Not All About Policy

hey y'all. today is Super Tuesday in the primary election world and i will now use this space to give some of my opinions. you may not agree. thats OK. we can all agree that healthy discussion and debate is one of the things that makes the United States of America the greatest country in the world.

My Political Background

everyone in my family (except for my father's sister's family) leans heavily to the right - to the point where they would hesitate to say that Bush has done a less than satisfactory job over the last 7 years. my parents have always talked with one another and to me about the shortcomings and evil ways of the Democratic party and those in it. i first noticed it during the Clinton administration when absolutely nothing was done correctly. Rush Limbaugh was always playing in the car when his show was on, and my parents made sure to use Rush's nicknames for people around Washington in everyday conversation. just as a little child in India learns of the truths of the Hindu gods and as North Koreans are brainwashed into thinking the conditions in their country are better than those outside due to the great abilities of their "dear leader" Kim Jong Il, i too believed what i heard to be truth because those speaking spoke so emphatically about it. our beliefs, our actions and our opinions are all directly correlated to those which we observe, learn from and disagree with in our immediate surroundings and environments. that being said, i still hold on to many of the things that my parents believe. this is not unusual, but it at the same time, someone else's opinions should never dictate your own; my own. however, i will happily admit that the ideas of "liberal hill" have not been lost on me. SOME (note the emphasis) have grown on me. but at any rate, at this point in time, i would label myself a liberal conservative. it is with this mindset that i will now give my opinions on the major players in this upcoming election.

President Bush

I disagree whole heartedly with nearly all of the things the extreme left wing says about Bush (ie he's evil incarnate, he went to Iraq solely for oil, he should be impeached, he likes to eat children, etc). I also do not think that he is incompetent, as most people who lean left do (yes i just stereotyped). But these things do not mean that i think he is a saint. The state of our union is not strong. It's actually very weak right now and the blame for that falls on the President. That title is equivalent to CEO and when your company (our country) is failing to produce positive numbers, changes need to be made. Which brings me to my next section...

Presidential Candidates

None of them are in the Bush family which i think we can all agree will bring change to the White House. [well duh Erich, say something useful]

Ron Paul

after today, he will be out of the running. he was never in the running even though people voted for him. this baffles me because anyone will tell you that he has absolutely no shot of getting the nomination; so why would you vote for such a candidate? I'll never understand that.

Mike Huckabee

i like Mike. he seems down to earth. he's a southern preacher. he doesn't have much "Washington" in him (not the person, but the place), lost a lot of weight and plays the bass guitar. i think he appeals to young(er) people more than any of the other candidates. unfortunately, he has not had the support (or the money) to carry on a widely successful campaign, only a marginally one.

Mitt Romney

i don't like Mitt. he doesn't seem trustworthy. maybe its his perfectly slicked back hair (which reminds me of another fallen presidential hopeful) or his slick way of talking. maybe it's his religion (i don't agree with Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses). maybe its the fact that he has had to put $35.4 million of his own money into his campaign for it to be successful. he uses attack ads like no other and he seems like he is hiding something. i don't know what, but its something.

John McCain

the liberal war hero. what? is that possible? of course it is. but he's running for the elephants? indeed. i don't really know what i think about him. he seems more willing to reach across the aisle than any other candidate in the race which is a positive and a negative for him. i think he is the complex candidate as far as straying away from the party norm while maintaining a lead in the polls. i am very interested to see how far he goes.

Hillary Clinton

i don't like Hillary. sorry people. this would be one of those opinions that carried over from the Clinton presidency and my childhood/adolescence. i don't know why i didn't like her, maybe just because she was associated with Bill or that she was a democrat. but, like mitt, i just do not trust her. i am convinced that she is just another Washington politician who will do more of the same bickering, name calling, and finger pointing that Washington does so well. i do not think our country will move forward with 4 to 8 more years of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton Presidential tug of war game.

