“Why do people have to tell you who they’re voting for, Mommy?” Asher asked as we passed lawn sign after lawn sign proclaiming support for the Obama-Biden ticket.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t know.”
I am up to my eyeballs in political proselytizing this fall. Literally.
This election has hypnotized my relatives, people previously driven by a who-cares approach to politics. At holiday gatherings and casual get-togethers, they exhibit Obama-Biden lapel pins and wax passionate about what an idiot Sarah Palin is and how similar to W John McCain is.
When I jumped down from my fence seat and announced my support for the McCain-Palin ticket, my mother turned up her nose, narrowed her gaze and spat, “Well, that’s YOUR problem, Lynne.”
I was slicing hard tomatoes in her granite-counter kitchen and sipping Spanish wine. I make salad differently, but I didn’t feel the need to say so.
Look. I don’t care who anyone votes for. It’s every American’s right and responibility to cast a ballot. And it’s none of my business what reasoning drives that choice.
Apparently, I am one of the few Americans who see good and bad on both sides. The people I know with lawn signs and lapel pins declare Obama as THE ANSWER TO EVERY PROBLEM. They’re being naive.
A just-out-of-the-starting-gate senator – albeit one who has infinite charisma and great speaking abilities when he knows what he’s talking about – is no more or less poised to lead than a veteran with experience negotiating across party lines. And an in-the-trenches governor who won’t take sass and juggles a family and public office is more equipped to offer insight, direction and answers than a white guy from the tiniest state in the Union.
But I digress.
This economic crisis was a long time in coming and there are many to blame for it – including each one of us. No one person will resolve it overnight.
And if you’re going to talk about change, please be specific. You see, except for Sarah Palin, whom I adore, they’re all dancing around vaguaries and big words. No one’s saying anything of worth.
(The next time someone tells me they don’t want a soccer mom in high office, I just might slap them. Even though I loved Tina Fey’s impressions.)
Vote for your candidate of choice. Be passionate about your beliefs. But please don’t preach to me.
And put your damn lawn signs away.
To borrow a phrase, “Amen”.
To me, Obama = Carter 2.0. McCain is very centrist, really. VP doesn’t actually matter much, except that it is setting Palin up to be a star in the Republican party in the future.
And Obama’s relations with left wing terrorists (Ayers) and racist preachers (Rev. Wright) are too much. Can you imagine, what the media would do to McCain if he went to a church where the preacher preached white supremacy for 20 years?
Lawn signs are silly, like they are going to change anyone’s mind? Just visual pollution.
Excellent. Well thought out. Most Obama voters are not voting for him but rather voting against Bush. The problem is, Bush is not on the ballot. McCain is and McCain is very, very different than Bush. Obama supporters, for the most part, are for “change” as you write but are very short on specifics. His past affiliations should give anyone pause and his lack of experience is unmatched in the modern political era. Very well put.
Wow Lynne,
Let’s look at the intellect of the four candidates. Obama has been an outstanding scholar and will surround himself with intelligent and seasoned advisors. He has already planned a transition team which indicates that he plans and thinks things through with care. I don’t think Obama walks on water or has the ability to cure all our problems,but I do think he has the ability to listen and accept advise from more experienced advisors.
I don’t think a woman who can juggle career and family can do it all at the same time and frankly I am offended by her cutesy slangy “plain folks talk” and her right wing views on social issues . Please give it more thought before you go to the polls.
Aunt Bev
I sometimes visit your site because I like your writing, and while we all should have the right to cast a vote for the candidate of our choice, I am shocked at your choice. McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time, 95% in this past year. He seems to have no grasp on the economic problems, and indeed, his campaign said it was now “time to turn the page on the economy.” Yes, time to turn the campaign into a mud slinging event and attack his opponent rather than focus on what he might do for the nation.
And since you seem to be an intelligent and thinking person, I am shocked by your statement that you “adore Sarah Palin.” What is it exactly that you adore about her? She is completely unqualified to be in any position of power. She has refused to give interviews, hold press conferences, because she basically can’t talk intelligently about anything.
Never mind her lack of experience and curiosity about the world, but do you think that a woman who incites mobs, stands there smiling while people scream to kill the opponent and call Obama a terrorist is a person to be adored? Do you think one who gets up there and lies to crowds, calling Obama “unAmerican” and basically calling him a terrorist is a good role model? A person worthy of being vice-president of our country?
Palin was found guilty of abusing her powers of governing and violating ethics laws in Alaska. Yet, incredulously, she says the report “vindicated her of wrong doing.” Is this someone playing with a full deck? Do you want a VP who violates ethics laws and abuses power, and then thinks she had done nothing wrong?
Her record in Alaska isn’t exactly stellar on other issues as well. And then there’s that little matter of her relationship with the Alaskan Independence Party–her husband was a member until recently and she was the keynote speaker at their recent convenetion. Imagine that, a VP who supports Alasak breaking away from the union.
Sorry, but if you think that a woman with limited intelligence, who is unable to string together a coherent sentence, who can’t answer questions without note cards or a teleprompter, who refuses to talk to the press and reveal anything about her activities, who is profoundly ignorant of foreign affairs and domestic affairs, who is a pathological liar, who sees nothing wrong with inciting mobs, and who has abused power in her office as governor–is a great role model for your daughter and also qualified to lead our country (yes, there’s a good chance of it considering McCain’s health and age), then I guess there’s not much more to say.
Oh, and the phony accent and pretending not to be able to speak properly. Yes, her accent is phony. It changes everytime she speaks, depending on how folksy she wants to sound.