Saturday, March 22, 2008

Misnomer of presidential proportions

I'm going on my political rant for the season.

Yes, I've said that I backed away from primary voting because I don't believe in the capability of any of the candidates. That doesn't mean I'm not following this muck up of a race.

Politics have always been a murky topic, people suspect the worst, develop conspiracy theories, throw mud, supply false promises and give constant non-answers to people needing actual answers.

I just finished reading John Grisham's latest novel surrounding law, but also politics, and the practice of dirty politics. How a person of financial power can basically purchase an election by pumping funds into the backing of a candidate.

Yeah I'm gonna sling a couple conspiracy theories. First of all take a look at our potential candidates.

Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain.

Ok Hillary Clinton is a long shot, she's a white woman, and she's backing a lot of her own campaign out of pocket, and still, eliciting a lot of public funding. She's seen as a cold yet overly emotional and unstable persona. Everyone saw her bid for the nomination as eminent at some point only because she is a very driven person, and sitting as navigator to Bill for two terms probably didn't satisfy her lust for the limelight. Let's see how he likes being first lady.

Barack Obama...well he's black, that is a start. Where did this political nobody come from? Where the heck is is funding coming from? Hillary has the money in the bank...but Obama? He's pulling in millions of dollars in funding...this no name black senator comes out of political obscurity to give Clinton a run for her money and rises to the point of being noted as one of the most 'influential and exciting candidates' of the 2008 election. People say he's going to bring back what America has lost. People are being sold on it. My biggest question is...who's gaining from his political possibility and what is the biggest gain with him in office? What stance will he take for, or against that is going to put money in someone else's pocket?

John McCain has tried to vie for the republican nomination before, and got squeezed out because he wasn't the best candidate. What makes him so great now? This guy might as well be a democrat as far as hardline republicans are concerned. He's got money coming in from big business and what not. But not nearly enough to win an election. I'm not going to touch on him much because he doesn't have as much controversy surrounding his campaign, and to be completely honest with the republican track record I don't think he has a prayer of winning this years presidential election. (not that I like the alternatives).

Then there are the other presidential un-hopefuls that will run under some kind of independent ticket. These people are in the game to 'win', but what they're really doing is pulling away votes from one party or the other. Depending on their stances and whos putting the money in where, then that could swing the vote either way in a close election.

"The overall gap between the three senators also increased: McCain has now raised just over $60 million, compared with Clinton’s $156 million and Obama’s $194 million."
"The two remaining Democratic contenders ended the month with a healthy amount of cash in hand: $33 million for Clinton and $39 million for Obama. The numbers are not quite as close as they appear: Obama has less than a million dollars in debt, while Clinton owes nearly $9 million in addition to the $5 million loan she made to her own campaign in January."

-cnn.com

So my first conspiracy is of money. Who's got it, and who wants it? Why these candidates and how is it going to help them?

My second issue, not so much theory, is the fact that this campaign to select the DEMOCRATIC RUNNER...not even the freaking president, (which i think most Americans are probably confused on at this point, they're going to expect to see both Obama and Clinton on the ticket!) has become about skin color and gender.

All candidates run around with a banner proclaiming change, none of them are willing to state what change that is, and then they attack each other based on their 'experience', lack there of, and ends up kinda pointing the finger at the others gender or skin color.

Grow up.

Obama identifies with blacks...duh...Clinton identifies with old people and hispanics...what?

Clinton's ticket has ended up more as a novelty because she's a woman...ooooo we've never done that before...we're sick of where we're at....she says the word change...VOTE FOR HER!
Obama has taken the same novelty ticket because he's a black man. What ever that has to do with novelty or capability I don't know. He grew up abroad for a lot of his years, he didn't grow up as far as most people are concerned "urban". He's not Randy's "dawg", and he certainly has enough sketchy background himself for people to be wary of him and the democratic party in general.

Why has this come down to color and gender? well...besides the fact that it is the most obvious subjective factors in this election (because both candidates are liberal enough that they bleed a rainbow) both candidates have decided to make it about color or gender. Obama has been quoted as talking about skin color, and trying to identify with white people because his grandma is white...who cares. (oh and not to mention the fact his pastor has gone on racial rants which obama had to 'smooth over)

"“…but she is a typical white person who, you know, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, there is a reaction that has been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way…”"

- Obama - cnn.com

So now we've got a race that the republicans can't win because of a bad track record and apparently they're either severely lethargic in our fund raising campaign or have no backers this round until the democrats go buck wild in office again and screw everything up worse. Not only this but the republicans are fighting with a campaign of novelty. Theres a woman and a black man up for a potential presidential nomination and instead of people being glued to issues, real politics and the betterment of our great nation, they're enamored with the color of obama's skin and clinton's lipstick or pants suit. Oh and they like to see how many times each person can say the word change and not actually give a reason how or why. I guess that's better than making false promises or promises that they can't keep. This way you know they're lying through their teeth because they're not actually saying anything at all.

Unfortunately ideas and words that resonate with people take hold stronger than actual substance does.

So at this point I bid adieu. Vote wisely...and actually read up on the issues.
This campaign is extremely reflective of the cash bleeding that goes on all of the time in office, and yet no one is willing to speak up to that account.

Don't vote on novelty either...because all you'll end up with is a cheap piece of eye candy that melts after a while.

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