Barack Obama

my parents would be so very disappointed to hear me say that i like Barack Hussein Obama, the black liberal Muslim. its kinda hard for me to believe that i like him too. if anything, its a sign of maturation by breaking free of the parental ideology (not to say that i cant agree with my parents if i choose to). Barack is the most dynamic, fiery, and inspirational candidate of the bunch. his speeches are reminiscent of Dr. King's speeches in inspiring remarks and loosely in subject matter. he is the "change" candidate which so many people identify with. he is the other candidate who i am really interested to see how far they go.

in those descriptions, i will point out if you hadn't already noticed, that i did not once mention policy of any of the candidates (other than Barack's "change" but thats not really policy). no, i chose to give the descriptions based solely on my opinions of the candidates as they appear on TV and the internet: my perception of the candidates as people.

many of our fellow citizens will enter polling booths in November with only the same type of "knowledge" about the candidates that i have expressed here today. they care not for policy. they care about race, gender and military experiences. they care about an R or a D. they also care about the person (not the pretty face, the compelling arguer or the motivational coach) they think would do the best job in the position. this is a huge part of elections that will never change. inevitably, people will not educate themselves properly on the issues and policies. people will vote from the heart, however flawed that heart may or may not be. it is under this assumption that i give my election predictions.

it is now just after 7:00 PM on Super Tuesday. many polls just closed around the country and i have no idea who will win (except for Huckabee winning in the West Virginia convention earlier today). and the race certainly continues on after tonight, but tonight will be a big step in narrowing down (in the case of the Repubs) or possibly a big step in prolonging (in the case of the Democs). my predictions:

Paul is definitely out. Huckabee will most likely not be able to continue even after the win in WV. Romney has enough money that he will save face by going all the way to the primary, only to lose soundly to McCain.

Hillary and Obama will give a good fight to one another. i actually have no idea will win the nomination. it could be either. for the sake of making predictions, I'll say Obama wins.

so its McCain v. Obama in November. lets step into the hypothetical polling booth with a hypothetical voter who happens to have similar viewpoints that i do. hypothetically.

McCain
war hero
left-leaning conservative
white
aisle-crossing probability
Washington experienced
another republican in the white house

Obama
inspiring speaker
most likely to bring change
black
Hussein and Muslim background (false or not*)
Washington experienced
fresh new face in many different ways

i think that there will be people who will discount Obama simply because he is black and his name is very different, and (dare i say) traditionally un-American. and when they look at the R side of the ballot they see a war hero and someone who might possibly get something done in Washington.

McCain gets inaugurated.

lets say Hillary gets the nomination...

McCain
war hero
left-leaning conservative
male
aisle-crossing probability
Washington experienced
another republican in the white house

Clinton
not republican
liberal
first female US president
not (necessarily) "business as usual"
White House experienced
another Clinton in the White House

(forgive my inability to come up with many positive things to say about Hillary)

again, i think that there will be people out there who will cross Hillary's name off the list solely because she is a woman. i really don't think the majority of the nation is OK with having a female president. or an African American on for that matter. the only way Hillary or Obama win is if they lose the popular vote but win the electoral vote. i just don't see that happening.

Clinton concedes to McCain

some of you out there have found fault with or possibly even taken offense to some of the things i have said and will no doubt like to argue with me about it. i hate arguing. even if it is healthy debate. i am a terrible debater. it comes close to me getting on someones bad side, and i have given my best effort my entire life to avoid getting on someones bad side. that said, reply with corrections, opinions if you desire, just please don't tell me i suck, miss the point or am an idiot like Bush (even though i do and i am when it comes to politics).

i would love to talk to you about this stuff in person. give me a call to catch up, talk about camping plans, or throw around political ideas. i really do miss y'all.

until next time

Blig of the Day: Good things at the Gym yesterday
- i saw Nick G an OLD friend from college (like, he was old when i was a frosh)
- free pizza on every first Monday of the month (at a gym? what?)
- GOOD run on the treadmill - i usually struggle to get through it but i was able to distract myself from thinking about how much time is left or how much breath i don't have with...
- Friends quotes - one of the TVs was on a Friends rerun and i knew what was going to be said without even having audio. it was TOW** Eddie Moves In. I knew when Joey was going to say "I need the juice!" and when Chandler was going to say "You took your eggs and you left! Did you really expect me to never find new eggs?"... yeah, i laughed out loud on the treadmill.

*Barack is not Muslim, just to clarify. my point in adding this in is that many people do believe he is a Muslim and that he is just lying about not being one
**every Friends episode is given a title that begins with "The One With" or "The One Where." It's often abbreviated TOW