Barack “Barry Alabama” Obama and that seasoned team of old pros known as Billary Clinton in a bitter battle to meet Straight Shootin’ John “The Rifleman” McCain in the season finale during those all important November sweeps–with a whole lot more than winter ad rates on the line.
And don’t look now, but we’re all watching this war of words without meaning as if it still matters (if it ever really did) who sits in the White House. What appeared–at least on the surface–to be an historic opportunity to show that we’ve “grown up” as a people by choosing to let a woman or a black man lead our government has instead become a rude reminder that, as much as we’d like to pretend otherwise, we’re pretty much still the same people we’ve always been.
Turn and Face the Strange
If we can agree that it takes more than a different president to bring true change in our way of life, we can probably agree that the only true “change” Obama represents is the change from the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton pattern that would be perpetuated by a Hillary win in November.
But breaking the Bush-Clinton-Bush pattern is often cited as a major factor among Obama supporters, and any prudent Hillary backer can see that, if the pattern must be broken, it is best that it be broken by a Democrat than by the second coming of Ronald Reagan seasoned with a few sprinkles of the worst elements of the Cheney Administration a McCain presidency would most certainly offer.
And Months to Go Before We Weep
In many ways, Obama represents that segment of the American population that hasn’t been happy with the Bushes or the Clintons; and, if the number of voters who’ve pulled his lever or punched his tab during the primary campaign is any indication, it looks like there are a whole lot of people who fall into that category.
November is still a long way off, but will it be long enough to allow us to overcome our lifetime of conditioning? As sexy as it may seem to the political children of Camelot to elect Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, will it be enough to outpoll the millions who agree with John McCain’s recent pronouncement that the easiest way to solve the health care crisis is for all of us to take a 30-minute walk every day?
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Raise Your Hand if you agree that Lee Atwater would be all over this YouTube thang.
Nice political blog. I’ve been longing for a salient voice to cut through the crapola that we have in mainstream media. I’ve found it here.
What I’ll add is that it is a shame that in what should be a thrilling presidential campaign to elect a leader that is sorely needed to clean up the crap of the last 8 years we are left being preched a jaded message by deriatives of leadership. I WANT THE REAL THING, DAMMIT.