I keep getting these sneaky calls from the Obama campaign (which manage to circumvent my caller ID) that are driving me crazy. Isn't it enough to say he's got my vote? Apparently not. They want money and even after I declare my hard core ambivalence to Obama, they seem to think I'd be a good campaign volunteer and just keep pushing.
And they won't give up when I promise my vote. They keep trying to talk me into that starry-eyed place so many Obama supporters seem to get to. These callers seem to need me to gush and swoon with them and I just can't go there. It's not a popularity contest after all.
Obama is getting my vote because, well, he's not John McCain. Just like every Democratic candidate since I turned 18 who got my vote simply because they weren't the Republican. As tired as I am of the Democrats and their eternal flailing to the center, I know that Republicans are far more dangerous. John McCain would draft my boys and get them killed.
Other than that, I can say that Obama is a great speaker and seems smart enough to surround himself with people who can compensate for his lack of experience like his bold, progressive, groundbreaking (not) choice of Biden as a running mate. Whatever happened to change?
He's got my vote, but not my enthusiasm and I'm not all that sure he can win. Millions of starry eyed college kids and young hipsters can't really compete with the big time Republican donors, rigged voting machines, and mean spirited swift-boating which we all know is coming.
Maybe I'm wrong about Obama. I hope so. I'd love nothing more than to hear "I told you so" from my Obama loving friends two years from now after he's has won by a landslide and had some time to show what he can do. Meanwhile I just can't bring myself to get too excited.
Note to Obama staffers: stop asking me for money. Don't ask me to work for the campaign. He's got my vote along with my fervent hope that he can carry it off...isn't that enough?
1 comment:
Thanks for being among the Very, Very Few of my good friends who's willing to be honest about a lack of enthusiasm for this election, and frankly for this political system.
I'm voting for Obama, of course. because really, what other choices I had were either aborted or stumbled right out of the gate. Third parties tend to get gutted and shot down by the powers that be, with all sorts of help (wink, wink) from the media.
(And MY choice? Well, Dennis Kucinich has a squeaky voice, poor stage presence and stands 5' 7"; yet he's offered the most salient solution to our country's health care crisis, and it was so good -- make health care a not-for-profit enterprise -- they HAD to shut him up quick.)
As I type this, Sweetie's in the next room watching Joe Biden speak. I'm skipping it because I Just Can't Get Excited.
It takes guts to admit skepticism and cynicism in the face of so much dewy-eyedness among one's friends. I'm grateful that you did.
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